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I don’t say anything because he’s one hundred percent correct on all fronts.

“He’s got a hearing coming up. You’re not going to testify against him a second time,” he tells me bluntly. “Right now, you’re the only thing keeping him on the inside. I need him on the outside, working for me. Don’t ask what he’ll be doing because it’s none of your business.”

“I don’t think I can get out of it. If I try, they’ll just subpoena me again.”

“Wrong answer, missy. I’ve spent three years and a great deal of money on a problem that you created. Consider yourself lucky that I’m giving you an opportunity to fix your little mistake.”

“I’ll try my best to get out of it.”

“Vague promises aren’t good enough. If you’re asked to testify in his evidentiary hearing, you will recant, develop serious doubts, whatever my attorney tells you to say. I think he’s working on a strategy that involves coercion by federal agents. If that’s the case, you’ll remember that the federal agents pressured you and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

I glance away because the thought of lying under oath scares me. “What if they charge me with perjury or something like that?”

“They won’t. I need you to understand something loud and clear. I could simply kill you and be done with it. The only reason I’m giving you an opportunity to cooperate is because the feds’ star witness going missing or having an untimely accident might make them suspicious enough to investigate, which could lead to me.”

My blood runs cold and fear crawls up my spine because I don’t think he’s joking. He looks dead serious. I find my hands are shaking. I fold them together in my lap and try to pull myself together.

“If you do what I want, I’ll guarantee your safety. Afterward, when the whole process is over, you go back to your old life, raise your little girl, and continue shacking up with that biker you’re so fond of. But if you double-cross me, you’ll find out exactly how I deal with people who betray my trust.” Spreading his hands, he adds, “The choice is yours.”

Before I can answer, Queenie speaks up. “Well, that sounds more than fair.”

I turn and stare at her. And for one horrible second, I think she actually means it.

Queenie is looking at me with an expression of grandmotherly exasperation. Her expression takes on a slightly encouraging edge, like she wants me to understand what she’s saying or like I’m being slow about something that should be obvious.

“Bethy, you were young and inexperienced about life when the feds tricked you into doing their dirty work. But I can tell you from being around the Sons of Rage my whole life that cooperating with the authorities never made any situation better.”

I just stare at her, trying to get my head around whether she’s being serious right now or if this is just another of her strategic little games.

“You’re not young and inexperienced anymore. You’re a mother and Striker’s old lady. It’s time to take off those rose-tinted glasses and see that sometimes you have to compromise in order to survive in this world.”

“So, you’re taking his side?” I blurt out without thinking.

“No, but here’s the thing you’re missing. By informing for the feds, you stuck your nose in a situation that didn’t involve you. This man is generously offering you an opportunity to fix that mistake and move on with your life. He’s offering you a way out, and all you have to do is tell a few fibs to some fancy-pants lawyers about a situation you should never have been involved with in the first place. Compromise is the smart move here. Digging your heels in over something that doesn’t even involve you is how young women wind up dead. There is nothing to be gained by being stubborn.”

My mouth falls open and I’m sure it looks like the reason is because I just realized what a terrible mistake I made three years ago. But it’s actually because under the table, Queenie’s hand has found my thigh, and she’s given me a little pinch. That, coupled with an expression telling me to trust her and to play along, shows me that Queenie’s not selling me out, she’s bailing me out. Relief floods my brain, and some of the tension melts out of my shoulders.

I quickly do as she wants. Keeping my voice low and timid, I tell them, “I never thought about it that way. I guess the feds did use me. They told me what to say. I see how wrong that was now. Saying that at the hearing wouldn’t even be a lie.”

I watch the older man’s eyes light up. He’s bought it and thinks he has Queenie to thank. When he looks at her, his gaze is appreciative, warm even. For a brief moment I can see what he sees when he looks at her. To him, she’s a beautiful, fearless, elegant, unbothered woman taking his side, understanding his plight. He likes that she thinks of his criminal dealings as some kind of business endeavor that silly little me disrupted.

“You’re a sensible woman,” he says to Queenie, and there’s warmth in it, and appetite.

“I’m an old woman who’s watched a lot of good women make foolish choices,” Queenie says with a wry smile.

I sit quietly and listen to them shooting the breeze like we weren’t abducted and forced to come to this dirty place and he’s somehow our savior rather than the man who paid to have us abducted. Those two prospects might be dead. If so, their blood will be on his hands. And we don’t even know his name because no one has said it out loud. I’m not sure how I feel right now. It’s like up is suddenly down and down is up.

***

Later, when he steps away to talk to his men, I lean over and ask, “Queenie, what are you doing? You can’t believe he’s actually going to just let us go and hope I keep my word. No matter how convincing we were, he’s not gonna risk it.”

“Of course not. He’ll probably want to keep me as leverage to make sure you follow through on your promise. Even if you do, he might try to keep me anyway.”

“We’re not going to agree to anything like that,” I whisper angrily. “I’ll stay until it’s time to testify. That should be enough for him.”

She grabs my arm and gives me a little yank. “Get it together, girl. Neither one of us is staying. It’s just to buy us time for our men to get here.” Her hand drops from my arm as her eyes roam around the room. “We need to plan a distraction.”

“What?”