Flawless Ruin

If Nero’s warning was anything to go by, my life may well depend on it.

When the car pulls to the curb uptown, Caleb is waiting there. I hold my breath as the door swings open. He starts to slide in and then notices me. His expression darkens.

“What are you doing h—”

“I had to talk to you.”

He gets in, closes the door, and laces his hands together between his knees. Something about him is a little off. He looks tired, his eyes red-rimmed and his hair tumbling down his forehead. But it doesn’t make him any less intimidating as he gives me a scornful look. “About?”

The car drives away. I take another deep breath. “About Nero Barretti.”

Caleb’s jaw tightens. He shakes his head, then reaches for the crystal decanter of scotch. He pours himself one, straight, so fast, some of it sloshes on his hand. “I don’t want to—”

“Well, you have to.” I interrupt. “I saw him last night.”

His eyes shoot to mine. “You saw him?” he demands, sounding panicked. “Where?”

“At a restaurant. On my date. His girlfriend was wearing the Petal necklace, the one we auctioned off. Except that wasn’t the real necklace, was it?” I ask, watching him closely. “It was missing the inscription on the back. I think it was a fake. And I think Nero has the real one. Doesn’t he?”

He doesn’t say a word. I get the feeling he’s not going to, that he’s going to let me twist in the wind, blindly, forever.

“And I saw the files on your little acorn USB drive,” I tell him, gaining confidence. “You were moving money around. Money no one knew about. It’s very suspicious. Some would say it’s grounds for your removal from the company.”

“It’s not.” Caleb snaps. “We already established that.”

“But together with you forging necklaces, passing them off as real…”

He holds up a hand. “Stop. You don’t know anything.”

“Then tell me,” I implore him. “Please. I’m scared, Caleb. Thanks to you, Nero Barretti knows who I am and if looks could kill, I’d be dead. So tell me, what the hell is going on?”

He drains half the glass in one gulp and stares into it, conflict written all over his handsome face. “Juliet. Trust me,” he mutters darkly. “You’re better off not knowing.”

There’s a time I would have melted at his tortured routine, deferred to him. “I don’t trust you.” I snap. “Not anymore. Not until you tell me.”

Caleb snorts. “So you can run and tell Olivia, and fuck me over even more?”

“I never told her anything.” I insist. “And I won’t. I’m on your side,” I add. “I know it doesn’t seem that way, but I am. And I won’t let you keep things from me that affect my life. Like it or not, I’m mixed up in this now. I’m on Nero’s radar. So you may not like me, but at least give me the respect of telling me what’s going on.”

There’s silence, then Caleb turns. And the look in his eyes chills me. Defeated.

Ashamed.

“Nero’s father is a man named Roman Barretti.” He begins, his voice heavy and laced with regret. He refills his glasses, but doesn’t take a sip. He just stares at it. “The Barretti organization… It’s one of the most deadly, dangerous crime families in the city, going back generations. And Roman? It turns out, he was friends… With my father.”

I intake a rush of breath. Because whatever I was expecting him to say? It wasn’t this.

“I didn’t know it, but there were three original partners in Sterling Cross.” Caleb continues, his voice thick with old anger. “Olivia’s father, my dad—and Roman. He put up cash to fund the business, but kept it all off the books. Nobody knew—maybe not even my mom,” he adds, harshly. “Anyway, my father paid him a portion of the company’s profits in return, and I’m guessing jewelry, too. Precious gemstones, diamonds… They’re great for laundering dirty money,” he explains. “Untraceable by the banks or feds.”

“So the Barrettis own part of Sterling Cross?” I ask, my mind racing.

Caleb shakes his head firmly. “My dad paid him off. Something happened, and, well, he didn’t want anything to do with Roman again. At least, that’s what I gather now. I had no fucking clue about any of this, until after my parents died, and suddenly, Nero Barretti comes around, demanding that I continue paying them off.”

“Oh,” I say, as it becomes clear. The dummy accounts, the moved money, it was to pay for his father’s old deal.

“I didn’t want to lie to anyone,” Caleb says, hollow. “But I didn’t know what else to do. My family’s reputation is on the line, and Nero… He’s not a guy you mess with. I even had the necklace copied, and auctioned off the fake,” he admits. “He’s got the real one, but it won’t keep him quiet for long. He wants more, the same cut of the profits, and a man like that? He always gets what he wants in the end.”

I stare at him, speechless by this admission. He doesn’t meet my eyes. He simply takes the glass and gulps the rest of it down, swallowing hard.