Secrets and Lies by Rebecca Norinne

Author:Rebecca Norinne [Norinne, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract tonight.

It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night.

This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet

And so my relationship with Arabella resumed much the way it had begun before: clandestine encounters conducted under a shroud of secrecy, stolen moments carved out of schedules that weren’t our own.

And meanwhile, the days, hours, and minutes ticked past, counting down the seconds I had left to deliver proof to Jayce that I’d done as he’d commanded. Eight more days. That was assuming he stuck to the original timeline he’d given me. It was hard telling if he’d give me the full allotment or if he’d get fed up waiting and take matters into his own hands.

Unfortunately, I was no closer to pulling the trigger, so to speak, on my plan than I’d been the moment I’d chosen Arabella over him. And that was a problem because the longer I waited, the more I wondered if I’d be able to go through with it when the time came. I’d spend the past 48 hours concocting and then tossing aside one elaborate plan after the next when I’d seen the inherent flaws of each and every one of them. Finally, an hour ago, I’d decided I didn’t actually need any grand plan to accomplish my aim. It was really quite simple: I’d take out Jimmy and then my brother. Two bullets and done. It was risky, but I had the element of surprise on my side.

Still, I didn’t know if I could do it alone. Actually, that wasn’t true. I knew I had to be the one to put the bullet in my brother, but I needed someone to act as my eyes and ears while I cornered him. It was risky bringing someone else in on the operation lest they turn on me, but I was almost positive I could trust my friend Ben Volio. We’d been tight since we were boys and he’d been my right hand enforcer the last five years. He was as fed up with Jayce’s whims as I was, but I didn’t know if he was pissed enough to help me commit fratricide.

Which was why I was sitting in a dive bar in an out-of-the-way neighborhood neither Jayce nor his goons would ever visit, waiting for my friend to join me. Because I had to find out where he stood and the only way to do that was to ask him flat out and trust he wouldn’t rat on me.

“Whiskey, neat,” came a deep, gravely voice as Ben pulled up a stool. “This ain’t your usual haunt,” he observed, swiveling his head to take in the low, tobacco-stained ceiling and dark pine walls covered with posters featuring beer girls last seen sometime in the mid-1980s.

“Nope,” I agreed, taking a pull of my Bud Light.

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