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“Cade?” I plead, sliding my hand up to his face and cupping it.
“She’s alive. She and Darth did steal from Marshall, and because of that, Darth was killed. He took the fall, and Clara did a runner before Marshall could get to her. He maintains he doesn’t know where she is and quite frankly, he doesn’t care. He has bigger fish to fry than a rogue woman who meant nothing to him.”
“If she ran,” I say, my voice shaky with shock. “Why didn’t she come looking for you?”
“She doesn’t know that he isn’t still lookin’ for her. Chances are she changed her name, started a new life and hasn’t dared come back in fear that he will kill her. When you run from a man like Marshall, you do not show your face again. Not to mention our relationship wasn’t exactly strong, she had no reason to reach out to me. Why would she? I left her.”
I’m sad for the entire situation, for Clara, for Cade, and mostly for the years they have lost.
“How are you going to find her?” I ask.
“I have no fuckin’ idea. Darth would have had someone create a whole new identity for them before they stole those goods, he was smart enough for that, but it is goin’ to take time to try to find out who that was and if they even know what the hell they did back then. There might be a chance we never find her.”
That breaks my heart.
“Celeste doesn’t know Darth is dead,” I whisper. “That means I have to tell her.”
Cade nods. “I can’t give her closure, sugar, because I don’t know where they dumped him. All I know is we can at least let her know he’s gone. It’ll be a hard thing for her to process.”
My heart breaks for her.
For all of them.
Being tangled up in a world that you thought would help you, and in the end, it was the reason your life was cut short.
Darth and Clara were young, they were in love, and they thought they could have a life filled with riches and good things, that they could do better than the life they were raised in, and because of that, they chose the wrong path. Nobody is to blame for that, and I’ll do everything in my power to help Cade find Clara, so at the very least, the two of them can have closure.
He deserves it, but mostly, so does she.
This puzzle needs to be pieced back together so that everyone can heal.
Finally.
24
Cade
“Answer the mother fuckin’ question,” I growl, my hand around the throat of a local dealer who I have managed to trace back to Darth.
It has taken some time, to go from telling Celeste Darth was gone, and finding out every name she knew of every person in his life. Then, I had to go to each person, and through them, I slowly started piecing together a story. That story led me here, to a small-town dealer who no doubt put Darth on the wrong path to begin with.
He might know who he went to, to get those new identities, or at the very least, who was making them around that time. These fuckers know the ins and outs of everything. They might be small time dealers, but they’ve got their noses in everyone’s fucking business. They’re the worms beneath the dirt, poking their heads out, taking note, but keeping out of everyone's way.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he wheezes, pulling at my arms to try to make me stop squeezing tighter with each passing second.
“Here’s the thing. I’ve been around longer than you, boy, and I know for a fuckin’ fact that you’re lyin’ to me. You know how I know?”
His eyes dart away.
“That right there. You can’t look me in the eye. You’re tryin’ to cover someone's ass, but let me tell you, it’s your own you should be worried about. Do you have any fuckin’ idea what I’ll do to you?”
“Yes,” he yells. “I know who you are, but I’m telling the truth, I don’t know anything.”
Shrugging, all while keeping him against the wall, I reach into my pocket and pull out a small knife. Bringing it up, I move it in front of his face and his eyes widen. Then, I flip the blade and slowly push it toward his eyeball, until he’s squirming, desperately trying to keep the blade from touching his flesh. It’s mere millimeters away. With one wrong move, it’ll take his eye out.
“I don’t have to kill you to make you squeal, in fact, it’s more fun this way. You don’t need your eyes, do you? I’m sure you know your way around these streets by now.”
Touching just the tip of the blade to his eye surface, he squeals, just like I knew he would.
