Who would be at the park? Would my brother show up? Would it be Luke’s brother instead? Olivia and I made our plan. She would be nearby with Miles in case there was trouble.
I texted Luke. After our conversation last night, things ending with some uncertainty as to where I stood, I felt like I still needed to communicate with him until this was all resolved.
Got a hold of my brother last night. I’m meeting him after work. Perhaps he’ll offer to help clean up my apartment tonight.
I really wanted to mention my meeting with him tonight just in case Luke was in on the loop somehow. Did he at least have a hunch that his brother was threatening me? He couldn’t have known – he wouldn’t allow it, I was fairly certain about that. He would do something about it if he knew his brother was the cause of all this, I knew that much. But there was still something holding me back from telling him everything. I still believed he knew something – at the very least about the initial bank robbery.
He wrote back. You won’t need his help with that. Where are you meeting him?
I didn’t expect such a direct question. Just a park on my way home from work. Somewhere public. Nothing to worry about. The park wasn’t exactly on my way home, but I wanted to keep it vague. The last thing I needed was for him to show up there and ruin everything. He probably wanted to kill my brother already for hurting me. Then again, he probably would kill his brother too if he knew what he was up to.
I’m here if you want to talk about it tonight. Just want you to know that.
Of course I knew that. He was always there for me, he’d made that clear on so many occasions. It seemed like there was nothing that could shake his opinion of me otherwise. I wondered what I would have to do to get him to give up on me. Probably something extreme, I imagined. That seemed like both a blessing and a curse all at once.
Finally my shift ended, and I made the short drive home. I needed to change my clothes before calling Olivia and heading over to the park.
As I walked up to my front door, I could tell something was different right away. There was new, shiny hardware on the door. Someone had fixed the hinge and replaced the lock. I slid my key in, thankful the door unlocked easily and I wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of getting my keys changed. As I pushed open the door, I stopped in my tracks.
The entire place was spotless. All the furniture was moved back exactly as I’d had it, all of the toppled bins were refilled and set back, and the kitchen was immaculate. There was even a vase of fresh sunflowers on the small dining room table.
Unbelievable. Instinctively I walked over to the fridge, opening it up to look inside. Sure enough, the white box of pie from the night before was sitting nicely on the top shelf. This was obviously done by one very specific person. How was I supposed to stay mad at him forever? He was making this so much harder.
I ran upstairs to change, slipping on a pair of jeans and a tank top. I grabbed a sweatshirt just in case it cooled down later in the evening. Before heading out, I instinctively checked under my bed, just to be absolutely certain that Cade’s money was, in fact, gone. Unsurprisingly, it was nowhere to be found. Did I think it was going to just magically reappear? I was so frustrated. I finally left, making my way over to the meeting spot. The timing was perfect. By the time I pulled into the park, it was exactly six o’clock. Olivia had already texted a minute before to let me know they were all in place. As I suspected, I was the only person in the park by the fitness equipment, other than a few older couples walking dogs around the track in the distance.
My phone chimed. Cade. Or was it Casey using his phone? Was he about to stand me up? I answered it immediately.
“Hello?”
I could hear muffled sounds on the other end of the line, but no one greeted me in response. All I could hear was some generic background noise, with some light breathing. Someone was definitely on the other end, but they weren’t speaking.
“Cade,” I said firmly into the phone, waiting for his reply. All I heard was a weird groan. “Cade, is that you? Are you there?”
Another minute of quiet passed, and other than breathing and possibly some background TV noise, I couldn’t decipher anything else.
“Give me the phone,” a familiar voice said. I heard some shuffling. “Lexi?”
“Luke?” I was utterly confused for a moment.
“Where are you?” It was definitely his voice.
“I’m…I’m at a park,” I stammered.
“Which park, Lex? This is serious.”
“Why are you with my brother? Why can’t he talk? What’s going on?” I was growing sick with worry at this point. Something was off. I wasn’t sure what I expected to happen tonight when I showed up at the park, but after two minutes in so far, things were already nothing like I’d anticipated.
“Where are you, Lexi,” he repeated. His voice was firm, as if he was balling his hands into fists, ready to explode.
“I’m…I’m at Hayfield Park.”
“Why?”
“I thought I was meeting my brother here.” I wasn’t convinced whether that was a truth or a lie, to be honest, so it slipped out easily. After all, I should think I’m meeting my brother tonight, right? The communication was from his phone.
“Your brother has been beaten to a bloody pulp, Lex. I found him in the alleyway off of Meek Boulevard,” he explained. I wasn’t too familiar with that part of town, other than knowing from the news that it was less than desirable. That side of town had its share of drugs and crime, right on the outskirts of Grand Harbor.
“What? How did you find him? Why were you even looking for him?” I couldn’t make sense of it all. For a guy I continually wanted to believe wasn’t involved with all of this, he sure had a knack for being everywhere at the right time. I was done believing that was always a coincidence.
“You’re not meeting your brother at the park, Lexi. He knew nothing about it. There are tons of texts in his phone that he never sent. I’m guessing he’s been on a bender and has been out of it for a day or two. Do you have your car? Can you get somewhere safe?”
“It’s an abandoned park, Luke. No one’s here. I’m fine.”
“Don’t move,” he instructed. It sounded like he started up a car engine while he was talking. “Stay in your car with the doors locked. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up the phone, and my nerves intensified.
“Who were you talking to?” The deep voice came from behind me. It was Casey.
“My brother,” I replied, turning around to face him. “Well, I wouldn’t say we were talking. He didn’t have much to say, probably because he’s high right now, which is typical. Is that why you’re here? Did he send you on his behalf?” I was nervous as hell to be standing here in front of him, knowing what he’d done. But my anger was one step ahead of my fear. The rage inside of me was the only thing giving me any confidence to have this conversation.
“Do you know who I am?” His eyes looked inquisitive as he stared back at me, as if this was all some game.
I tried to appear unaffected. The last thing I wanted was for him to sense I was scared. “Dude, we just met at the cookout a couple days ago. I obviously know you’re Luke’s brother.”
“What else do you know?” He raised one of his eyebrows as he said it, waiting for me to unload as much information as possible.
“Let’s see, he told me you’re his half-brother. He told me you have a family after knocking up the homecoming queen...”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Okay, fair enough. I’ll rephrase the question. What do you think you know about me?”
I stared back at him, unsure of what exactly to say. I know that you shoved a gun in my side at the bank while I filled up your bag with hundred-dollar bills. You robbed my apartment and stole my brother’s money. I know that you’re a horrible person. “Honestly, I’m growing more confused by the minute, and I feel like I don’t know anything. Why are you here? How do you know my brother?”
“Why do yo
u look so nervous? Do you think I’m going to hurt you?”
Was that last question necessary?
“Look, what am I doing here? Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on so we can get this over with?”
“You recognized my voice, didn’t you? The night of my grandfather’s party? Or was it my eyes? Was that it? I saw the look on your face when you turned around. You knew it was me, right? And then you fell apart once you made that connection?”
“Were you in my apartment?” It was a direct question, but he seemed to be comfortable talking. I had to know.
“Yes.” He didn’t offer more.
“Why? For my brother’s money? How do you know him, anyway? What does this have to do with him? Or me?”
“Your brother, unfortunately…” He paused, as if he was trying to better articulate what he wanted to say. “He’s on the wrong side.”
“The wrong side? The wrong side of what? The good guys and bad guys? Cops and robbers? Cowboys and Indians? Is this a game? What about your brother, then? What side is he on? I got your note. You said ‘Luke doesn’t know.’ What does that even mean?”
“Luke needs to be left out of this,” Casey said firmly. “He can’t know I was involved in the bank job. He can’t know. Are we clear on that?”
Now I was more confused than ever. “He was there when it happened. What do you mean he doesn’t know? Are you trying to tell me he has no idea you were one of the guys in a mask? One of the guys with a gun in my side, I should add. Are you really trying to get me to buy that it was a complete coincidence he was there at the exact same moment?” Now I was just pissed. “Don’t lie to me, do you understand? Or I’m telling Luke everything. Tell me the truth.”
“He wasn’t supposed to be there,” he explained, running a hand through his thin sandy blond hair. “The job was off. It wasn’t even supposed to happen.”
“But it did. So what am I missing? How could he not know?”
“Because I wasn’t supposed to be there either,” he replied, seemingly frustrated. “I mean, I wasn’t there if it ever comes up, do you understand what I’m saying? Look, believe it or not, I’m not a bad guy. I know that seems like a ludicrous thing to say right now, but I swear it’s true. I’m no saint either – I’m not Luke, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not Kyle either.”
“Yes, the other bank robber, and also, your brother. How convenient to bring him into this,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m sensing a pattern here, and I hate it. I work at the bank for heaven’s sake! Why would you all bring me in to any of this?”
“We didn’t mean to,” he said with a shrug, throwing his hands into his jeans pockets. “You didn’t exist when we first planned this out. Then, you appeared, threw everything off, Luke folded the entire operation, and now I’m in a mess I can’t climb out of. Then with your brother, stealing all of Kyle’s money – everything has fallen apart.”
“What? Kyle’s in jail, how would my brother steal his money?”
“It’s a long story,” he said, still sounding frustrated. “Look, I just want to sort all of this out. Can you help me do that? If Luke finds out about all of this, he’s going to kill me. All of this will get worse. You have to believe me on that, it’s all better if he doesn’t know.”
“I’ve already been keeping secrets for my brother. Now you want me to keep yours? That doesn’t seem like a fair thing to put on me, Casey. I don’t even know you. Your brother, though? I know him. Or, at least I think I do. He’s been nothing but amazing to me. He gets me. He cares about me exactly as I need someone to. He seems good. Is that even possible? Can you promise me that’s possible? What does he have to do with all of this?”
“He is good, Lexi. I promise you that. He was only trying to help Kyle. That’s it. It was just one small job. All he had to do was scout out your Grand Harbor branch, and that was it. That was his only role, and then he would’ve been off the hook.”
“But that’s not the branch you robbed,” I said, trying to piece it all together.
“Exactly. He walked in there one day to take care of it, and apparently he saw you. He said you already met or something before that, and he didn’t know you worked there… As soon as he knew you worked there, that was it. The job was off, and he quit entirely. He refused to take part in it, and made everyone else swear they wouldn’t go through with it. Thanks to him canceling the entire thing, I got the shit beat out of me for it, and it was supposed to be over. He swore he wouldn’t be involved in any way, and that was that.”
“But you didn’t let it go.”
“I couldn’t. If Kyle doesn’t pay his debts, they will kill him in there, Lexi. He owes over a hundred grand to the wrong people. People your brother hangs out with, hence his involvement. We had no other options. People are literally dying in there, in the prison Kyle’s in, and it’s all over money and drugs and if we couldn’t pay off his debt, he would’ve been one of them.”
I thought back to what Olivia was saying about all of those prison murders the other day. Was that true? Was this in any way what she was referencing? Was Kyle a target in all that?
“I still don’t understand how I’m interweaved in all of this. I want nothing to do with it, on any front. Not for my brother. Not for Luke. I don’t want any part of this.”
“You’re not,” Casey said sympathetically. “Luke has no part in this either, it’s all me. Let him off the hook. This isn’t his fault. I’m the one who continued it. Blame me. Just don’t tell him. Please.”
“Where’s my brother now? Is he in trouble?”
“I admit, while he was passed out I took advantage of him to get you here,” he confessed. “But it was the only way. That bag of money you had – it wasn’t Cade’s in the first place, but I suspect you know that. After all of this went sideways – once I realized you knew who I was, I needed to find your brother to sort this out. He was at Johnson’s pad, that’s his dealer, and he was completely out of it, passed out behind the back door. His phone was buzzing. Once I saw it was you, I took advantage of the situation. I’m not proud of that, but I had to do it to get that money back. It was Kyle’s. I had to get it back for my brother.”
“I don’t understand this entire mess. All I know is I want out of it. If that means distancing myself from Luke, then…” I hesitated, not sure I really wanted to say it out loud, but I had to. “Well, then, maybe I shouldn’t see him anymore. I need to get out of all of this.”
“If I didn’t steal the money back myself, Lexi, they would have. Cade has some real enemies. They would trade his life for that bag in a heartbeat. I’m not saying I’m a hero by any means, but I’m trying to do the right thing here, for my brothers. And your brother - his life literally depends on that bag of money. If you think he was going to return it to the right people, you’re crazy. It would all end up, most likely, up his nose. I think you know that. Then he would be in worse trouble than he’s already in.”
I thought back to when Cade first gave me the money, and how serious his tone had been. He’d said the same thing – that his life depended on what was in there. No doubt my brother would make a mess of all of this. When it came to him, I guess I wasn’t surprised to be caught in the middle of his chaos. But still, I couldn’t just let go of Luke’s involvement. He’d only found me in the bank the first time he stopped in because he was essentially casing the place? That didn’t sit well with me, and still didn’t explain why he was there at the time of the actual robbery.
“Look, Casey, I’m not surprised that my brother is caught up in any of this. I know who he is, and none of this comes as a shock to me in that regard. I don’t question his interests in all of this, because I know they’re always self-serving and dishonest. But you? Luke? The fact that you’re all playing the same game…how are any of you better than Cade?”
“Luke and I are not like your brother, Lexi. We’re so far from it. We’re just like you.”
“I highly doubt it,” I scoffed, “because you see, I’m n
ot out folding bank robberies like Luke, or worse, going through with them like you. I’m not stealing from others or involved with supplying the most desperate people with the very thing killing them…so don’t ever tell me we’re similar…”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
“What does that mean?” I shot back.
“Why are you here?”
“Because I want to know the truth! I want to know if my boyfriend is a hero or a criminal, and honestly after your explanation, he still sounds like both. I’m also here because I want to know if my brother has a shot in hell of ever getting out of this hole he’s burying himself in. And you – why are you here? How do you benefit from all of this if you’re such a good guy?”
“I get to save both my brothers.” He threw up both of his hands. “I finally get to be the hero. That’s why I’m here – to save them both. I’m the only person on the outside that can help save Kyle. Without his debts being paid, however extreme my solution was, there are literally people who would kill him over it, so I had no choice. I had to do it for him, and I don’t regret that one bit. I would do it again for him.”
“How does that save Luke?”
“Because he has so much to lose.” He shrugged, looking down at the ground. “He can’t be involved, Lexi. You’ve changed everything.”
“Why does everything bad lead back to me?” I felt choked up as I said it.
“I don’t know. I guess that’s what the right girl does to a man,” he said with a smirk. “You flipped a switch in him. He’d agreed to do his part in the beginning, all for Kyle, but then once you were involved, he was done. Even when someone suggested another branch, other than your Grand Harbor location, he still wouldn’t allow it. He was willing to turn in everybody, including himself, to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“Yet here we are,” I replied with a frustrated shrug.
“Most of the guys agreed with Luke, and they backed off. But a couple others were still willing, and they forced my hand. I really believed, and I still do, that it was the only thing that could save Kyle, even at the expense of hurting Luke over this by interfering with you. But I’m telling you, he can’t know it was me in that bank. He can’t know I’m the reason all of this has happened. If he knows, this will all get so much worse.”
The Weight of Perfection: Grand Harbor - Book Three Page 17
