“What happens if you don’t take the deal?” Eddison questions. “What kind of trouble are we looking at?”
Noah looks to his parents before letting out a heavy breath. “If I don’t take the deal, they will charge me with everything they’ve got. They’re going to throw the fucking book at me and I’ll be spending the next eight to ten years behind bars.”
Violet sucks in a sharp breath. “They can’t do that.”
“They can and they will,” Noah says. “I did the crimes, mom.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “What exactly is it they want from you? If you do this, what are the chances that they get him? Because they’ve tried this so many times before and have failed over and over again.”
Tully nods. “Not to mention that Anton boasts about the cops he has in his pocket. It’s too risky.”
“They know about that,” he says. “Their investigation is on the down low. Langston and Thomas are the only two working the case. Between them and their Chief, nobody knows about this. And when I say that they want to bust it wide open, I mean that they want to take down the dirty cops too. Everyone who’s ever been involved with Anton is going down and it looks like they actually have some solid evidence on the guy.”
I step into Noah’s side. “So, what you’re saying is that you’re backed into a corner here. If you don’t do it, you go to jail, but if you do, there’s a chance that you get caught and Anton retaliates.”
“But there’s also a chance that he finally gets to put this all behind him,” Tully murmurs.
Noah nods. “Exactly.”
Violet steps forward and places her hand on her son’s shoulder. “So, what’s it going to be? What do you want to do?”
Noah turns to me. “If I do this and his whole empire is burned to the ground then you’ll be free of him too.”
I shake my head. “I don’t care,” I tell him. “He saved my sister. The idea of going and living with him makes me sick, but that’s the deal I made and I’d pay it a million times over for Ari. Being under Anton’s thumb is my debt, so don’t make this decision on my mistakes. I’m content with what I’ve done and I can live with myself because of it. You need to decide the right thing for you. I’m going to support you either way, but you need to figure out if you can deal with the idea of putting a man behind bars for the rest of his life because that’s a decision that’s going to stay with you forever. You also need to figure out if you’re prepared to handle the backlash that could come if this all goes south.”
“No,” Noah says, shaking his head. “You’re what matters to me, Henley. I know what I have to do, but I need to know how you’re going to feel about me if I put your father away. I’m prepared to do it and to deal with what I’ve done, but what I’m not prepared to do is lose you over this.”
I raise my chin and brush my lips over his. “You will never lose me, Noah. Anton may be my blood, but he is not my father. I will always be grateful for what he did for Ari and because of that, I don’t know if I could put him away, but when it comes down to it, his one good deed does not outweigh the many bad ones. He deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life and I will never hold it against you if you were the one to put him there.”
“Then it’s settled,” Noah murmurs, brushing hair back off my face. “I’ll do it. I’ll tell them everything they need to know.”
Chapter 12
I lift my strawberry milkshake to my lips and suck the milky goodness through the straw, loving how refreshing it is. It’s been a huge day. Tully and I have walked from store to store handing in employment applications so Tully can secure a job that’s going to help her pay for college. I even handed a few in myself realizing that if Anton goes down, I’m back to paying for college myself. I guess the more I think about it, the more I want to be able to do it myself. I don’t want any of Anton’s handouts especially as it gives him another thing to hold over me.
We’ve stopped by the cinemas to hand in applications, café’s, restaurants, even the library though something is telling me that we’ve left it way too late. No businesses are looking for staff as everyone already secured their summer jobs before the end of high school, but we were a little too focused on staying on our own two feet than our futures.