Page 57 of Push & Pull
“Just… family stuff. About your dad. Your Uncle Michail. Stuff like that.”
“Okay?”
“You’re still working for your uncle…”
“What do you expect me to do? I wasn’t exactly given a leg-up on life, and he’s the kind of man that makes you understand how much you owe him. He basically adopted me and has charged me interest on everything he paid for me before I was eighteen. I’ve had to work that off. He’s, uh, found a use for me, too.”
“I know.”
Was that guilt in Nicolette’s voice? The woman who found out what her daughter was doing at eighteen and shrugged as if it didn’t concern her now that Petra was legally an adult?I was making men think I was underage, for fuck’s sake.Petra didn’t think about things like therapy and coping mechanisms until she was in front of her mother in a Pennsylvanian state penitentiary for bad girls.What is she even in for this time?Petra could hardly remember, although she was pretty sure it was armed robbery.
“I want to talk to him about getting out, though. After tomorrow’s job, I think I’m ready to move on. Maybe get an actual job. Focus on my future. I’ve paid off almost all of my debt, and pretty soon I’ll be too old to play the roles he wants me to at work.” Petra was still careful about how she worded her predicament. “I don’t know how to bring it up with him, though. He’s a tough, unforgiving man, as you know.”
“Oooh, I know all about unforgiving, honey. I knew him when he was tougher than he is today, and that wasbeforehe got successful.”
No idea what he does with that success.Uncle Michail drove nicer cars and had apartments around the eastern part of the US, but the millions he was making were not shared with his underlings, nor did he treat himself to indulgences that burned dollar bills.Hoarding it. That’s the only explanation.Men like Michail were all about their nest eggs that nobody else was to know about.
“Michail needs to be in this place,” Nicolette muttered. “You do best to get away from him if you can. Before you end up here.”
“You’re suddenly so concerned about it?”
“Of course I am! I’m your mother, ain’t I?”
Petra shrugged. “It would be the first time you said any of this in earnest.”
“Hey, I don’t like the cut of your jib. I may not be the best mother in the world, but that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of caring about you, Petra.”
“Yeah…” Wasn’t that part of the problem? Hard to cut herself off from this woman if there was still a hint of empathy in those eyes that looked so much like Petra’s.
“He called me recently, by the way,” Nicolette said. “Wanted to know if I was on track to get out early. Bastard thinks I’m gonna work for him when I get out. Told him to take a hike. Honestly, I want nothing to do with him or any of them. Now, ifyouget out, too, maybe that’s something. We could head back to Chicago and get ourselves a fresh start.”
That’ll be a cold day in hell.“I’m not planning on staying in Chicago if I leave the family business,” Petra said. “Thinking of moving out here. Maybe not Philly, but New England is nice. Boston, Providence, fuck it, pick me a city in Connecticut and I’ll consider it.”
“Sounds expensive.”
“Chicago’s gotten crazy expensive lately. Even Detroit is crawling back up. Everywhere’s a nightmare. Honestly, leaving Uncle Michail will put a nice dent in my income, what of it I have.”
“Don’t go relying on those skills he taught you, either. Or you’ll end up here.”
You think I don’t think about that?Men like Clyde Quimby would have landed Petra’s ass in Indiana jail if he had caught up to her. Luckily for her, she had driven away before his maligned self got one hand on her.
“It won’t be easy leaving him,” Nicolette said. “You’re the only girl on his roster, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Hmph. He doesn’t have much imagination. There’s one way he likes to fool dumbasses into paying backhismoney. Ask me how I know.”
Petra would rather not.
“If you don’t owe him anything else, then tell him you’re leaving and do it. He’ll kick up a fuss and maybe even threaten you, but I don’t think he’ll actually harm a hair on your head.”
“Why’s that?”
“’Cause. Family.”
Petra didn’t buy that. “It’s been a while since you knew him like I do.”
“Sweetheart, I certainly hope you don’t know him likeIdid.”
