Chapter 105
2071words
"You sure you should even be out in public?" Jonah asks me flatly. He's not concerned about my safety—I think he's actually trying to make me feel threatened.
Sunlight streams through the half-gaped blinds over his office windows. They create a striped pattern across his torso, reminding me of a prisoner's uniform. He's not the one who has to worry about jail.
I smile coyly. "Let's get down to why I'm here."
"Where's Camila?" Adriana blurts. "Is she okay?" It's the first thing she's said since I entered the room. Dressed in a maroon, long-sleeved turtleneck and pale pink ankle-skirt, she's the opposite of Jonah's cobalt-blue ensemble. The one thing they share is the same narrowed-eye disdain for me.
Oh, now you care about her? Mila informed me that the car at the scene belonged to Adriana. It's hard not to tear into her for helping Camila meet up with Yannick. I resist because being at odds with Adriana won't endear Jonah to my side.
"I'm working on finding that out," I say. "It would be easier with your help."
"How?" Jonah asks dubiously.
Folding my arms behind my back I walk around the long table. As I draw near to him, Jonah clinches up from his lips to his knees. "The police is hunting me down, but they're chasing the wrong person. It's not me they're after, but Yannick. I need the commissioner to understand that."
"Let me guess." He lets out a hollow laugh. "You expect me to convince him?"
"Yep." I shrug like I'm bored. "Otherwise, Yannick will control the entire police force in a short time. If you think he's dangerous now, wait until he doesn't need criminals to do his dirty work for him."
Adriana flicks her eyes at her husband. He pointedly ignores her, focusing harder on me. "The police aren't as corrupt as you're implying."
"Says you?" I sneer. "And just how would you know?"
He stands taller with a sour grin. I've seen rotting Jack-o-lanterns that look more pleasant. "Coming here was a mistake."
I take another step towards him, causing him to retreat; his shoulder rattles the blinds.
"Don't take this lightly. Your life is already in danger."
"What did you say?" His eyes flash before his face turns red. "Are you threatening me?"
"I don't need to threaten you. But I've told you that Yannick's spies infiltrated your firm, or do I need to remind you that Yannick found where you'd hid Camila the first time?" He turns a darker shade of red at that. "They've already told the other cops not to trust you." I pause, noting how he's pressing his lips together in a white line. I have his full attention. "As far as they're concerned, you're in bed with me. Which, in a way, you are."
He slaps the surface of the table, making the carafe of water none of us have touched rattle. "Fuck you, Volkov!"
"Jonah..." Adriana whispers nervously. She's not as doubtful of my claims as her husband.
He storms forward, his shoulder bumping mine as he passes. His hand chokes the handle on the office door, opening it wide. "It's time for you to leave, Asher, before I call the cops on you. And believe me, I'm real fucking close to doing it."
"Oh, I'm aware." I gesture around the room vaguely. "But there's a reason I came here in person." I look up at the security camera tucked in the corner of the ceiling. 'Nice setup you got here. How do you think Yannick will feel once he sees that I'm here?" My voice drops to a true baritone. "Hell, I bet he's already getting ready to do something."
Jonah slams the door shut; Adriana yelps. "You piece of shit, you tricked me!" He comes at me so fast I brace myself, expecting a punch. Jonah stops short, his lips wrenching back over his teeth and gums.
Keeping my words steady, and my hands behind my back, I say, "You can go back to hating me once this is over. But right now, I need you to keep the police away until I can rescue Camila and her mother. And then I'll deal with Yannick."
There are more lines around Jonah's nose and eyes than on a sheet of notebook paper. I glance at his fists, watching his knuckles gleam and swell and flex. He's barely controlling himself. One wrong move and he'll swing on me. He'd lose in a fight, I'm nearly twice his size, but the fallout is what concerns me more. I need him to work with me not against me.
'We've already tried that," he says. 'And you nearly died. I'm not falling for this again."
"He's right," Adriana calls out.
Jonah whips around to gawk at his wife. "Adriana, you can't be serious!"
Folding her arms over her chest, rubbing her shoulders, she goes quiet. She's gathering her words carefully, not wanting to take my side, or go against her husband, but she wants to save Camila just as much as I do.
"We can't stand by and do nothing, Jonah."
"This is blackmail!" he snaps.
Her downcast eyes rise up to meet mine, hanging there, judging me. I wonder what she's weighing. Crossing the room, she stands in front of her husband. "We said we'd help before we were put in this position. I'm not going to turn my back on Camila." The hate in her glare scalds me. "Even if we have to work with the devil himself."
Jonah looks ready to explode; his face is shiny with sweat, verging on purple. Adriana places her hands on his. A ripple moves through his body. The pair don't speak—and still, I know they're communicating. Slowly, Jonah relaxes. He shuts his eyes and Adriana squeezes his hands. She's soothing him better than anyone else is capable of.
Watching them creates a painful longing in my chest. I miss Camila more than ever.
Sighing in exasperation, Jonah frowns at me. "Fine. I'll consider it."
"I'm glad to hear we're on the same page."
"I said I'd consider it. I want proof first."
"The proof will come. Probably sooner than we expect." Digging in my pocket, I hand him a burner phone. "Yannick will be acting fast since he failed to kill me. Use this to call me."
He fixates on the phone, studying it like he's worried it will hurt him somehow. Eventually he picks it up. "You're a real cocky asshole, Volkov."
Jonah can insult me all he wants—the fact he took the phone is all I care about.
"I should go," I say, glancing at my own phone.
Adriana pokes her heel at the floor. "We'll walk you out." Jonah shoots a are you kidding me brand of look at her, and she shrugs. "We were going to leave for dinner anyways."
"Thank you," I say earnestly. We step into the elevator, Adriana and Jonah taking the furthest corner possible from me. It's an awkward, silent ride down to the bottom floor. And they're the first to jump out of the elevator when the doors open.
The main lobby is nearly empty; the woman behind the front desk doesn't bother to glance up from her computer at us. Jonah takes the lead, pushing the glass doors wide. It would be a polite gesture if I didn't know he wanted me out of his sight as fast as possible.
"And here we are," he says.
Scanning the sun that's eager to set, I squint down the street. There are a number of cars parked in front of the building. Not an empty meter in sight. "Call me the second you know anything, or if you're in trouble."
Jonah throws his head back, laughing while we wander down the sidewalk. "Your concern is appreciated, but there's no need for that."
He pops his keys out, jingling them, pressing the button. A dark blue Mercedes beep ahead of us.
And then swells like a balloon in a fireball.
The roof cracks apart as the windows shatter from the explosion. Orange flames blossom into the air like a flower in bloom. Every other car alarm goes off, the cascade of noise mixed with the crackling fire rising along with the smoke from the Mercedes. Then the shockwave hits the three of us, knocking us to the ground.
"Holy shit!" Jonah gasps as he scrambles up.
Adriana screams.
"Get back!" I yell while shielding them with my arms. Corralling them towards the building, away from the smoldering car, I glance back at the chaos. Black fumes billow upwards, blocking out the sun. Sirens shriek in the distance. Someone has already called 911.
"What happened?" Adriana stammers, clinging to me. "What... what was..."
"What the fuck!" Jonah shouts. He jumps out of my grip, standing on the sidewalk with his hands buried in his hair. "What the actual fuck!"
I drop my hand heavily onto Jonah's shoulder; he stares up at me, his pupils tiny dots. He's slowly sinking back into his own body. "Are you okay?" I ask him.
He blinks rapidly. "Yeah." He blinks again. "I almost died."
I don't say anything.
Adriana gawks at the flames with her mouth dropped open wide as a trumpet bell. "How could that happen? Cars don't just blow up!"
Jonah's eyes narrow—he's connected the dots. "Yannick. You said he'd act fast, but I didn't think..."
I tilt my head, listening to the sirens draw closer. "I can't stay here with the cops coming. I'd offer you a ride with me, but that's not wise, I think."
"No," he agrees quietly. Something passes his face, then he tightens his jaw, staring at me with new determination. "I should have believed you from the start."
My thumb moves in a blur over my phone as I message for a private taxi. "The police will want to talk to you. I suggest you take the opportunity."
"And do what?" he asks.
"Find cops who are honest. If you're lucky, some of the ones showing up might be exactly that." Tucking my phone away, I hurry towards the nearby alley. "Be safe, both of you."
"You too," Adriana calls after me.
This time, she means it.
The squeal of cop cars and the honk of a firetruck peaks nearby. I resist the urge to jog. Exerting myself pulls at the bullet wound still freshly healing under my bandages. Sliding around a rusty dumpster, I exit the alley onto a side street. Unlike the front of Jonah's building this section is void of vehicles—other than my own, that is.
I reach for the driver's side door, preparing to unlock it.
"How'd it go?"
Mila is leaning on the stained concrete wall opposite my car. Her ankles are crossed, her black boots glinting in the fading sun. When she stretches her arms over her head with a yawn, her motorcycle jacket rises off of her waist, letting me see the handle of a knife. It's a decoy to distract from the many others she's hidden on her body.
I tap the hood of my car with a scowl. "You used too much fuel. It wasn't supposed to draw the attention of every firetruck in the damn city."
"Did it work?" she sighs.
Peering over her head, I note the smoke still floating in the distance. "Yes. Jonah is willing to help us."
"He's going to be pissed when he realizes you lied to him."
"Fuck what he thinks," I say, unlocking my car. "I need him to buy us some time."
"Not worried about the long term?" she asks suspiciously. Mila strides toward me until she's on the other side of my car, eyeing me over the top of it. "Guess it's easier to not be alive for the blowback than to say you're sorry, huh?"
I don't respond.
"Asher, I'm just fucking with you." She bends her knees like she's about to leap over my car and tackle me. "But what I want to know right now is if you're going to do something suicidal." She's waiting anxiously for me to expand upon my plans. The smoke continues to sway in the air behind her, curling, ever lengthening.
It reminds me of Camila's hair as she danced in my dream.
I slip inside my car. Before I shut the door, I reply curtly. "No."
Were it so easy.
