gazing out of the windshield. “No one knows about this yet. I’ll let you know the time and place, but start packing up your things. Tell friends and family that Harrison fronted you the money for a better apartment. Tell your family about getting the part in the show. We’ll have a party at your brother’s new place for family and friends. Including the man who gave you that ring.”
“That ring?”
He nodded to my left hand.
Scott’s ring. I’d totally forgotten about Scott in all of this. The emerald heart was crusted with blood. How was I going to tell him? Hey, about our relationship? I’m ditching you for a criminal. You know, the guys you usually go after. Yeah, that wasn’t going to go over well. It might even start a war.
“Don’t tell him a thing yet.” When Cash said “thing,” it came out as “ting.” “Clear?”
“Whatever you want.” I smiled sweetly at him, but bile burned the back of my throat.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I prefer your lash of a tongue. Sweet doesn’t suit you, darlin’.”
“Wait,” I said, just realizing something. So many things were coming at me at once. “How did you know about my part in the show?” I hadn’t even told Harrison. My good fortune and my shitty luck were at war with each other, each trying to vie for the biggest shock of my life.
“These are my streets. I know everythin’,” he said. “Just like I know Armino Scarpone won’t be bothering you.”
“You got me the part! You had a hand in that, didn’t you?”
He gave me a side-eyed look. “My wife gets what she wants.”
“But I’ll NEVER know if I deserved it now! And I’m not your WIFE!”
“Yet. You’re not my wife yet,” he said. “And you do deserve it. You’re good. I watched before I interfered. It was between you and another girl who couldn’t act worth a shit, but her uncle’s some deep-pocket dick who pulled some strings. I have a deeper pocket, deeper connections, and of course, the bigger dick, so you got the part instead.”
“Hold on. Hold on.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to stop the raging headache that was about to send me to the ER. “My brother’s new place?”
“Talk to Harrison.” He nodded toward the door. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Wow!” I said, feigning excitement. “You’re such a charmer! Man, what a winner I picked to get married to! Oh wait, I’m being forced.”
“Keely.”
“Yeah?”
“Get out of my fucking car.”
“Sure,” I said. “But let me tell you one thing before I do. I might be marrying you, but what you’re really doing is binding yourself to me. You steal my heart, and yours won’t be able to live without mine. It’s like a spell. The one who casts it is always connected to the one who’s under the spell. Being connected to you in this life—in this way—is enough. I don’t need you tagging along with me forever.”
I opened the door to his fucking car and then slammed it. I marched over to Harrison after, who was leaning against his car, waiting for me. “What’s this about a new place?”
“Keely—”
“I just swapped my life for yours, Harrison. The truth.”
He wiped a bubble of sweat from his upper lip. I could tell he was in pain, and not just physically. “I bought it for Mari, all right? I fucking bought the house she loves on Staten Island! The one next to our parents’ old place. The one she grew up in. The one she still visits when her life gets rough. I want her to feel safe. To…I don’t know. Feel loved for once in her life! And I want to give her something without her feeling like she owes me her soul! I want to marry her, Kee.”
“All right,” I said, my voice lower than I expected it to be. I held my hand out. My brother put his in mine and I smiled. “Give me your keys, lover boy. I’m going to drive you home and take care of you for a while.”
He refused to let my hand go. It trembled. “Don’t do this, Keely. Run. The boys and I—”
I squeezed his hand, hard. “This is between you and I, Harrison. Your word. If you tell them, or anyone, including Mari, and one of them dies because of me—I couldn’t live with that. Roisin—”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Tell that to five-year-old me, okay? Don’t meddle in this. I’ll get out of it. Sooner or later,