by TJ Nichols
“Because he hid it. My father still wants it.” It was still too tangled and he was holding what everyone wanted. Maybe he should throw the flash drive in the river or crush it into a thousand pieces. He needed time to think. If Connor hadn’t wanted to hand it over, then neither did Cody.
Olivier paused before speaking. “Your father is probably working with Palmerston and probably helped get the leverage over Connor so he’d help.”
It kept coming back to his father. He might not have forced the cocaine up Connor’s nose, but he’d held Connor’s mouth closed until he was forced to inhale. Cody rubbed his forehead. He wanted to hate his brother, but couldn’t. Connor had been in trouble long before he even realized.
“I know someone who’ll be able to get into the flash drive.”
The only copy of the files was in Cody’s pocket. That wasn’t very secure at all. He wished he’d left it in the bank, but his need to know what was on it had consumed him. “Okay.”
Cody followed Olivier to the elevator, but Olivier didn’t get in. He stood in the hard light of the parking garage and looked like he’d rather be anywhere but there. His gaze fixed on a car, and his expression became a scowl.
“That car shouldn’t be here.” Olivier took a step back. “I shouldn’t have brought you to my place.”
“Why?” Where should Olivier have taken him? Would he be safer in a hotel? “It’s one night, and then I’m gone.”
“I wish you’d gone weeks ago. I wish I’d never met you.” Olivier kissed him hard and pushed him against the wall with hunger and heat and anger and pain. He pulled back. “You don’t know what you’re mixed up in.”
“I do. My family is just as dirty as it was in the twenties. And I know that your hands aren’t clean.” He was an idiot, but he wanted Olivier in a way he’d never wanted anyone. The need was in his bones and in his blood.
Olivier blinked. “What?”
“My family were bootleggers who bought the cops and tried to become respectable. There was a very nasty murder of brothers and a cop. Nothing has changed.” He shrugged. “Maybe it has on the surface. People here think property, not crime, when they hear my father’s name. But Connor knew. He said he found something that could bring down our family.”
“Connor had his own secrets, which made him easy to bribe.” Olivier ran his fingers over his hair. “My boss likes to have something on everyone. Makes them easy to control. I’m no different.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was brought into this because Benitez paid my mother’s medical bills. My sister too. Now I have a niece who’ll be brought in if I fuck up. I want better for her. I learned early not to ask questions the way you do. To you this is a game you can leave when you’ve had enough. Some of us are trapped.”
“It’s not a game when people are dying.”
“We’re the pieces on the board, Cody. We don’t get to make the rules. You think your father was going to sip tea with you and his friends? Those friends were going to start asking you questions in a very persuasive way.” Olivier glanced at the silver car, then at his bike. “I think we should go.”
“Go where?”
“To see my boss.”
“No.” There was no way Cody was going to see Benitez.
“My boss was sent pictures of us, taken when we were talking in the park. Now he wants to see to you. It’s where I’m supposed to take you.” He nodded at the car. “That’s one of his. There are people waiting up there.”
“I’m not meeting your boss.” And he wouldn’t get in the elevator and go upstairs if there were people waiting. Benitez was no better than Palmerston. Both were criminals. One had killed Lily and the other Connor. “Let’s go somewhere else and find out what’s on the flash drive.”
“It’s too late for that. We’re out of time.”
“I need to know what Connor had.” He thought Olivier would help him, but he was wrong. Benitez would hurt Olivier’s sister and niece if he didn’t obey. Olivier was one of them, and Cody meant nothing. He took a step back, suddenly cold.
Olivier stepped toward him like a puma stalking prey. “You don’t get that choice.”
“Sure I do.” He took three rapid steps back to put some distance between them. How could that need still be in him, when fear made his heart pump so hard? What was wrong with him? Olivier twisted all his common sense around. “You can’t make me.”
Olivier stalked after him. “It’ll be me or someone else who brings you in… or maybe Palmerston will catch up with you. Will you be used as leverage? Or cleaned up?”
“You’re talking murder.” How many people would miss him? His father wouldn’t raise a fuss, and he had no one in Vegas who’d really care. He’d just vanish.
“I’ll let my boss know you’re safe with me, and then we can go somewhere and talk.”
“Then you’ll hand me over to him. Your boss killed my brother.” Olivier was right. He had been treating it as a game, but Lily’s death had woken him up.
“Your brother took that fatal hit all by himself. He had a choice. He could’ve thrown away the drugs, but he gave in to the greed. I saw the struggle on his face.”
The words echoed around the empty garage as though they were the only two people alive in the world.
“You gave him the drugs.” That was why Olivier sat with him at the café. He recognized him. “You thought I was Connor.”
“Only for a moment. I realized you were related, and I told you to fuck off. I warned you. I warned you repeatedly that this was not a game you should play.”
“Why did you kill him?” All this time and Olivier had the answers all along.
“Because I was told to.”
“That’s it?” Cody shoved him. “That’s the best you can do?”
He’d kissed the man who’d killed his brother. He wanted to be sick. There was nowhere left for him to go. If he went to get on the plane, someone would be waiting. He was caught between Palmerston and Benitez… exactly like Connor had been.
“I don’t ask questions that could get me or the people I care about killed. You kept prodding. You wouldn’t take the danger seriously.” Olivier tapped him on the chest. “This isn’t just about you or your brother.”
“Lily was innocent. How do I know you weren’t the one who killed her? You were following her.” But even as he said the words, he knew they weren’t true. He’d heard the fear in Olivier’s voice.
Olivier shook his head. Strands of his dark hair slid free of his ponytail. “I was following her. I saw it happen. If they were watching her, they saw you talking to her. They saw us talking and sent the proof to Benitez. They know about you. They want to know what you know.”
“She didn’t tell me anything. Connor left clues.”
Olivier considered him. “Even if that’s the truth, they won’t care. They won’t stop until they have what they want.”
“Then maybe I should give it to them.” Then the nightmare would be over. He knew Connor wanted him to keep it safe, but doing that had gotten Connor killed. Cody wanted to live, and the only thing he had in his favor was that no one except Olivier knew about the flash drive—and Cody wished he’d never told him. He needed to get away and cme up with a plan, so there was only one thing he could do. He turned and ran.
“Stop.” Olivier’s footsteps rang through the garage as he followed. Cody spun and saw that Olivier had his gun drawn. The two men stared at each other.
Eventually Olivier lowered the gun. “Please. I need to bring you to Benitez. My family’s lives are in your hands.”
Yeah, and Connor’s life had been in Olivier’s hands. Cody ran into the night.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
OLIVIER WATCHED him go. The gun was heavy in his hand. He should’ve pulled the trigger and taken out Cody’s leg. That would’ve stopped him, but instead he let him go. Olivier scrubbed his hand over his face. A hit man who couldn’t pull the trigger was useless. Benitez had no time for men—or women
—who couldn’t do their job. His hand shook.
He had to find Cody. He had to find him before Palmerston did. It was clear that Anders was terrified about what Connor knew. Why Anders would’ve ever taken up with Benitez or Palmerston, Olivier had no idea. It was never a smart move to stick your hands in two different snake pits. It was hard enough to stay alive dealing with one.
His phone rang. He answered it, hoping it would be Cody, but he knew it wouldn’t be. He’d confessed to murder and killed that fierce heat that had existed between them. He wouldn’t be the one to kill Cody this time. This life would be different. His dream might be just that—a dream—but maybe it was also some kind of warning. Marie had told him to go to church. She might be right. The weight of his sins was slowly dragging him under.
“Merlo,” he answered.
“There was a three-car pileup on the bridge. Shots fired. Boss was the target,” Benitez’s second-in-command said. David was usually very cool, but there was a note of concern in his voice—or was that hope that maybe the boss would be killed and he could take over?
“What do I need to do?” He didn’t dare hope that Benitez was dead. His luck wasn’t that good. Somehow he didn’t think that would matter. There’d still be Palmerston and Anders to contend with, and without Benitez’s protection, Olivier would go down for several life sentences. It didn’t matter how many years he got because there would be a prison brawl and he’d get a shiv to the spleen in the first few months. David would shed the deadwood when he took over, and Olivier had outlived his usefulness.
His mind revved hard. Had the accident been planned for a while or had Palmerston gone after Benitez when he couldn’t get his hands on Cody? Olivier no longer had Cody, and there were people waiting for him upstairs. He couldn’t go up there empty-handed. He should’ve said nothing and just taken Cody up, but then everything would’ve been taken out of his hands, including Cody. He hadn’t wanted that to happen, but he’d screwed himself over. Fuck. He paced and turned. It didn’t matter what he did. He was a rat in a cage.
“Boss is getting patched up. He’s alive, but pissed. He wants you and our friend—which should mean something to you—to meet him at the office.”
Olivier pressed his fingers to his forehead. At least David didn’t know about the Anders problem or Cody. “When?”
“As soon as possible. I’d be waiting there if I were you. Boss did not look happy.”
“An attempted hit is never going to put a shine on your day.” And letting Cody walk away would ensure there were no days in his future. He squeezed his eyes shut. He could get through this. He had no idea what he was going to do.
While he panicked on the inside, he was calm on the surface. Never show fear. Act like you know what you’re doing. Be in control at all times. He took a slow breath but felt no better.
“Just be there.” David gave the order as though he were already in charge.
Or had the hit been arranged by David? Ideas flitted through Olivier’s mind. If David were in charge, there was a chance he and Marie could walk and he could save Cody. It was a small chance and it assumed that David would want to create some space for his own people. He also hoped that David would let him walk and not simply shoot him and drop his body in a hole. And Marie? Olivier didn’t know what David would do with her. He couldn’t risk her life. Dani needed her mom.
He knew Benitez. It would be better to work with him.
“How long do I have?” He needed some of Cody’s magic to pull a rabbit out of a hat. He didn’t even have a hat… or a rabbit. He let it run away. Olivier would never forget the disgust in Cody’s eyes.
“You’ve got about three hours, tops.” David was silent for a moment. “I’m told it was pretty messy.”
“Cops involved?”
“Yeah. All fingers point to Palmerston’s boys.”
Which would eventually point back to Anders. Benitez knew how to operate without making a mess—who to pay and when to lay low. Palmerston was going to make waves for all of them. Some of the smaller players would go under, and their enterprises would be up for grabs by opportunists like Palmerston.
“I’ve heard noises about them.” There was no point in acting completely ignorant, and he had heard noises. “Are we going after them?” He really didn’t feel like being part of a turf war with Palmerston, even though that was what Palmerston was clearly after.
“Orders are to sit tight for most of us. Just that special order for you.”
Lucky me. “Okay. I better get moving.”
He hung up and drew in a breath. Then he exhaled, still with no plan. He stared at the garage entrance. He should never have let Cody walk away. But he didn’t want to bring him in at gunpoint either. No matter what he did, he lost. He’d lost Cody’s trust—if he’d ever really had it—and his affection. The affection had probably only been skin-deep. When people learned how black his soul was, they ran. It was hard to love a monster.
He was starting to hate himself.
In that heartbeat he knew he was done. Well and truly done. He called Marie, but she was already out working for the night, so he left a message on her phone. He knew she would check it immediately.
“Hey, no good news from Canada. I think you should see the family.” It was a message they’d made up years earlier, in case one of them got into trouble. She wouldn’t go to Canada, of course. He had no idea where she’d go. That was the idea. He hoped she’d leave New York and disappear… and that she got the message before Benitez got to her. Where was Dani?
He couldn’t risk looking for her.
He hadn’t been to church in years, but right then seemed like a good time to start praying, if not for himself—because he knew he was too far gone to be saved—then for his sister and his niece.
Olivier studied his phone. There was one other person he needed to call. He could go upstairs and do it in the warmth of his apartment, but that was no longer safe. So he sat in the shadows of the garage in the cold and dark and hoped no one would come down while he called his father. The cold of the concrete bit through his jeans as the phone rang. When he was about to give up, his father answered.
“Hi, Dad, it’s Oli.” His voice cracked. He should be grateful he had the chance to say goodbye. It could be worse. Things could always be worse. He still had a chance to do something, even if he wasn’t sure what that was. For him, running was out of the equation. Marie would be punished, so he had to stay until she was safe.
“What’s wrong?” His father knew.
“I can’t say. You know that.” He didn’t know if his father knew what he meant when he said he was a problem fixer, but this wasn’t the time to overshare. He didn’t want his family to have to keep his secrets. Olivier leaned against the wall, completely hidden. The cold breeze found him and snaked down the back of his collar.
His father sighed. “A father shouldn’t outlive his son.”
“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what he could’ve done differently. Would he have ended up the same no matter what path he chose? His hands probably would’ve found a way to murder the way they had so many times before.
And the dream was no longer soft while he was awake. It was sharp and cold, and he could smell the blood and death. He was the fucking devil.
“Don’t be sorry, Oli. There must be a way.”
He closed his eyes tighter, but the dream was still there, replaying and taunting him. “There isn’t. I made a mess I can’t fix. People like me don’t get second chances.”
It sounded like his father was crying. “I haven’t seen you or Marie in years.”
“It’s not safe.”
“I know what you both do. I know how those bills got paid, and if I’d known what you were doing beforehand, I’d have stopped you.”
Olivier shook his head. His father had been too busy with his dying wife to check on his kids. They did what they could, not realizing what they were agreeing to. Olivier didn’t blame his father. He couldn’t blame Marie eit
her. He’d made his choice. Initially there’d been a feel to it that he liked—the heat and anger within him was allowed to spill out. But instead of helping him, it burned through him like acid, killing him. “It’s too late, Dad. I have a will. You’ll get some money. The rest is for Dani. I just wanted to let you know. Okay? I wanted to say goodbye while I had the chance.”
His father was definitely crying. “You should never have taken that money.”
“We needed it. We would have been on friends’ sofas or on the street. Mom couldn’t live like that and get better.”
Two years of better was all it had bought her. Twelve years later he was still paying the debt.
“Offer my life. I’m old and alone. I haven’t even seen my granddaughter.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Dad.” He wouldn’t offer up someone else to take his place. His cheeks were cold and wet. He wiped his face. “I love you. I doubt I’ll be seeing Mom on the other side.”
“Don’t be—”
“Dad, I know what I’ve done.” What crimes had he committed way back to damn himself so thoroughly? His soul must be as black as coal and just as hard. Maybe he didn’t have one. “Stay safe. Please.”
“Oli… I love you no matter what you’ve done.”
Olivier hung up. He wanted to believe that, but he couldn’t. He didn’t deserve love or trust from anyone.
CODY RAN for half a block and then slowed to a brisk walk. After two blocks he let himself pause at a convenience store to work out where he was and think about what he was going to do. He bought a bottle of water and a protein bar and paid cash. His phone was down to 30 percent, and he had no way to charge it.
And no one to call anyway.
Even when he left home and hopped on a bus to Vegas, he never felt so alone or adrift. He drank half the water and ate the protein bar as he studied the map on his phone. His mind spun with memories of the night he’d spent with Olivier—the longing that wouldn’t die within him. He was disgusted with himself. With Olivier. He’d known what he was doing. He pressed his lips together to feel the pain of the cut. It didn’t hurt enough. It wasn’t Olivier’s fault that they’d ended up in bed. He’d put out the invitation, even though he knew what Olivier did. He should have suspected, but lust had blinded him. He drew in a breath, heartsick, lost, and being hunted.
