“Does the name Eliam Pérez ring a bell for you?”
Roni narrows her eyes. “Maybe.”
Something about the name tickles my brain. Misha sits back in his seat and steeples his fingers in front of his mouth. He pulls a face and shrugs his shoulders.
“You can leave. I have no time for this. You haven’t kept your part of deal. I owe you nothing.”
It’s clear that we’re being dismissed. However, Roni isn’t quite done. I cover my face with my hand.
“Are you shitting me? I had no idea what he was up to. You can’t hold that against me. I told him to stop. I have a two and a half month old; I can’t run after him every time he runs off. You said you would help me. Where’s Natasha? What did you find out about me?”
“I know everything,” Misha barks. “Be grateful for gift I give and go back to life you know. You don’t want the one you can’t remember.”
“What does that mean, Misha? What aren’t you saying?” I speak up.
“This is her past and her debt. Not yours,” he says to me.
“Her debts are mine as are the kid’s. Whatever they owe you is now mine. You call me from now on.”
“John,” Roni snaps.
Instead of turning my attention to her, I don’t take my eyes off of Misha. He gives a grin that looks sinister. Roni is burning a hole in the side of my face as she stares at me, but I need Misha to understand how serious I am.
“Are you sure you want to take that on?”
“Tell her what she wants to know. We’ll discuss the rest later, between you and me.”
He sits silently for a few beats. I can tell the wheels are turning. There are a million ways this could go bad. I know that, but I’m not allowing Roni to get in any deeper with Misha.
“I will tell you where to start looking for your truth. If you still wish to know everything else, I will help. Not for favor, not for friendship, I do for knowledge of pain.” He turns to gaze to Roni.
“What pain?”
“Pain you have yet to know. You have choice to make.” He turns to narrow his eyes at Torque. “Although, I don’t think truth will stay hidden for much longer.”
“That’s not good enough,” Roni snarls.
“For now, it is. Trust me, you thank me later.”
“Misha,” I say firmly.
His lips thin. “I do you favor this way. I do us all favor. If I tell you now, all our problems get worse. Take what I give.”
“John. Take Torque. Let me talk to Misha, please,” she says the last part pleadingly.
Working my jaw, I finally turn to her and glare. Her eyes are what give me pause. There’s a desperation I’ve never seen from Roni. “Please,” she repeats.
Against everything in me, I stand and nod. Moving to the couch, I grab Torque and shove him toward the door. I hesitate briefly at the exit. Looking back, I see my girl sitting before a killer king like a queen ready to overturn him and his empire if she has to.
Baby, don’t make me start a war.
Roni
I watch Misha as he tilts his head to the side examining me. I appraise him right back. I’m not leaving here without what I came for.
“Speak,” he says dryly.
“Yesterday, I was able to remember some things. I know that I’m Cherone Pérez, the daughter of Eliam Pérez,” I reply.
A smile spreads across his face. “Your father was interesting man. A wise man among thieves.”
“You knew him?”
“Da, I know many things. I know story of man and of you. You are ghost that has become ghost. He hid you for years and then you appeared and disappeared within months.”
“Why did I disappear, Misha? Or should I be asking how?”
He sits with his eyes narrowed on me. I don’t realize I’ve been holding my breath until he speaks. “You are asking the wrong questions. Tell me, was father’s death suspicious to you?”
I gasp and clench my fist. “Yes, it was. Why do you ask?”
He tilts his head to the side. “Are you sure you want to know what I know?”
“Yes,” I say in frustration.
He sighs and leans forward to put his elbows on the table. “Woman you grow up thinking was mother, was not. When you were baby men were sent to kill you and your family.
“They underestimated your papa, but the attempt was not total fail. Your papa took you to his mistress in New York—”
“Wait, what?”
“Da, Eliam loved your birth mother, but having power like his makes for foolish decisions. Anyway, you were safe with mistress. She loved Eliam and wanted nothing more than to please him.
“However, Eliam wasn’t the same. Your father didn’t want to compromise your safety and he was heartbroken man. Soon mistress grew tired.
“Nothing was same. Eliam stopped coming to visit, she could not live good life out in open. He made sure you both had money, but she could never spend on lavish things as she used to,” Misha says.
My mind is reeling. I feel like I just walked onto an episode of the What the Fuck game show. I can’t even follow him fully as question after question forms.
“Where is this going?”
“Mistress threatened to expose you and sell you to highest bidder, thinking this would get papa’s attention. It did. As he should, your papa took her life. But here’s problem.
“Betrayal warps mind. Secrets have bigger secrets. Your father put trust in wrong people. He could never prove who was responsible for your mother’s death. He had suspicions, but no proof.
“He left snakes to wonder in garden. Now you have infestation. Not good for safety of daughter he spent life protecting.”
I squint at him, trying to see through his cryptic words. “Like who?”
He researches for his cigar box and cutter. Clipping a cigar, he stares at me and lights it. I fold my arms over my chest while he blows smoke out.
“You have many heads to cut off, but the first part of problem… two brothers, last name García. Your father trusted their uncle, but never should have trusted them. I get his plan; what he was thinking. I just don’t agree. Especially when you add those fuckers,” he says.
I clench my jaw; I already know that I’m going to kill Darius and Richie. My question: is how deep does this go? This all had to start somewhere.
“Misha, what happened in DR?”
He pauses and his eyes turn into slits. “You go knocking at doors, they will open.”
“Knock, knock,” I huff.
“Everyone was told you were dead. A plane accident on your way to DR.” He’s eyeing me for my reaction, but I reveal no emotion just like my father taught me.
“Who else am I looking for?”
He sits back again and allows more smoke to billow. “You will tie yourself to bigger problems. This what you want to hide from John, da?”
“I still don’t know what I’m hiding from him. I never figured out the depth of what my father left in my lap.”
“Maybe you should start there. Not on this mission you seek,” he says.
“It’s been what? Four years or more. Where do I begin? Won’t I be rattling the same cage?”