Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“Wait,” I say as he stands. “What am I supposed to do now?”
Con doesn’t look at me. “If I were you, I’d think very carefully about your relationship with Adler. I’d think about everything he told you, and I’d ask him questions. I’d pay attention to the answers. I’d keep asking until he tells you everything you need to know. Then I’d get the hell out of town.”
I stare at Con’s back as he walks off, my body ringing as if struck by a tuning fork.
Chapter 31
Casey
I can’t stop thinking about my conversation with Adler’s brothers.
For the rest of the morning, I obsess over everything they said. Jayson’s facial expressions, Erick’s silent weight, Con’s slouchy attitude. The three men all seemed worried about me in different ways, and all because of Adler.
But it doesn’t make any sense. I feel safe when Adler’s around, not like he’s some psycho killer.
Yes, he’s been stalking me, maybe a little closer than I realized, but he’s been helping me too.
Without his patronage, I don’t know where I’d be right now.
My parents might not have a house. I might not have a job.
Because of him, I can take care of my family. He’s done nothing but accommodate my needs, and I should be grateful.
Except Jayson’s warning still echoes through my mind.
And slowly, the holes in Adler’s story become clear.
I’m shaking when I get off work. I head up into the apartment, pour myself a glass of wine, sit out on the balcony, and think. I go over what he told me, again and again, trying to fit all the pieces together.
But there are gaps.
Huge gaps, ones I’ve been purposefully not thinking about too hard.
Like, why did Tony Vetch act like we’d met before? Why would Tony Vetch care about me at all?
How did Adler find me the night of the accident? Looking back, he never said.
And what even happened? Again, he didn’t tell me exactly how I was hit, only that he found me and tried to help me.
There are too many things that don’t make sense and the more I try to square them, the more they stand out.
I have another glass. And a third. I’m feeling light-headed and tipsy when Adler finally comes back to the apartment that night. He breezes in and pours himself a glass as I linger near the couch, trying to find a way to broach the subject without coming at him too hard, but there’s no easy way to do this.
“What were you doing the night of my accident?”
I blurt it out. I just say it, straight up like that, out of nowhere. He stops what he’s doing, mid-pour, and stares at me with surprise. Slowly, he lowers the wine bottle. “Why are you asking that?”
“I’ve been thinking,” I say and for a second I think I’ll chicken out. I’m afraid of him, especially after Jayson’s warning. If Adler’s own brothers are nervous for me, maybe I should start being nervous for myself. “You never told me. Actually, you didn’t tell me a lot of stuff.”
“It’s not important.” He sips his wine. His face shows nothing.
Infuriating. “It’s important to me. What were you doing?”
“You don’t want to get into this. You’ve had a long day.”
“No,” I say sharply. “What happened that night? You must’ve seen it.”
“You were out running. The driver didn’t see you when you crossed the street. It’s that simple.”
“But how fast was the car going? Was I in a crosswalk or in the middle of the street? Was I wearing all black, is that why they didn’t see me?”
Adler takes a long sip. “It’s not important.”
“Tell me.” Panic rises in my throat. “Why aren’t you telling me?”
“Casey—”
“I need to know. Ever since it happened I’ve had these gaps in my memory. The doctors said I got a bad concussion and lost a lot of time, and it’s been killing me, Adler. All that lost time. I need to know how it happened, what I did wrong, what I can do to fix it, if there’s anything I could’ve done differently.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s not enough. I need to know everything. Please, Adler, you’re the only person in the world that knows. I’m begging you now, please. Tell me what happened.”
He takes a slow breath and finishes his glass of wine. “I dreaded this,” he says. “When I told you last night, I knew we’d have this conversation, but I hoped I’d have more time. I hoped—well, I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s stupid now. Thinking maybe I could convince you that I’m not such a bad person after all, despite the evidence.”
“What did you do?” I ask, feeling like I might choke.
“We were arguing.” Adler stares at me, his expression blank. My body goes cold, my toes numb, my fingers tingling. “Another argument. It feels like that’s all we did back then. Argued over business stuff, argued over personal stuff, over girls and drugs and friends. Tony had a fucking temper, and I guess I do too, and we clashed. Getting our businesses mixed up was a very bad idea, but we thought we could take on the world together. It was a mistake.”