Keep(Romanian Mob Chronicles 1)(27)

I nodded and then tried to lift the solemn moment.

“You know, I always paid for it,” I said, remembering how she’d get me to distract the old man so she could steal candy.

“You did not!” she exclaimed.

“I did. It was the only reason I went along. Why’d you do it, anyway?”

“I had a reputation to maintain then,” she said with a shrug. “It was stupid too because if Grams had ever suspected me of stealing…”

She shivered at the thought, and then Esther lifted one corner of her mouth. “Do you think Mr. Richards was in on it? I mean, stealth has never been my strong suit, but he never seemed to notice,” she said.

“He was,” I replied with a smile.

She just shook her head. “I blame you for all the years I wasted dreaming I’d be a cat burglar.”

Then she bounded up and used her long strides to go to the credenza.

“Look, Fawn!” She returned and shoved a picture into my hand.

I stared at it and then looked back at Esther. “Is that James?”

“I know, right? Little rug rat is in the Coast Guard now.”

“I can’t…” I started but then trailed off. James had been a pesky kid desperate to go wherever his cool older sister did, and now he was grown up. And I’d missed it. Hadn’t been there for any of the big moments in my best friend’s life.

Esther grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.

“Don’t do that. What matters now is that you’re away from him, that you’re here.” And then her stomach rumbled loudly. “Sorry to interrupt this touching moment,” she said.

I laughed and then my eyes met hers.

“Enzo’s?” we said simultaneously.

An hour later, stuffed with the city’s best pizza and slightly buzzed on the white wine Esther had pulled out, we both lay on the living room floor, another scene that had played out countless times before.

“You still getting fired from every job you ever had?” I asked.

“Nope. I quit sometimes now too,” Esther replied.

“One day…”

“I’ll be employable? Maybe. But I tell them all the time if they’d just do things the way I say, we wouldn’t have any problems,” she said, her booming voice filling the room.

“I don’t think it works that way, Esther.”

“It should,” she said flatly.

I laughed out loud again, and then we went quiet, looking through the big picture window as night fell.

“I’m glad you’re here, Fawn,” she said again, this time serene.

“Me too.”

“I’m glad you got away from him.”

“Me too.”

“You could have come here. Anytime.”

“I know.”

“And you’re done now. Forever. Out of that world?”

I stayed silent, not sure what to say. And then I began. “I—”

A pounding at the door cut my words off.





Seventeen





Vasile



* * *



I stood on the porch of the small, tidy house, but I hardly saw it or the neighborhood it sat in. The concern chased by rage left me incapable of noticing much, and I wouldn’t be able to until I saw her. That she had been so close when I’d spent hours searching for her far and wide only added to the anger.

“May I help you?” the tall, voluptuous black woman who answered the door asked.

I gazed at her for a moment and then pushed past her to enter. She stepped in front of me, silently daring me to try to come farther, no hint of fear in her face. On one hand, it pleased me that Fawn had someone who cared for her so deeply she’d put her own safety at risk. But on the other…

My patience was frayed to the point of snapping, the unfamiliar worry that had taken over when Fawn was nowhere to be found having taxed my reserves.

“Fawn,” I said, not taking my eyes away from the woman.

Her scowl dropped ever so slightly and I could see the pulse at the base of her neck speed, but she stood her ground.

“There’s no one here by that name. Now you need to leave before I call the cops,” the woman said sternly, arms crossed over her ample chest.

“Esther, it’s okay.”

Esther looked to Fawn and then to me, lingering on my tattoos and then meeting my eyes. She didn’t even make an effort to hide her scorn, but I didn’t care. Seeing Fawn had loosened the ball of tension that had taken residence in my gut.

And replaced it with a seething anger at her carelessness that almost made my hands shake. “Let’s go.” I practically growled the words, and Esther narrowed her eyes and then gulped nervously.

Fawn stood still, seeming to make no effort to move, so I sidestepped Esther and went to Fawn, searching her eyes for some explanation. I saw none, but I would get my answer.