JENNIE
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I love Lisa and she loves me. But Mino also made it clear that this is the way to keep the law from using me to get to Lisa.
I never thought a woman would one day propose to me by simply saying that she needed me to marry her. I never thought that the marriage would be for reasons other than love. Love has a lot to do with it, of course, but above all, Lisa wants to protect me. Somehow, this is the best way to get the law on our side, at least a little.
It wasn't just the wine that said yes last night. My damn heart refused to say no.
"This feels so strange," I whisper to her in front of one of the glass cases in the jewelry store. The jeweler, an older man with a neat gray suit, hovers nearby, pretending to look through a catalog although he keeps glancing up and has asked me several times if I want him to take out a ring to look at. Nate stands outside the shop and I can just barely see his suit in the large bay window.
"It's better this way."
I can't help but look around the store as the nerves flip in my stomach. "The whole store is closed for us, though, you don't think—"
"I think it's safer," Lisa says, with a finality to her tone. She's the one who called ahead and had the store closed down. "Don't worry about anyone else. Just focus on choosing a ring. More than one ring, if you want."
My laugh feels too loud for an empty jewelry store. "What would I need more than one ring for?"
"I want to spoil you." She kisses the back of my neck, her lips soft and warm. "If you want two rings, you'll have two rings. I'm sure there are other things you'd like. Choose anything. This day is for you."
The kiss makes me shiver. I love her, but I'm scared. It's moving very quickly and I'm not so naive that the reality hasn't dawned on me.
Once I marry Lisa, I'm in this life. I can't imagine they'd ever let me leave. And it's all happened so fast that I have mixed feelings about whether this will work. Lisa seems to believe that if we get married, I'll be shielded from having to testify. She thinks it'll save me from the worst of the fallout.
What if it can't, though? What if a shotgun wedding won't change anything?
I haven't even told my mother. Real life as I know it is gone forever the moment I slip this ring on my finger. I know it. Sober, or rather hungover, me apparently has cold feet.
Lisa puts her hand on my jaw and turns my face to the side so she can kiss me. With her body behind me and her hand at my waist, my worries are chased away…for the moment. Everything feels like it's going to be all right when she kisses me.
My heart races and my body leans against hers.
Lisa breaks the kiss, her eyes lingering on mine for a few beats. "Look at the rings," she says softly, and turns my head so I'm looking at the glass case again. "What about that one?"
She points to a pear-shaped diamond with a band of pink diamonds. It's beyond pretty and delicate and looks way too expensive to be on my finger, but I can't take my eyes off it. Lisa clears her throat and the jeweler comes around to the case without a word spoken. The keys on his hips jingle unneeded as he unlocked all the cases when we first arrived. He offered us champagne, too, which I declined. I think last night did a bit of a number on me.
As we wait quietly, Lisa's hand on the small of my back, the man opens a panel in the back, takes out the ring, and shows it to the both of us, talking about the size of the diamond, the cut, and the artist.
I never knew there were so many ways to judge the worth of a diamond. In my wildest dreams I never thought I'd be shopping at a store like this, picking out a ring with a woman like Lisa Manoban.
The jeweler hands the ring to Lisa, who slips it on my finger. She holds my hand in both of hers and turns the ring one way, then another, viewing it in the light. Her dark eyes meet mine, "What do you think?"
"I love it," I whisper without taking my eyes off hers.
"Is it the one?"
I hesitate, my heart racing, and Lisa informs the jeweler that she wants to keep looking.
"We'll keep an eye on this one." Lisa hands it back to the jeweler, and we continue moving around the cases in the quiet jewelry store. My heart beats faster. I really did love that ring, but maybe I just loved Lisa's hands on mine. Maybe I would love any ring like that.
It turns out that no, I don't love any ring like that. We try a few more, moving slowly between the cases. I keep glancing at Lisa to see if she's getting impatient with me, but she doesn't.
"Are you upset?" she asks, her voice quiet when I shake my head after another ring. "You look sad," she tells me when I only stare up at her. It's beautiful, it just doesn't make my heart beat faster. "If you don't like any of the rings, we can go to another jewelry store."
I've never seen Lisa Manoban as nervous as I do today. "I'm not upset with you and I love these rings. Any number of them would be perfect…I was just thinking about my mom."
"What about her?" she asks although her gaze is on the case. I'm sure she knows exactly what I'm thinking.
"I miss her," I admit. "It feels wrong to get married without her blessing. She'd want to know about this." What I'm about to say isn't fully true, so I rethink the sentence.
"I can understand that." She doesn't offer a solution though and my heart sinks. We move to the next case and instead of swallowing down my thoughts, I blurt them out. Awkward jeweler be damned.
"And…once we're married, I have to go back to some kind of normalcy. It can't always be…you know." I motion toward the empty jewelry store.
Lisa cracks a smile and it changes her entire expression. Her eyes light up, and she looks softer than she has in a long time. "You can't always be in an empty jewelry store? I don't plan on this being a weekly event."
"You know what I mean. I definitely don't want to hide our marriage from the world."
"I don't plan to hide our marriage. Trust me on that one, Jennie."
The door opens with a little ping and I turn to see Nate hovering near the front door. Our driver apparently wanted out of the cold for a minute.
"Hey," Lisa whispers and gets my attention once again, her dark eyes peering into mine. "I want you to be happy," she says definitively. "And safe. That's what I want from this. If being happy includes telling your mom, then we should do something about that."
My heart does this little flip every time she makes it easy. Why does it feel like I can let go now. Why does it feel like everything is going to be all right, even though I know I should be scared?
"We can tell her. We can have her over or you can go see her," she says and when she swallows, her throat draws my eyes down.
"Are you nervous?" I whisper somewhat teasingly and she flashes a charming smile.
"Let's get you a ring," she answers with a blush creeping into her cheeks.
"I want that other ring," I announce. "The one I loved first with the pink diamond band."
Lisa smiles and takes my hand gently in hers. "Are you sure? You're not saying that because you think I want to be done?"
I stare into her dark eyes and I know I'm still scared and that it isn't possible for me to prepare for what's to come. But if she keeps loving me, I'd follow her straight to hell. I whisper, "I'm sure."
Lisa calls the jeweler back over, and we try on that first ring I loved one more time. The older man isn't pushy. He's kind and warm and patient, and as soon as he's sure we don't feel pressured, he moves to the register.
As he's placing it into a black velvet box, I notice the red and blue lights in the reflection of the jewelry cases. Tension grows in my shoulders and I pull on Lisa's sleeve. I can't even speak as the lights flash.
It takes Lisa a second longer and Nate calling out, "Boss." She wheels around and meets Nate's eyes. Nate looks back at her, his expression set, stoic, and resigned. His eyes are wide though, as if asking what he should do.
Lisa takes me toward the door as the cops climb out of the cop car. The car doors slam shut barely being heard over my pounding heart. Another police vehicle pulls up behind them. "I'm sorry my sweet girl," Lisa says under her breath. She puts her arm around me and pulls me in tight. I can feel her barely restrained anger in her tone. "I love you."
My heart hammers. "Wait. What's happening?" I question in a single breath even though I already know.
Nate clears his throat to ask Lisa and steal her attention from me. "You or me, you think?"
Lisa's hand clenches on my waist. "I'm just hoping it's not both." Lisa glances at the man behind the counter who says he didn't call anyone.
"Just make sure she gets her ring," she tells him while texting someone.
"Lisa what's happening?" I ask her again as the cops line up beside their cars. No one has made an effort to come in, but they're obviously here for us. "I'm letting my lawyer know," she tells me and then addresses Nate. "I don't want them to come in here."
"All right we'll go out. You ready?"
Lisa leans down and kisses me and then tells me, "There's a chance that I'm going to be taken down to the station," she tells me calmly as nervous waves shoot through me. This can't be real.
"I need you to stay here. Nate and I are going to go see what they want and you don't need to worry, just stay here."
My throat dries and I only nod in response. Not wanting to believe it and being struck with reality.
I watch numbly as they both stride out and before the door even closes, a cop says loud enough for me to hear, "Ms. Manoban, we have a warrant for your arrest on suspicion of arson."
My heart pounds and my legs feel weak.
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The cops converge on Lisa. She doesn't look back at me but Nate does. With a nod of his chin, Lisa sends Nate back into the store. The bell pings, but I could care less.
My heart is fucking breaking.
There's nothing I can do but witness it. They put her in cuffs and get her into the car, talking the whole time although I can't hear them. I almost feel compelled to do something.
Anything. My feet move past Nate and my hand grips the door but Nate stops me.
"Lisa doesn't want you out there," he tells me and although his words are harsh, his tone is gentle.
I watch them ride away, one after the other, although a cop car in the back stays parked. The officers are watching Nate and me. All the while my head whirls and my heart races.
I'm so shook up that Nate has to put the box in my hand. "Lisa's going to want you to have this when she gets out," he tells me and I look up at him to see his brow raised, as if asking me if I understand.
I only swallow and nod. Everything is numbing and surreal.
"We need to get you home," he says, steadily, and then he takes me to the car. I climb into the passenger seat, my hands still shaking. With one hand around the other, I squeeze them tight, the visual of Lisa being arrested playing over in my head again and again. Nate looks up and down the street, then gets behind the wheel. He starts the car. I feel him look over at me, but I don't look back.
"Are you all right?"
"I don't know." He drives us away from the jewelry store. It fades away behind us like we were never there.
"It's going to be all right." Nate sounds sure of himself. "They don't have anything."
I haven't forgotten the last time I was alone with Nate. The visual of him killing Jisoo creeps into the back of my mind and I find myself scooting closer to the window.
"Hey, it's going to be okay. You don't have to worry," he tells me again and this time I peer over at him to find him glancing between the road and me. "It's going to be all right," he reassures me again.
I can't help but see Jisoo again and all the events unfolding. It's hard to breathe and I have to close my eyes. It plays out in my mind, beginning to end, as if no time at all has passed.
One breath in and one breath out.
"You want to change the station?" Nate asks after a minute.
All I know is that I can't afford to forget who these men really are. I can't let myself believe that everything really will be okay. I stare down at the black velvet box. This is my life now and I honestly don't know that I have much of a choice about any of that.
"No thank you," I tell Nate. I whisper as I stare out of the window, begging my mind to think of anything else. "The music's fine."
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LISA
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The interrogation room feels almost like a second home now. Hell, they should put my name on the damn door and reserve it for my ass.
The metal door opens and slams shut. I don't bother to lift my gaze from the table; I know exactly who it is who's walked in. His heavy breathing gives it away.
Mauer is a bigger prick than I could have imagined. There's a slight yellow tinge to his teeth that reminds me of my father's friends growing up.
The question that irritates me the most is how the hell did I not know about this fucker?
With reddened cheeks that hang just slightly with his older age, and dark bags under his eyes, Mauer looks like shit. Sleepless nights and anger coat his expression. He narrows his eyes, "You're not going to get away with it."
Heat licks across my skin as anger threatens to come to the surface. Half of his notes had whereabouts for meetups with our business partner N. Half were about Jisoo and my Jennie.
Jisoo was his informant but she knew shit she shouldn't have. There are two possibilities:
There's another rat, which is what my gut is telling me.
Someone gave Jisoo information…which could have been my unsuspecting Jennie.
I swallow thickly as I lean back in the metal chair. The two front feet come off the ground just slightly and I let it fall back down to the ground recklessly.
"Get away with what exactly? Suspicion of arson is what you got me on…which is weak as fuck. Given I have a solid alibi and you just decided it was me—" I lean forward, clasping my hands and giving him a look of pity as I add, "That's not how the law works."
I shouldn't be saying shit, but I'm pissed.
Today was all for my girl. To give her the world and spoil her and make sure she knows she's protected. And then this dumb fuck showed up…rage simmers in my blood.
"Listen here you little shit. I know every fucking move your family has taken. Every associate, every dime that's been funneled and washed, every time you pieces of shit jaywalked," he huffs in a rushed breath to practically sneer, "I only let it go so I could get to the bigger fish."
My lip quirks a twitched smile, I know he's full of shit. There is no bigger fish and both of us know it. We own the whole fucking coast. If he knew everything, he'd sure as fuck know that.
I let my knuckles rap on the table, finding myself falling into Mino's habit. His gaze flinches down to my hand. He's nervous. The detective shows signs of spiraling. Either from having a personal loss, or maybe from losing his book of bullshit on us. Maybe, like the two cops who worked for him, he might be losing the case.
"I really wish I could help you, but I have no fucking clue what you're talking about," I tell him, sitting back in my seat once again.
He rolls his shoulders and the wrinkled suit stretches over his broad frame. Mauer takes a moment to crack his neck and all the while I wait. If his clenched fist is anything to go by, he's going to punch me.
That would be all too easy for me though. A restraining order against him would seal the deal. His gaze meets mine, narrowed and enraged, telling me he's all too aware of that fact.
He's yet to sit. Leaning over the table, knuckles of both fists against the metal, he tells me, "We know the money coming into that bar isn't the money going out."
My heart beats all wrong once and then twice. He's referring to the info from Jennie. Or at least information only she was supposed to have. I swallow thickly, trying not to think of that right now.
"All you have are theories and made-up evidence. My lawyer alerted me to those numbers and they don't match what's filed."
He only grunts.
"Your detectives should have done their due diligence, none of that information matches what was filed."
Heat coats my skin as I realize, had I given Jennie the real numbers, I could be locked up for evasion, fraud, and laundering. More than once in the last decade I've narrowly escaped hard time. Never due to a woman I loved though. Hell…I've never loved a woman. I'm out of my depths.
"Ms. Manoban?" his hardened voice raises and I'm brought back to the present. Back to being irritated and wanting nothing more than to get the fuck out of here.
"What?"
"You really think you're going to get away with this?"
"Away with what exactly?"
"With everything you and your brothers have done. It's going to catch up to you sooner or later and you're all going down."
I crack my own neck, more irritated than anything else. "Do you have any actual fucking questions for me?"
"I didn't bring you in to talk," Mauer tells me before standing up straighter. "You'd plead the fifth in any deposition like you have before. No fucking use."
My brow cocks as I wait for him to tell me whatever the fuck it is he wants to get off his chest.
"You burned my house down to announce war," he tells me, heading to the door. "I brought you in here to inform you that the challenge was accepted."
"Is that right?" I ask him.
And with that he leaves me. My shoulders rise and fall as the anger grows inside me. I keep calm, waiting to be released. All the while, I realize we can find the kink in the chain.
All I need to know is how the fuck I had no idea this prick was watching us. Somewhere along the line one of my men knew and chose not to tell me. If I find that thread and pull, every man who works for me but failed to do their damn job is as good as dead. Starting with every cop on payroll who knew the two who worked for Mauer.
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