Page 54 of Golden Touch
“Did they see my car?” Her voice is high and panicked.
“Well…” I won’t lie. “They might have. I couldn’t exactly ask.”
She crumbles from the inside out. Like all the fear and anxiety suddenly became too heavy to bear. I catch her just as her knees buckle. I scoop her up and carry her through to the bedroom, while she clings to me like a frightened cat. I roll onto the messy bed and gather her close to my chest. “You’re all right. It’s okay.”
“It’snotokay,” she gasps. “Nothing is okay. I have to go. I have to run. Tonight.”
She’s shaking like a leaf. “Nobody is running,” I say, bracing her trembling body against my own. “We’ll sort it out.”
“I’ve tried,” she whispers. “He’s never going to leave me alone. I’m dangerous to them.”
“Because you know too much?”
For a long beat I don’t think she’s going to answer the question. “Yes,” she finally whispers. “I did the books for months before I realized they were laundering money. I thought they were just really successful mechanics.” She lets out a laugh that comes out more like a sob. “That was his goal—to make sure I was deep in it before I got the full picture.”
“Aw, Livia. It’s not your fault. I’d have to google money-laundering to make sure I even know what that entails.”
“I’m a bookkeeper, though. I should have seen through his bullshit. And his love-bombing and his shifty answers to direct questions. I got played so bad. Now I’ll never get out from under it.”
“Don’t give up,” I whisper. “You’re not beaten yet.”
An owl hoots somewhere in the distance, and she shivers against me. “What did the other guy look like?”
I describe him, and she swallows hard. “What did he say to you? What reason did he give for showing up at two in the morning?”
“Eh…” I’m not sure what she can handle right now. “He didn’t even try to lie about it. He didn’t name you, but he asked me where you were.”
Livia shudders. “And then he threatened you, right? Wait—he threatened the brewery, too. That’s how they operate.”
“Well, yeah,” I admit. “I guess you do understand these punks.”
“Sure I do—now. When it’s too late.” She sighs. “I’ll get a couple hours sleep, and then I’ll go.”
“No you won’t,” I say, running a hand through her soft hair. “That solves nothing.”
“Of course it does! If I’m not here, there’s no reason for them to bother you.”
“But that’s not how assholes work,” I argue. “I can’t prove to him that you’re not here, right? I stuck up for you once already. He’ll just assume I’ve hidden you a little better.”
Her body tenses up. “God, you’re right. I’m toxic now. And it’s spreading.”
Then she burst into tears.
CHAPTER 22
LIVIA
It’s so embarrassing and so unlike me, but the tears flow freely for a few minutes. I can’t seem to shut them down.
“I’m…”Gulp.“…sorry.” I whimper.
“Shh,” he says with a tired sigh. An hour ago, the poor man had been asleep on a crappy old couch in what I assumed to be an unnecessary macho gesture.
Then he did a two-a.m. lap around his father’s business with a baseball bat, because I led criminals to his front door.
Nash shouldn’t be here at all. He doesn’t want to run this brewery, let alone chase drug dealers in the dark. He has a whole other life in Boston. But I’veinflictedmyself, like a virus, splat into the center of his life.
And now I’m crying into his T-shirt. And into his very hard chest.
