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“Called in and reported my car as stolen,” Bodhi says with a shrug.
Then, for the first time since he sat down at this table, my brother smiles. It isn’t one that reaches his eyes, or even a lighthearted one, but one that says he definitely approves of Bodhi’s retaliations.
“Talk about poetic justice,” Eli says.
“That’s what I said,” Bodhi chuckles.
I elbow him in the side, but secretly I love that these two are getting along. It means a lot to me that Eli approves of him. Especially since our dad isn’t around to give his blessing.
“It was a stupid thing to do, though,” bodhi says, sighing as he looks over my face.
“Why?”
“Mateo may have gotten arrested and taken in for questioning, but some of his little buddies thought they’d take it upon themselves to run your sister off the road up at the Heights,” Bodhi says, and I watch Eli’s eyes go black.
“They what?” he asks, a menacing calm falling over him.
“Hey,” I call his attention to me. “I’m okay. Pretty banged up and yeah, I broke my wrist, but I’m okay. As for your car, well, that’s another thing,” I say, the guilt weighing on me with the admission.
“Fuck the car. I don’t care about some car. Those fuckers think they can come after my family and there won’t be a price to pay? They’ll see,” Eli says, and I don’t like the thinly veiled threat.
“Eli, don’t do anything stupid,” I say.
“I won’t,” he says, and leaves it at that.
“Anyway,” Bodhi says, stopping me before I freak out on my brother. “Sander made sure the guy got arrested, but now Mateo is in the wind. Sander said he wanted to put Keaton and your mom in a safe house until they found him, and they’ve been staying at my grandparents’ house, but yesterday a flower delivery came for Keaton with a note from Mateo, so clearly, they weren’t as hidden as we thought.”
“That son of a bitch,” Eli mutters in annoyance.
“Yeah, pretty much. Sander said the only way we can put him away for good is with a confession from his mouth. There isn’t any proof to pin him with anything. The fucker is good. I’ll give him that. But that’s why we’re here. I was hoping you could give me something… anything, to get him talking.”
Bodhi and my brother watch each other for a good minute, weighing their options, it seems. When Eli finally speaks, the guard calls out over the room, announcing that we’re down to our last two minutes.
“Listen to me,” Eli says, and Bodhi and I lean forward, giving him all of our attention. “There is shit I can’t say in here for the sake of my own life. But what I can say is that there is more going on behind the scenes than even I ever had the time to figure out.
“You know that Mateo works for Castillo, but what you don’t know is the shit Castillo has his hands in. It’s bad, and not even Mateo dared to fuck with him. I don’t know the details, but I got the feeling that he was running shit against his will. It doesn’t change the shit he did, but you have to worry about a lot more than just him if you tackle this.”
Bodhi and I exchange looks, knowing that we’re already too far in to back out now.
“What if we act like we don’t know anything? Just go after Mateo over the threats and the shit with my brother. Play it off like it’s more of a personal vendetta than anything else?” Bodhi asks.
We’re down to thirty seconds.
“Then you better play the part well. I found out too much and look where it landed me. They have no problem getting rid of people if they need to. Play it safe, whatever you do.”
Eli stands from the table when the guard announces that our time is up.
“If I were you, I’d find the guy responsible for your brother’s accident. Mateo had a way of scaring people into submission, and I bet this guy was no different. It’ll be hard, but anything worthwhile usually is.”
I circle the table and wrap my arms around my brother, fighting back tears. I don’t want him to see me cry. Especially because I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to see him again.
“Be safe Keat. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you,” he says, pulling back and dropping his hands to his sides.
“I will,” I say, pressing my lips into a thin line, holding back the emotions swelling in my chest.
Bodhi steps forward, and when he extends his hand this time, Eli takes it.
“You take care of her,” Eli tells him, squeezing his hand firmly. “Take care of them both.”
