Lion Den

Part 23

Emma felt a firey fury build up in her chest. She was biting her tongue, resisting the urge to scream. The nerve of that sonofabitch! Andrei noticed how she'd tensed up and was concerned.

"What's wrong, Baby? Do you know him?" Emma sighed, burying her face in her hands.

"He was following the bus I was taking. He picked me up and asked me to be an informant for him. Don't worry, Andrei, I didn't agree to anything. I know what will happen. I didn't tell him shit. But that motherfucker tried to get a little quid pro quo from me. Offered to give me information about my father's death for some of the illegal dealings of the Leónes. Ha!" Her tone was hysterical. Emma started trying to take deep breaths. She had to get ahold of herself since she knew it wouldn't help the situation. Andrei was quiet, the silence permeating the air like the growing twilight.

"At least you have more common sense than some people would in that situation. I'm proud of you. How long were you at Karlie's?" Emma shrugged.

"I don't know. Probably an hour and a half. It was around 6:30 when that pig picked me up. Are you worried he'd follow you?" Andrei shrugged.

"No, he has no reason to believe that I'd go pick you up anyway. But if you want to be safe, maybe we'll just take the back roads and see if someone's following us." Emma was trying to control the anger she felt.

"I can't believe this. Are we sure T-Bone's telling the truth?" Andrei looked at her with one of his eyebrows raised.

"With the drugs he had in his system, it would be almost impossible for him to lie. That shit's the closest thing to a truth serum there is. Well, for relatively cheap and street-available drugs, that is. I'm sure the government is working on other kinds." Emma thought about T-Bone for a second. She hesitated to ask her next question.

"Is...is he dead?" Andrei nodded solemnly.

"There's no way around it. If it makes you feel better, he's killed a lot of people, including your father." Emma scoffed.

"Oh, so murdering murderers is okay? Thanks, I feel a lot better about myself. Maybe someone will take pity on me now and put a bullet in my skull." Andrei took his eyes off the road for a brief second to look at her.

"That's not what I'm saying, Baby Girl. Although I don't feel too remorseful about it, especially considering what he wanted to do to you. He recognized you, you know. Remember the alley over by the mercantile? It either took him a little longer than Big M to realize you were the same girl, or he knew all along. He was taunting me. Of course, Big M did kind of make an example of me, doing what he did." Andrei's back had started to scar up. She wondered if he'd wear those scars his whole life. They were nothing like the deep scars that he kept hidden on the inside.

"Ugh. I fucking hate this. Why is there so much death involved?" Emma was talking mostly to herself, but Andrei answered anyway.

"It's the lifestyle. You still have a chance out, Emma. You could walk away tomorrow, no harm or ill feelings. I'd never let any harm come to you, and I wouldn't resent your decision. You have a chance to escape this way of life, to take our child and raise it better. Honestly, you should just leave. Find safety. You're not too far into it yet." Emma shook her head.

"I just found out more about my father's death than I ever thought I'd know. I'm not backing out now." Andrei's face showed a flash of pain.

"Oh, that's the only reason, huh?" Emma flushed with embarrassment.

"You know that's not what I meant. I love you, and I don't want to leave you. I can't imagine my life without you in it. For some reason, God or fate or whatever you want to call it brought our paths together. We can help each other, possibly even make each other better people. I also want to find out everything I can about my father," she tacked on at the end. Andrei nodded.