Chapter 14 - No More Orders
Marisol slapped the page against Elias's chest.
“You signed it.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing what those trucks carried?”
“Not everything. Enough.” He didn't look away. “Cash. Stolen cargo. Protection payments. I thought the bridge route was for a shipment.”
“And you didn't care whose lives got crushed underneath it.”
“No.” His voice was rough. “I cared about my business. That's the truth.”
Giata wheeled between them. “Lena warned me you were becoming a man who could explain away anything. I defended you.”
Elias looked at his sister. “I know.”
“I need you to stop trying to make this right with money and guards.”
“Tell me what to do.”
“Tell the truth to Price. All of it. Even the parts that put you in prison.”
Elias didn't answer right away. He had spent twenty years making sure nobody could put him in a room he couldn't leave. His sister was asking him to walk into one voluntarily.
Marisol untied her apron and laid it on the desk.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Quitting. I came here looking for answers. I found them, and I don't want a paycheck that makes me afraid to speak.”
“Giata needs you.”
“Giata can call me whenever she wants. As a friend. Not as your employee.”
For once, Elias didn't argue.
Later, Giata found Marisol outside by the unfinished wheelchair ramp. The lake wind carried the smell of rain.
“I'm scared,” Giata admitted. “Not of getting hurt. Of remembering all of it. Of being angry forever.”
“Anger isn't forever unless somebody locks you in with it.”
“Will you stay for the concert?”
“What concert?”
“The one Lena and I were supposed to play. I want to finish her song. In public.”
Marisol grinned through her tears. “You are completely out of your mind.”
“Runs in the family.”
They laughed, and the sound carried through the open garden door.
May you like
Marisol's phone buzzed. Detective Price was calling.
“Don't go back inside,” Price said. “The evidence copy we logged has been seized on a forged warrant. Someone in my department is working for Dominic.”
