Page 83 of Vicious
I choke back a laugh. The idea of going to the NBPD is ludicrous. Everyone knows the mob has them in their pocket, and even the supposedly clean precincts can’t do much under the oppressive weight of the others. And I know Baba isn’t working anymore, so who knows how good his connections are at this point.
“No, Baba. This is something we have to deal with on our own.” I don’t even know what else to tell him to get him to listen; I don’t know how he sees the good in a monster like Chase Vicious when he should have better instincts as a lawyer.
How does no one see him for what he truly is?
How can I keep forgetting it?
“We can’t keep staying here though,” Baba says. “Come on, let’s go back home. Whoever is looking for you surely lost interest by now.”
I highly, highly doubt it. I know Chase had to have spent a fortune on me because if nothing else, Giulio is a businessman. I know too much. Maybe if I was to reach out to the FBI…
For a moment, I consider it. I really think about going higher up on the food chain and trying to explain what happened. But Baba said Ntimacy had been closed, and I’m sure there are already countless investigations into Giulio that are going nowhere fast.
“Just a few more days,” I plead. “Give me time to… to figure out what to do.” I can’t leave New Bristol alone. Chase would target Baba, to make me pay by making my father’s life even more difficult. But convincing Baba to leave seems impossible.
Baba gives me a sad look. “May, I wish you would trust me. I can’t help you if I don’t know what the problem is.”
Even if he knew the problem, he wouldn’t be able to help.
“Yeah. I know.” But there’s nothing I can tell him that won’t wreck his entire world. “Let’s order something to eat,” I say, my shoulders slumping.
Maybe food will get my mind off of these things.
And maybe pigs will fly, and it’ll rain cats and dogs.
CHAPTER 23
May
Baba’s been quiet. I don’t blame him; I’m not much in the mood to chat either.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. I need a plan—one that includes Baba and doesn’t include Chase.
“How much money do we have left?” I ask Baba when the movie we’re watching goes to commercial.
Baba glances at me from where he’s sitting on his bed. “After dinner? A few hundred dollars. Unless you brought more.”
“Not much more,” I say. Most of what I took from Chase has gone to the motel, and that supply is dwindling. I’d hoped he’d kept more of the five grand Chase had given him so we could use that, but that had apparently been wishful thinking. “Enough for another few nights here, maybe.”
“May May, I keep telling you we don’t need to stay here.” He sounds as exasperated as I feel, and I silently count to ten.
He doesn’t understand, but how could he when I can’t tell him the truth?
We’ve gone over this again and again, and I’m tired of the circles. I’m almost tired enough of it to tell him what really happened, but I can’t do that to him.
Maybe if Chase had been nothing but truly vicious, if he’d kept me chained up and ignored when he wasn’t using me, I could say he was just my captor, that he was horrible.
But he’d spent time with me. He’d taught me to swim, and he’d shared meals with me and gotten me a sewing machine. He’d watched the cheesy anime I like with me, and he’d…
He’d made me enjoy what he’d done to me.
He’d made me like him, too.
I’m about to speak again when a knock sounds on the door, making me freeze.
Chase can’t have found me. I’d been careful and only used cash. I didn’t take my phone along. We’re in a dingy motel outside the city, well away from anywhere Chase would ever frequent.
I look at Baba and press my fingers to my lips, then carefully go to the door, stepping softly so whoever is on the other side won’t know I’m moving. I’m glad I got Baba to agree to keep the curtains closed.