Page 153 of Something Tattered
It wasn't just a gang. It was a nightmare. A few months earlier, a huge sweep had landed most of them in prison – exactly where Joel might be, if things went terribly wrong.
I gave a sad nod. "And apparently, the guy didn't take it so great."
"What'd he do?" Cassie asked.
"Oh, nothing much," I said. "Just threatened to kill him."
"You mean Joel?" she said. "Is he worried?"
"I don't know." I rubbed at my suddenly tired eyes. "He never mentioned any of this."
"Then maybe Derek's lying." Cassie perked up. "He lied about the car, right?"
I let out a long, shaky breath. "Iwishhe were lying. But I saw the paperwork, along with a couple of news clippings. Unfortunately, this time he's telling the truth."
"What are you gonna do?" Cassie asked. "Like, is there some way to talk Derek out of it?"
"There is, in fact." I blinked long and hard. "I've got to get rid of Joel."
Cassie gave a little gasp. "You mean break up with him?"
My heart ached at the thought. But that's exactly what Derek had demanded. The jerk had even promised to send a moving truck to help things along.
But that wasn't all of it. "Not just that," I said. "I've got to pull his endowment."
"The art endowment? Is that even possible, legally, I mean?"
I gave another humorless laugh. "Oh yeah. I haven't signed the papers yet, remember? So technically, there's nothing to pull. I've just got to let Claude know that I'm vetoing Joel's name."
"You can do that?"
I sighed. "Oh yeah, it's one of the rare legal powers I actually have. Pretty ironic, huh?"
Cassie's voice grew quiet. "So you're gonna do it?"
"I don't know," I said. "But I can't let him go to prison."
"But you don't know for sure that he will. You know Derek. He's probably exaggerating."
I gave her a long look. "If you loved someone, would you take that chance?"
"You love him? Does he know that?"
A sad smile crossed my lips. "Yeah. We've, um, said it actually."
Cassie gave me a sympathetic look. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, me too." I couldn’t help but recall Joel's dreaded nickname – Cigar. This would only confirm his worst superstitions.
Therehadto be another way. I just needed some time to think. Already, I had one idea, but I'd need to ask Claude about it. The only bright spot was that I'd been scheduled to meet with him today anyway.
I looked to Cassie and said, "I hate to do this, but do you care if I leave early after all?"
"Sure, no problem." Her eyes filled with sympathy. "So you're gonna tell Joelnow?"
I shook my head. "No. And if I'm lucky, maybe I won't have to."
Chapter 68
