“Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Johnson.”
When I exit the office, Eli takes one look at me and hangs his head. “Did I make more trouble for you, Mommy?”
“Of course not.” I pull him close. “How about we go get ice cream?”
“Really?!”
“Really.” I press a kiss on the top of his head. “Then, once we’re home, we’ll talk a little more. Okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
As we walk back to the car, my heart fills with all sorts of feelings. Guilt is the worst of them.
My kid needed me. He needed me, and I wasn’t there.
By the time we make it home, Eli’s bouncing around with grocery bags filled with tubs of all sorts of flavors. I know I’m going to need to give him a stern talking-to about his attack on Bobby, but for now, I want to put him at ease. I want to see him smile again.
Then I see the crumpled envelope lying on the welcome mat.
“Mommy?” Eli peers down at it. “What’s this?”
“Nothing,” I say quickly, squirreling it under my arm. “Just mail.”
But I can’t ignore the anxious thumping of recognition in my chest, nor the Post-It stuck on top of the contract.
You have three weeks to decide.
Three weeks. That’s all I’ve got.
Three weeks to figure out my kid’s future.
Three weeks to decide whether to sell my soul or keep it.
Three weeks to shake hands with the devil.
16
YULIAN
“Blyat’,” Maksim curses as he nearly trips. “Pothole. There’s nothing but potholes here!”
I tune him out and focus on my breathing. Jogging always clears my head. There’s nothing like a good workout to get the blood pumping, but today, the gym didn’t feel like enough.
Today, I wanted to keep my body in motion.
Today, I wanted to behere.
Which is an odd thing to feel about Brownsville.
Maksim’s phone pings. “Nikita?” I ask as he checks it.
He sighs. “Another dead end. Fucking hate dead ends.”
“Not as much as I do.”
He must feel the growl of warning in my tone, because he leaves a wide berth between us as we jog down Brooklyn’s asphalt asshole. “It’s like we said, man. Whoever did this is a ghost. Which fits a little too well with everything else that’s happened.”
He means the shooting at the wedding.
