Page 95 of Who's Saving You
Their eyes meet mine. “Noelle.”
I nod. “Noelle began to unravel things, and it goes much deeper. My sister…” I swallow the word down. “She set it up. She setmeup.”
The words hang in the air like poison. “What do you mean she set you up?”
I shake my head. “We’re not sure yet, but she benefited from getting those winnings. The start-up of her company happened right after.” I swallow down the fear. “Right after the game, and right after Dad disappeared.”
Loving finally speaks, his voice trembling. “You were in trouble. And you didn’t say anything? You let yourself drown alone?” He shakes his head, hurt breaking through. “Nik… we’re supposed to be brothers.”
Soba exhales hard, rubbing a hand down his face. He doesn’t look away, though. “Damnit, Nik. You think we wouldn’t have understood? You're not the only one who’s been carrying something.”
I blink at them both, stunned. But I should have known. They've been closer to me than anyone my entire life.
Loving’s jaw tightens, but his eyes soften. “This hurts.” His voice cracks, like the wound is fresh. “Not that you gambled. Not even that you fucked us over. But that you didn’t trust us enough to let usin.” He breathes in. “And maybe that's where we went wrong. You were always the strong one; we counted on you to be that person. To be the saint we needed,” he scoffs.
The room spins around me. All the lies, the weight of the last few years, it feels like it could crush me. “I didn’t want to drag you down,” I whisper. “I thought if you knew, it would break us.”
Soba puts his face closer to the screen, anger cooling into something steadier. “Nothing could break the Trickie Nickies. Not secrets, not money, not distance. Not even cougars.” He smirks, and we all let out a nervous laugh.
We sit there in the silence, three brothers tied together by a giant secret, feeling stronger together than ever before. They know the worst pieces of me now, the ones I hid, the ones I didn’t want to believe myself, and they’re still here.
39
Noelle
My phone goes off with a text.
Unknown: How do I know this is real? Your location shows you somewhere in the ocean
Me: And what islands are surrounding me?
I look up at Dante and Nik. “This guy isn’t too bright, is he? I set my VPN to be in the Mediterranean Sea. I’m surrounded by Greek islands,” I say it dryly, and they chuckle, the air still tense.
Unknown: 9 pm. Sal’s
Me: I’ll be there
Dante, Nik, and I came up with a game plan. I’m going to talk to Rhett and feel him out, see if I can get him to admit anything. He’s just dying to say what he knows, and this is what I’m good at. Making people talk, letting them feel like they can share their secrets with me.
“It’s reckless, I know. But they already know my name. They’ve already followed me. Meeting him on our own terms might be the only way to take some control.”
“There’s a reason you’ve been staying with me, hidden from all of this,” Nik counters. He’s still not one hundred percent sold on this little plan. But I don’t see any other way around it.
“But I can't stay hidden forever, Nik. Let me do this.”
“She’s on neutral ground, and we’ll have eyes on her,” Dante says as he pulls what looks like a tiny little magnet from the desk and comes over to me. “This is a tracker. Give me your shoe.”
I bend, slipping off my sneaker and hand it to him. He presses the little tracker to the sole of my shoe and hands it back. “It’s almost flat, but it’s probably going to feel like a pebble in your shoe. Get over it and get your story, Moreno.” His lips are tight, but his eyes dance with laughter when I hear Nik growl from behind me.
“Don’t be such a caveman,” I say as I put my shoe back on and then wrap my arms around him. “Just make sure you come get me when I’m done.”
“Oh, I’ll be there. Don’t you worry about that.”
~~
I walk into the dive bar at the far end of town, scanning the area. It’s dark, and only a few people linger at the bar. I keep my head down and eyes peeled. I grab a drink at the bar and look at the booths lining the place.
Bingo.
