Page 42 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 2

Marcelle’s blue eyes flashed, showing her true self.“This is all your fault,” she spat.“All you had to do was share the money with me.So, if you want to talk about greed, let’s talk about yours.”

“Jesus, she really is stupid,” Aurora remarked absently.“I mean, who in the hell insults the one person who can save them?”

“Wait,” Marcelle rushed out.“Just...wait.”

“We’re listening,” Aurora drawled out like she was bored already.

“If...if I give you names...their names, will you leave my parents alone?”she asked, and maybe she wasn’t a complete monster after all.

“As long as you’re not bullshitting us, your parents will be fine,” Aurora promised her.

Marcelle didn’t say anything for a long time, her harsh breathing from the pain of her stab wound loud in the room.Looking at her, I couldn’t imagine knowing that I was about to die and not be able to do anything about it.Even giving up the names wasn’t going to save her, and I had no idea what that did to a person’s mind.

Finally, she said, “It was Daryll Joseph and Jim Giles.”

Kasimir looked over at me to see if I recognized the two names.“Lepestok?”

I shook my head.“The names don’t sound familiar.”

Marcelle looked up at me from the chair.“You know them,” she announced.“They’re the two customers that always sit in my section.”She grimaced before letting out a deep breath, seemingly accepting her fate.“Jim is always wearing a bright green cap.”

That shocked me.

“You recruited two random customers to rob me?”I squawked.

She shook her head.“No...I’m...I’ve been seeing Daryll for a while now.”

“If you’re lying-”

“I’m not,” Marcelle snapped, cutting Kasimir off.“I promised them both fifty-thousand dollars.”

“Fifty-thousand dollars?”I echoed.“That’s all that my mother’s life was worth?”

“They weren’t supposed to kill her!”she yelled.“It...they fucked up!”

Yeah, that wasn’t a good enough answer for me.