Page 145 of Broken Vows

Two guesses.

Ray.

I let it ring a few times before answering. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” He repeats. “I just had a call from Maverick.” Rays voice is calm in a way that makes my shoulders tighten. “Very apologetic about ending our last conversation so abruptly.”

“Course he was.”

“He also told me something interesting.” A pause. “Problem is, I don’t quite believe him.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“I do,” Ray says, and the calm disappears. “You lied to me, boy. Straight to my face.”

I lean forward, elbows on my knees, watching Theo across the gym. He’s standing with his friends, laughing at something one of them says.

“Yeah,” I say. “I did.”

“Christ, Levi. You, of all people.”

That lands worse than it should. I rub at my forehead, because it is easier than answering.

“He signing off on that land then? He got what he wanted. She gets nothing.” I say, trying to understand how much trouble I’m really in.

Ray goes quiet for a long moment. “Didn’t get into it, did we? He was a bit upset you were fucking his wife.”

“That’s what he sent me to do.”

“You know the difference.”

I do.

“Whatever you’re going to do,” I say, “get it over with.”

Ray goes quiet.

So quiet I pull the phone away from my ear to check he hasn’t hung up.

He hasn’t.

When he speaks again, his voice is lower. Stripped of the usual performance. “What am I going to do, Levi?”

I don’t answer.

“You’re the one I send when something needs handling,” he says. “And I already sold you to Carter. Can’t exactly deliver you in pieces now, can I?”

“Guess not.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed.”

I say nothing.

Ray lets the silence sit for a moment. “You stitched me right up.”

“Yeah.”

For a few seconds, all I can hear is the thump of music from the gym floor and the high, bright sound of kids laughing.