“Are you fucking kidding me?” the words tear from my lips. “What did you do to Johnny?”
Gio’s eyes flicker with something. Regret, maybe?
“That’s what this is about?” He exhales.
“I heard you on the phone. You said he was gone, that you wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Gio runs a hand through his messy hair. “Why didn’t you come and talk to me?”
“Where is he, Gio? Did you kill him?”
His eyes change from deep sympathetic brown to bold anger. “Seriously? Do you really think I would do that to you?” He waits for an answer.
“I don’t know.” I huff. “I don’t think I know you.”
His hands grasp my shoulder in a second. “You know me. You fucking know me, Annie.”
I will the tears that are forming in my eyes to stay in place, to not embarrass me now, but it’s no use, they begin to stream down my cheeks.
“I would never hurt you. I was trying to protect you.” He holds me in place. Holds me steady.
“How?”
“He was gambling again. He was drunk and belligerent. I had someone pick him up and put him in rehab.”
I met his eyes for the first time. “What?”
“I put him in rehab, Annie. I’m sorry, I knew it would upset you but he needs help.”
“No.”
“Annie-”
“No.” I push his hands off my shoulders. “He hates it there. I promised him I would never do that to him.”
My mind is spiraling. The last time I tried to force him into rehab he lost his mind on me. He made me promise I would never put him through that. The memory spins in my mind. He’s probably so angry at me. He probably feels so fucking betrayed.
“You didn't,” Gio sighs. “I did.”
“It doesn’t matter!” I shout back. “I said I wouldn’t do that to him again and you put him there! Without even talking to me. What makes you think you have the right?”
Gio looks me over, assessing the angry woman in front of him. “He needs help, Annie.”
“It wasn’t your place.”
A short laugh leaves his lips. “So it’s okay for me to bail him out of a hundred k debt, but when it comes to actually getting him help it’s not okay. Is that right?”
“You’re not-”
“No.” He waves a hand, silencing me. “I get it, babe. When I’m useful to you, it’s fine, but I’m not useful anymore, hmm?”
“Gio-”
“Let’s get back to business.” He dismisses me again. “You fucking work for me, or don’t you remember that? He stays in the rehab facility. Once this job is done I’ll have him released.” He stalks toward the door before turning back to me. “And answer my fucking calls.”
The door slams behind him.
I sink down to the floor, the panic rising inside me again settling next to my anger and my broken heart. All three are fighting for center stage.
This sucks.
The fire is about a mile from the Pearce Headquarters and the same distance from the police and fire station.
It’s a small fire, minimal damage and nobody will get hurt.
This is the best way to figure out the timing.
Charlie and I like to cover all the bases. Annie will turn off the alarm and open the door, but there's a chance that as soon as she enters the building she’ll trip a silent alarm. An alert will be sent to the police and then our asses are grass.
We need to know how much time we have, and this is the best way to do it.
We sit in Charlie’s car, a black GMC Acadia that’s less noticeable than my Porsche. Charlie’s eyes flicker between the fire and the stopwatch he holds. We sit in a parking lot up on a hill where we have a better view of the field below us where we had a low-level soldier set the fire.
“Lights.” I point to flickering lights in the distance. I can see most of the cop car and a fire truck in the distance. “Almost there.”
We watch as the lights get closer and closer to the fire.
“And, time.” I announce.
Charlie clicks the stop button on the watch. “Seven minutes and thirty-six seconds.”
“That’s tight.” We would need to get in, open the safe, and get out in under seven minutes. Six, really, if we want to get ahead of the police.
“We can do it.” Charlie shifted the Acadia into drive, keeping the lights off until we’re back on the road.
I’m skeptical.
“Timer doesn’t start until Annie’s in, she opens the door, let’s say we have five minutes from there. Tony can open the safe with the burning bar in three minutes. I need three for the camera, but I can do that while Tony’s at the safe. Let’s say you and Annie have two minutes to collect any valuables and then get back to the safe, as soon as Tony opens it we fill the bags and then we get the hell out of there.”
“It should work, but it’s tight.”
“So we practice.” Charlie shrugs.
“What if we take Annie out of the mix?”
Charlie's face snaps to look at mine. “Seriously?”
“Just tell me, what do you think?”
“It cuts into our time.” Charlie sighs heavily. “We have to cut through the front door, we can but the alarm is going to go off as soon as I touch it, and it's going to take me one-two minutes to get in there. We just don’t have that time. Why would she not be there?”
I exhale. “So you’re saying we need her?”
Charlie inhales sharply. “Yeah, skip. I don’t see how we can do this without her.”
I drum my fingers against the
