“Agreed.” With a sigh, she said, “You made the right call. I had to hear it from your lips, though. Look you in the eye andbe sure that you weren’t enjoying flexing your muscles again. That this wasn’t the start of a slow, backward slide. Angerand resentment are dangerous. They’re like tinder, just waiting for a single spark to set them off. I’ve seen a lot of bothin you over the past few months.”
“Fair enough.” He curled his lip up into the smile Sierra had captured on that cocktail napkin. “See any in me now?”
“No. Which is a relief. Because as long as I’m here, I need to update you on McGinty’s trial. A date’s been set. The firstweek in October.”
“Right after the Cranberry Festival,” Flynn murmured. Good that they wouldn’t miss it. It’d look weird, no, suspicious if they weren’t around that weekend after spending all these months prepping for it.
“We’ll have a technician swing by your house next week to give you a secure phone line. He’ll look like he’s installing asatellite dish.”
Rafe shook his head. “Nobody has those around here. Cable works fine.”
“Exactly. That’s how we can slide him in. Since you’re new to the area, you’ll bring in this highfalutin technology withoutrealizing you don’t need it. Then, in a few months, you can get rid of the dish, admit it was a dumb idea, and nobody willrealize what he was really doing in your house.”
“Highfalutin?” Yeah, it felt a little weird. But Flynn was compelled to defend the town. “We’re not pioneer folk in the eighteenhundreds. Bandon is a fully operational, modern city.”
“It doesn’t have a Starbucks. Or a Dunkin.”
“Not a hardship,” Flynn shot back. “Norah’s coffee is pretty kick-ass.”
“No, thank you. I don’t want a contact high along with my mocha.” Delaney looked at her watch. “I’d better wrap this up. Thesecure line is for you to rehearse your testimony with the prosecution lawyers back in Chicago. We can’t risk flying you outthere to prep. Every extra day you spend in that city multiplies your danger. You’ll do weekly calls to go through it.”
Rafe tugged at his hair. Kinda looked like he wanted to pull it all out with one massive yank of frustration. “We’ve beenthrough it. No less than a hundred times already.”
“You exaggerate.”
“I really fucking don’t,” he growled.
“You gave us your sworn testimony, but you haven’t walked through all the possible ways the defense will attack. There can’tbe any slipups when you’re on the witness stand.”
Itchy underneath his skin, five-cups-of-coffee jittery, Flynn shoved his chair back. Started jiggling his leg. “We know thefacts. I turned over the books. The passwords. You have the proof of the money laundering. There’s no wiggle room.”
“You’d be surprised.” Delaney sauntered closer to look down her nose at him. Condescension dripped off of her as thickly asrain off of pine needles. “Why should we trust anything you say, Flynn? You voluntarily swore your allegiance to a mobster.Danny McGinty paid for your education, your clothes, box seats at Bulls and Bears games. Your entire life was funded by andrevolved around the mob. That means that a certain flexibility with the truth is to be expected from you.”
The way she put it . . . it wasn’t how it happened.
Flynn didn’t have a choice. There were explanations for all of it.
“You’re twisting it all around.”
“You better believe I am. And what the lawyers for the other side will do to you makes this little example look like child’splay. That’s why you have to get ready. Because if this doesn’t work? If McGinty goes free? He’ll rebuild in a matter of months.And if we don’t get a conviction on any of the charges? It’ll be almost impossible to justify keeping your whole family inthe program.”
“Is that a threat or a promise?”
“It’s motivation. You’ve had a break, boys. Gotten comfortable. Seen how good things can be here. Now you’ve got to do the work to earn this new life.” She walked out without another word.
So much for Flynn’s calm. A hornet’s nest inside his head would be an improvement from his current condition. Stirred up didn’tbegin to describe it. They’d had a rocky road getting here. He’d hated the idea of McGinty sending him to jail as a fall guy.But he’d hated going into WITSEC just as much.
Now they were finally settled in a decent place. With weird but decent people. Their house was too small for all of them toshare, but Rafe was planning to move in with Mollie after the trial. That’d help.
If they got to stay. Delaney’s speech brought home just how delicate their position was. How it could all disappear in a flash.
Damn it, they’d been suckered by a bait and switch. Shown the good life. The now really fucking good life, being with Sierra.With his new friends. With having a purpose that didn’t embarrass and shame him anymore. And it had all been a setup. A bribe.A carrot to dangle, before being ass-fucked with the stick of reality.
How dare they?
How dare they finally give Flynn the chance to be happy again, and then remind him that it could spoil faster than mayo inthe desert?
He headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Kellan asked. “I thought we were grabbing tacos?”
Flynn white-knuckled the doorknob. “I need air. I need to walk this off before I punch someone. And since you two are withinarm’s length of me, it’d be in your best interest to let me go.”
And then he slammed the door shut behind him, with no idea of where to go besides away.
Chapter Twelve
A tiny breeze rustled through the trees, which was why Sierra had put in her earbuds. The breeze made her think of the beachand Flynn, and those thoughts made it very difficult to focus on the
