Page 114 of Tony

“Who?” I ask. “Who the fuck are we dealing with?”

Midnight takes a deep breath. And is that rage she’s hiding underneath all these nonchalant words? “They go by many names. Company. Silver Society. The Way. There’s dozens more where those came from. But they are all the same. They are all high-ranking politicians. Celebrities. Media moguls. Just your average billionaires. Point to just about anyone at the top and they’re involved. And if you don’t get your shit together, Tony Dumas, the full wrath of their cover story will ruin everything your family stands for. You will all go to prison. The entire world will know your family as those nice people down on Key West who sold children into slavery. And that’s the best case scenario. The headlines only get more disgusting from there.”

“But they didn’t,” Belinda insists. “We have proof! We can show them the kids, and get the whole marina to testify—“

“Are you serious right now?” Midnight asks her. The tone of her voice rising in pitch. “I mean, I get it. You’re just an innocent girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But please tell me you’re not that naïve. Because if you are, we have a lot to go over before I can let you leave this room. And it’s not going to be pleasant to hear.”

None of us say anything. We just all stand there feeling… overwhelmed, I guess. Blindsided is maybe a better word.

Then, finally, Midnight says. “It doesn’t have to go this way. We have people in place to take care of it, Tony. Johnny Boston—“

I turn on her. “He’s part of this?”

“Of course,” Midnight says. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

We’re all silent again. And we stand totally still. Like each of us is afraid to move. Afraid to hear what might come out of her mouth next.

“Listen,” Midnight says. “I know this sucks.”

“Sucks,” Belinda snorts.

Midnight glares at her and Belinda goes quiet. “I know this sucks,” she says again. “But this is how the real world operates, you guys. What better way to hide something awful? Something truly terrible that most people don’t even want to admit is happening? They do it by having a front that seems to oppose their evil plans. If you want to smuggle children around the world for your own personal, disgusting reasons—then you start a charity for them. An orphanage. A… you know. Clean water initiative for a remote village. An adoption agency. A preschool.”

“Oh, my God,” Belinda says. Holding her stomach. “This can’t be happening.”

“You don’t have to believe it,” Midnight says. “But it’s one-hundred percent true. I’ve been watching it happen my whole life.”

She looks at Vann. “You think you know things because you can toss names around like Sasha Cherlin. Or James Fenici.” She looks at me. “Or Johnny Boston. But listen to me. Those people?” She shakes her head. “They haven’t seen anything compared to me. And I know the backstory about James. You may have heard some of it, Vann. But you don’t know what really happened to him as a child. They did horrific things to him. But as horrible as they were, that was nothing compared to what they did to me.”

Midnight shifts her gaze back to me. “Or that girl you saved a few months ago that got you into all this trouble. You did a good thing, Tony. But it’s not going to help you now. They set you up. They gave you a choice to help people. The choice was an illusion. You’re just another cog in the wheel. How much do you get paid? Hmm? For your good deeds?”

“What?” I say. Disgusted at the mere idea that we do this for money. “We don’t get paid, Midnight. It’s fucking charity.”

“No,” she says sadly. “You don’t get paid. But they do. Your family does this for all the right reasons. But those people out there who really run things? They don’t. This is all about money and leaving a legacy. All of it.”

She looks back at Vann. “You seem to know a lot about what Spencer Shrike and his friends did several years back to set up, and take down, the dirty FBI in this town. But do you know the details? Do you know how they did that?”

Vann shakes his head.

“They stole money. A lot of very dirty money. That’s how it all started. And then they used that same dirty money and simply connected it to an FBI agent. They made a money trail, Vann.” She looks at me. “It’s all about money. And if you want to find the people responsible for all the evil shit that happens in this world you follow the money. And if you want to set someone up to take your fall and eat your guilt—all you have to do is leave a little money trail for someone else to follow. That’s how Spencer and his friends did it, Vann. They knew how the world worked. And they set someone else up to take their fall, and punish the Company at the same time.”

I hear her. I understand what she’s saying. But this… can’t be true. We can’t be in this fucking deep. “We don’t have a money trail, Midnight. It’s just not there. We never took any—“

“Didn’t you?” she snaps.

“We didn’t!”

“You did,” she growls. “You just didn’t know it. Your family is quite rich now, aren’t they?”

“We earned that.”

“Your sister—“

“My sister earned that! She owns a huge cosmetics company, for fuck’s sake! They started it from nothing! They give away millions of dollars every freaking Christmas!”

Midnight puts up her hands. “I get it. I know how hard this is. But… I’m not saying she’s not brilliant, or her partners aren’t brilliant, or their products aren’t superior. They are probably all those things. But come on! She’s like what? Thirty years old and she’s one of the richest women in the world! How do you think that happens? Hard work? Really?”

I… don’t know what to say. But I’m not ready to accept this. “It can’t all be based on lies.”