Chapter Twenty-Six
Jess
The black hole that swallowed me after Jake died, after I lost the baby, is still there, hanging over my head, always threatening to devour me. I have to always stay one step ahead of it. Don’t think about Jake, don’t glance into that stroller on the sidewalk, or it will suck me right up, snatching me off of my feet.
I’d found a way out of that hole when I searched Jake’s computer and found his correspondence with Monty. An internet search led to the revelation that Monty was the same man I saw in Dr. Stone’s office that horrible day. The grief gave way to anger. Revenge became my motivation. Without it, I wouldn’t have gotten sober. I wouldn’t have met Snake. For a long time, it was the only thing keeping me alive.
Now, in my dark bedroom, tangled with Snake in the twisted sheets, I realize I don’t need it anymore. I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heart, rising and falling with his breath. The snake tattooed on his forearm is wrapped around my shoulders. I gently kiss the tip of its tail. Snake responds by turning his body towards me, and holding me tighter.
This is what guards me from the black hole now. This is what will keep me moving forward. The moral implications aside, Snake is my only chance for survival. And unlike the thirst for revenge, this makes me feel more whole.
“We should run,” Snake murmurs, then gently kisses my neck. “Get away from here, and never fucking turn back.”
My body flushes with warmth. I agree with him, but I’m also surprised. He’d turn his back on the Mariano’s so quickly, and just for me? I trace a line down the middle of his chest.
“They’re your family,” I say, my voice small in the darkness. “I have to go, I know that. But I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret.”
He raises his head from the pillow, and grasps the side of my neck. His face is inches from mine as he speaks. “You’re my family now. And you’re not going anywhere without me.”
The words send a shiver down my spine. I press my forehead against his, nodding.
Before we go, we need money. We hadn’t planned on withdrawing the funds from our scheme any time soon, so I’m not sure of the procedure yet. I’d planned to ask Toby to set up a withdrawal system, but Toby won’t be any help to us now. Snake is shirtless, wearing only his boxer shorts, and I’m wrapped in a sheet as we make our way to the living room. Snake opens the laptop, and logs into the backend of the ShopSuite site. He follows a link to the offshore account. I gasp when I see that our balance is well over one hundred thousand dollars.
Snake squints at the screen. “How do we withdraw?” He scrolls down the page. There, at the bottom, is a big red button that reads “Collect.”
It looks suspicious to me. “Don’t click that,” I say, urgently.
But while I’m saying the words, Snake clicks. All of the air releases from my lungs at once. I double over, clutching Snake’s shoulders. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” he asks.
Nothing happens at first. I start to think I’ve overreacted. Snake tries to scroll up, but the screen is frozen. He taps the keyboard with frustration. On the screen, my email account opens up. An email starts to compose. It attaches files from my computer, every file that has to do with our scheme, with Steve’s email in the address bar.
“What are you doing?” I scream, frantically.
“I’m not doing that,” Snake insists.
It all happens in less than twenty seconds. And whoosh, the email with the incriminating information is sent to Steve. Snake stares blankly at the screen.
“What the fuck just happened?” he asks.
I stand up quickly, clutching the sheet around me. My heart is palpitating, and my palms are sweating. I pick up the closest thing to me, a pillow, and hurl it across the room.
“Fucking Toby,” I yell. “He set up this time bomb. He was planning to fuck us this entire time.”
“And he did,” Snake says, coldly. “From beyond the grave.”
I grab my hair, pulling it by the roots, as I pace the room. Snake is soon by my side, rubbing my back.
“Don’t worry, Jess. He just sent it to your boss. We can take care of him.”
I pull back, looking into Snake’s eyes. “No,” I plead. “Please, no more deaths.” I flash back to that night in the desert, Toby’s wails ringing through the clear night, then the terrible silence that followed.
“It’s not pretty. But we have to do it for us.” He holds me closer to him. “We’re so close, Jess.”
I shake my head against his chest. Is this the price I have to pay for happiness? How many bodies will it take?
“We can talk to him. Work something out. You’re not working for the mob anymore. You don’t have to kill for them.”
Snake takes my face in both of his hands. “You’re right. I’m not killing for the Mariano’s anymore. But I will kill for us.”
I blink up at him, my mind grasping for something, anything, that will convince Snake not to kill Steve. Before I can come up with anything, my phone rings from the coffee table. I leap for it, snatching it up.
“It’s Steve,” I say, clutching the phone tightly.
Snake holds out his hand. “Give it to me.”
I turn quickly, walking several steps away from him, and answer the phone.
“Jess. What the fuck is this? Is this what it looks like?” Steve’s voice is hoarse from sleep, but aggressive. “What have you been doing behind my back?”
Snake stands close beside me, bent down to hear what Steve is saying. His hot breath travels down the back of my neck, making me shiver.
“Find out where he is,” Snake whispers, a murderous glean in his eye.
I have another plan.
“It’s exactly what it looks like, Steve. We’ve been skimming money off of website purchases.”
There’s a rumpled noise, like Steve dropped the phone. “Fucking hell,” he grumbles. “Does this have anything to do with Toby?”
“Steve, I need you to calm down,” I say, assertively. “Listen, we’ve amassed a lot of cash so far. Let’s talk. We can work something out.”
There’s a long silence. I feel Snake beside me, his patience starting to wear. I’m sure he wants to shoot Steve and be done with the whole thing. But there has to be another way. If I’m going to live this life with him, he’ll have to learn how to compromise.
“Steve?” I ask into the empty silence.
A cold laugh penetrates my ear.
“You don’t know, do you?” Steve asks.
“Know what?” I say through gritted teeth.
Steve takes a deep breath in, then exhales forcefully. “I have the access code needed to withdraw the funds. It was in the email. You have no leverage here.”
The wind leaves my sails in an instant. My delusion of power disappears, and I remember I’m standing naked, wrapped in a sheet, in the middle of the night. We’re running out of options here. I look to Snake, and his dark eyes affirm what I’m thinking.
“How’s Max?” I ask, casually.
I can feel Steve’s energy change. “Don’t mention my husband-“
“If I recall from our conversation at the Christmas party, Max works at a law firm downtown. I can’t remember the name, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find out.”
“What are you saying?”
“You know what I’m saying,” I insist. “You say I have no leverage, but I absolutely do. And if you and Max try to run, we’ll find you. Talk to the cops, we’ll find you. Catch my drift?”
“Is that a threat?”
“That’s a promise. I’d say ask Toby, but you can’t.”
The corner of Snake’s mouth turns up, giving me a rush.
“We need the access code. Tonight. That’s how you make this problem go away,” I say.
There’s a heavy pause. I imagine Steve considering the brutality of the Mariano family, and what will happen to him if he tries to strike against them.
“Gramercy Park,” Steve says, to my instant relief. “I’ll be there in an hour.” He hangs up.
I stare at the blank screen. My fingers are trembling from the adrenaline. I remember how I felt when I muscled Toby into working for us. It’s a feeling almost as addicting as alcohol. Snake approaches me, and kisses me on the forehead. His body is hot to the touch. He looks at me with an almost reverent look in his eye. I know what he’s thinking.
His queen.
*
Gramercy Park is small, a tiny green oasis flanked on all sides by roads and concrete sidewalks. Although we’re a few minutes early, Steve is already there. He’s dressed in dark clothing, waiting for us under a tree. My stomach tightens with nerves when I see him. On the drive here, Snake and I argued the entire way about whether to kill him or not. I convinced Snake to wait and see if it was necessary. He agreed, but I see his fingers twitching near the gun strapped to his waist.
“Here,” Steve says, as soon as we walk up to him. He shoves a piece of paper into my hand, then steps back, eyeing Snake warily. “That’s it, right? Can I go?”
“Not so fast,” I say.
Snake watches Steve closely as I swipe open my phone. I have the webpage already loaded, waiting for the access code. I carefully type the numbers in.
I nod to Snake, letting him know the code is good. The funds are being transferred as we speak. Snake glances at my phone, just for a split second, but it’s enough time for Steve to take off running.
“Let him go,” I call after Snake, but he’s already hot on Steve’s trail.
Snake grabs Steve around the waist, then flings him to the ground. Steve lies on his back, coughing and groaning. Snake places his foot on Steve’s chest, pinning him down.
“He knows too much,” Snake hisses. “We got what we needed. Now he has to go.”
His hand goes for the gun. I grab Snake’s wrist.
“Stop,” I say, desperately. “Not everyone needs to die. There has to be another way.”
Snake turns his attention to Steve. “What did you tell the cops about Toby? Did you mention us?”
Steve takes a gasping breath, and struggles to talk. “I did.”
Snake narrows his eyes, and grinds his foot harder into Steve’s chest. Steve’s coughs, and his face starts to turn blue.
“He can’t breathe,” I yell. I pull on Snake’s arm, but there’s no moving him. He stares intensely down at Steve, with the determined look of a soldier. He’s been given no orders to kill Steve. He’s not on duty. But maybe his murderous streak doesn’t need to be told when to act.
“You don’t have to worry,” Steve yells in desperation. “The cops said Toby’s death was an accident.”
For a strange moment, I’m grateful for Monty’s payoff to Dr. Stone, which is what I imagined happened. The same thing I hated the capo for has saved my neck.
But Snake’s not entirely convinced. With his foot still firmly on Steve’s chest, Snake kneels down.
“You ratted to the cops. Why should I think you won’t rat to your superiors?” Snake asks. “I’m not worried about law enforcement. It’s the corporate mob that worries me. They’re almost as ruthless as the Mariano’s.”
Steve struggles beneath Snake’s foot, but it’s no use. While I watch the scene, my body feels light, like I’m floating. I close my eyes, expecting to hear the sound of a gun shot at any moment. Then, a memory flashes in my mind. When Steve first found out that I got Toby to compile the credit card numbers, he hadn’t threatened to fire me, or even rat to his bosses. Steve was worried that his superiors would blame him.
I force my eyes open and rush to Snake. He jerks his head towards me.
“We have to, Jess.”
“Just let me try one more thing.”
I drop down next to Steve, and start searching through his pockets. I locate his wallet and scramble to my feet.
“You’re robbing me too?” Steve asks from the ground. “Is there any limit to your greed?”
Snake’s impatient glare makes me nervous as I search through the wallet. I find what I’m looking for, a bank card, and quickly swipe open my phone. My fingers fly over the screen. When I’m done, I hold the phone in front of Steve’s face.
“Ten grand,” I say. “It will be in your account by morning.”
Steve blinks. A small amount of hope is injected in his expression. “Hush money?”
“Sort of,” I explain. “This money’s not cleaned yet. If you try to spend it, or transfer it somewhere else, it’ll set off red flags. They’ll come after you.”
Steve squints as he processes this information. I don’t look at Snake, but I hear his breath begin to calm. Suddenly, Snake removes his foot from Steve’s chest. Steve breathes in quickly.
“And if you squeal to anyone,” Snake says. “It’ll be hard to explain away the money in your account. You’re complicit now.”
Steve winces as Snake offers him his hand. After getting to his feet, Steve looks between Snake and me, his gaze eventually settling on me.
“I never want to see you again,” Steve says, angrily.
I step towards him, my jaw clenched. “Let’s hope you never have to. That’s up to you, of course.”
Steve glares at me, before asking nervously, “Can I go now?”
Snake nods. Steve takes a few steps back, before taking off running. I watch him until he disappears into darkness. Snake’s warm arm slithers around my waist.
“Well done,” he says against my ear.
We share a quick, enveloping kiss before we get moving again. There’s only a couple of hours until daylight. We need to get out of the city. Now.
Back at the apartment complex, I’m rushing up the stairs, while Snake lingers behind me. He’s studying the cars in the parking lot. I know what he’s looking for, and it makes me panic.
“Do you see anyone?” I ask.
Snake shakes his head. He was given until the morning to turn me in. I hope the Mariano’s keep their word.
“Only the essentials,” Snake is saying when we walk into my apartment.
I’m prepared to dash to the bedroom, when Snake stops dead in his tracks. There’s a lamp on in the living room that I don’t remember turning on. Then, I see him, his long legs in a dark tailored suit, his cold, hard hands folded in his lap, and that chilly stare.
Salvatore.