The Exposé 3 (6 page)

“It’s OK,” she
says, soothing. “We’ll figure it out. You said she was in
the ER?”

I
nod. “They didn’t say why. Nobody would tell me
anything.” I clench my fists in frustration. I feel so
powerless, not knowing what’s going on.

“So
we’ll find her.” Zoe looks around. “Look, the ER is
this way.”

She
heads purposefully away. I follow her blindly down the maze of
neon-lit hallways, thinking only of one thing. Maria. The guy on the
phone didn’t say why she was here, but I know her. She wouldn’t
call for me unless it was bad.

Fuck, what’s happened to
her? She’s like a sister to me. I’ve spent years looking
out for her and her son, they’re the closest thing I have to
family. If she’s hurt, or worse...

My imagination runs riot,
picturing all the terrible things that could have happened.

I
pick up the pace, bursting into the ER after Zoe. I spot Maria’s
dark hair across the busy room. She’s laying on a gurney,
looking terrifyingly pale.

“What happened?” I go
straight to her, my heart in my throat. “Maria, God, are you
OK?”

“I’m fine,” she
answers with a weak smile. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Where’s Luca?”
I ask, struck with new fear. God, I didn’t even think... “Did
something happen to him?”

“No,
relax, he’s fine,” Maria reassures me. “He’s
with my mom.”

That’s
something, at least.

Someone clears his throat.
There’s a kid in a white coat loitering nearby. “You need
to stand back. I have to check her blood pressure.”

“You’re not touching
her.” I glare. What kind of doctor is this? He’s barely
out of his teens. “Call your boss, or supervisor, or whoever. I
want a real doctor.”

“Dax...” Maria
protests.

“No,”
I cut her off, then turn to the kid. “Do you know what
happened? Tell me everything.”

“I...
umm...” The kid looks panicked. “I can’t...patient
confidentiality.”

“I fell.” Maria
speaks up, answering for him. “It was an accident, it’s
OK. I just hit my head, that’s all. Everyone just needs to
relax”

I check her expression. She tries
to smile, but she glances away at the last minute. I’ve known
her too long not to be able to see right through her.

There’s something she’s
not telling me.

“You
go get a real doctor,” I order the kid. “I want
everything checked. Twice. And tell them to find a private room for
her, she shouldn’t be out here.”

“Sure. Yes.” The kid
scurries away.

Maria sighs. “You didn’t
have to do that, he was fine.”

“Fine isn’t good
enough.” I turn back to her, carefully fluffing her pillow and
tucking her blanket tighter. Maria bats away my hands.

“I’m fine!”

“So you keep saying.”
I pull up a chair by the gurney and take her hand. “What aren’t
you telling me? What happened, Maria? You’re lying, I can
tell.”

She
takes a shaky breath. “I’m not lying. I did fall. I
just...this guy came to see me,” she finally admits. “He
said he had a message from Nikolai. For you.”

Fuck.

I go cold. “What did he
say? If he laid a finger on you--” I start to get up, but Maria
pulls me back.

“No,
he didn’t. He scared me, that’s all,” Maria
insists. “I ran and tripped, and when I fell I hit my head.”

“You fell and hit your
head?” I repeat. “You expect me to believe that?”
I’m fuming.

Maria
laughs out loud, and though it’s a forced sound, something in
my chest loosens for a moment. “I swear it’s the truth,
Dax. I know how stupid it sounds, but that’s what happened.”
I search her eyes for a lie, but although she’s clearly shaken
up, she’s telling the truth.

Still,
my stomach twists at the thought of one of Nikolai’s heavies
showing up on her doorstep, scaring her bad enough that she took off
running. What the hell is Nikolai doing, dragging her into this mess?

“He
said to tell you, Nikolai’s getting impatient.” Maria
looks nervous. “Those were his exact words. What’s going
on, Dax? I thought you were long gone from business with him.”

“I am. Don’t worry,”
I reassure her. “He’s just trying his luck. It won’t
work.”

“Nikolai
doesn’t believe in luck,” Maria says softly. I forget,
she’s seen it all, I can’t just brush it off with her.

She
knows exactly the kind of dirt Nikolai is mixed up in -- and how it
can destroy lives.

She looks past me, looking
interested. “And who’s the girl?”

I
turn. Zoe is waiting across the room. I completely forgot she was
standing there watching. Listening. Probably thinking how to work
this into a story. “Nobody,” I reply shortly.

Maria smirks. “She doesn’t
look like a nobody.” She studies my face, then gives a
delighted laugh. “Look at you, you’ve got it bad.”

“Not even close,” I
growl, still shaken up. “It’s complicated.”

“It always is.” Maria
pats my hand. “Call her over, I want to meet her.”

Luckily, we’re interrupted
by another doctor arriving. This one, at least, looks like a grown
adult. He checks Maria’s chart.

“Everything
looks fine,” he begins, then catches the look on my face. “But
just to be sure, I’m going to take you up for a CT scan, and
keep you overnight for monitoring.”

“I
don’t need to stay,” Maria protests. I talk over her.

“Good. Call me if anything
changes.” I help her into a wheelchair for the scan, then drop
a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll check in with your mom, let
them know.”

“Thank
you,” she smiles at me, tired. “And don’t worry
about me. You’re the one who’s playing with fire here.
You know Nikolai...”

I do.

I watch her get wheeled to the
elevator, fragile in the chair. My rage returns. She’s never
done a thing to hurt anyone, and now look at her. She must have been
so scared, I can only imagine what kind of threats that jackass
Dmitri made. When I get my hands on him...

“Is
everything OK?” Zoe approaches.

“Not
even close,” I curse. “I can’t believe Nikolai
would cross this line. Threatening me is one thing, but going after
Maria--”

“Dax!”
Zoe’s sharp voice brings me back. People in the waiting room
are staring at me. “Just calm down,” she tells me. She
takes my arm and leads me through a door, into the stairwell. It’s
empty here, and we’re alone. “Maria is fine,” she
reminds me. “That’s the important thing.”

But for how long? Just how far
will he go to get what he wants?

I
look at Zoe for the first time. She’s all dressed up, I finally
register. Her glittery dress is skin-tight, and she’s got sexy
red lipstick on.

Was she on a date?

I’m annoyed to feel a
stirring of jealousy. I shouldn’t care who she’s with or
what she’s doing, especially not at a time like this.

“You should go,” I
tell her, but she shakes her head.

“I need to talk to you.”

I’m
about to remind her just how uninterested I am in hearing her out,
when Zoe folds her arms and gives me a stubborn look.

“And
I know I’m the last person in the world you want to see, but
you’ll want to hear this. It’s about Nikolai.”

I freeze. “How do you know
about him? You swore, you had nothing to do with the guy.”

“I
don’t!” she protests. “God, will you let me get a
word out before jumping down my throat?”

I
glare. “I’m not in the mood for your games, Zoe. Not
tonight.”

“This
isn’t a game.” she grinds out. She takes a breath, as if
she’s trying to keep her temper. “Look, I think I know
what’s going on with Nikolai. What he wants. But you have to
hear me out this time. You have to listen.”

ZOE

Dax
doesn’t say a word during the cab ride back to his apartment,
but I can feel the tension radiating from his body beside me in the
back seat.

He stares out the window,
avoiding my gaze. His jaw is clenched, and he looks like he’s
about to snap. I can’t imagine what he’s been through
tonight. It’s clear that Maria means the world to him, even if
he insists they’re not romantically involved. I try to imagine
how I’d feel if something happened to my family, and feel a
wave of sympathy for him.

I
reach across the seat to hold his hand in a tight grasp. Dax looks
down for a moment, then pulls away.

My
heart sinks. I may have gotten him to give me a break, but he’s
still keeping me at arm’s length. Maybe when he sees how far
I’ve gone to in order to help him, he’ll understand that
I’m trying to build bridges again.

The cab pulls up outside his
building. Dax pays, and we get out.

“Fuck,” he swears
suddenly. I look. The bartender from the club, Jimmy, I think, is
waiting by the doorway, looking furious.

“What the hell, man?”
Jimmy starts, approaching fast. “What’s going on? I got a
call, but the hospital wouldn’t let me near her--”

Dax
raises his arm, cutting him off. “Maria’s fine,” he
answers curtly. He looks back at me. “You go ahead, I’ll
see you upstairs.”

I’m itching to stay and
find out what this new fight is about, but I’m not going to
push my luck. I nod, and head inside to the elevator. But the door
stays propped open, and I can’t help but hear everything as
Jimmy keeps raging.

“Why the hell won’t
anyone let me see her? I have a right, dammit.”

“You’re wrong.”
Dax sounds calm on the surface, but I know his tone by now, and he’s
anything but relaxed. “You have no rights, not as far as she’s
concerned. Just go home.”

“Where’s Luca?”
Jimmy keeps raging. “I want to see him. Why are you keeping him
from me?”

“And I’ve told you,
that’s not your decision. Maria doesn’t want you near
him, not yet.” Dax sounds tired. “Look, it’s been a
long night. I promise, I would have called you if it was anything
serious. She’s fine, the kid’s fine. Just go home.”

“How come you’re the
one who gets to see them? It’s not right.”

I
start to feel guilty, eavesdropping like this. It’s a personal
conversation that’s none of my business. Plus Dax didn’t
look like he was in the mood to talk, so he’s probably going to
come inside any minute now.

I pull the grate and quickly head
upstairs, to the spacious industrial calm of Dax’s apartment.

I
look around. It’s just as cool as when I saw it the other
night: metal accents and bare brick walls. I stifle a yawn, suddenly
hit with tiredness. It’s past three AM now, and I haven’t
slept properly in days. I could use a hot drink, and some food too,
so I head for the kitchen area, done up in black granite and
stainless steel. I feel a little like an interloper, but I figure Dax
will be glad for something to eat after all the stress of the night,
so I take a look in his fridge.

Empty shelves, beer, and takeout
stare back at me. But I didn’t make it through college without
picking up some tricks about late-night fuel: I find some bread in a
cabinet, and some expensive stinky cheeses in the drawer.

Hello, grilled cheese.

By the time Dax enters the
apartment, I have some hot tea brewing, and two buttery sandwiches
frying on the stove.

He pauses just inside the room,
looking confused.

“Sit down,” I tell
him. “The food will be ready in a minute.”

He opens his mouth like he wants
to argue, then stops. “Thanks,” he says instead, giving
me a suspicious look.

“No problem.”

I finish up in the kitchen, then
bring the tray over to his living area. Dax is sprawled in a leather
armchair, so I put his plate in front of him and pour a mug of tea.
“Sorry, I didn’t have much to work with,” I
apologize.

“No, this is great.”
He takes a bite, and looks surprised.

“You had some fig jam
gathering dust, so I threw it in too,” I explain.

He
gives a smile. “Maria got me that, like a year ago. Said I
needed to be able to treat a woman to a good breakfast in bed.”

I settle back on the other couch,
and start in on my own food. “I’m glad she’s OK,”
I offer.

Dax tenses again. “For
now.”

His
face is shadowed. I wish I could go to him, comfort him with a touch
or embrace, but I know from his reaction in the cab that he’s
still distrustful. And I can’t blame him.

“And things with Jimmy...?”
I ask hesitantly. I want to be supportive, but I don’t know
where the boundaries are.

But Dax doesn’t snap at me.
“It’s a mess,” he sighs, rueful. “We used to
all be so close. We grew up together,” he explains, “Me
and Jimmy, we were like brothers. And then he went and fell for
Maria. She was crazy about him too,” he adds with a nostalgic
smile. “She was a good girl, the best thing to ever happen to
him. But Jimmy, he was already on a bad path. The crime, drugs...”

Dax
shakes his head. “I’d already gotten out, away from
Nikolai and his crew, but Jimmy couldn’t resist the easy cash.
The power. No matter how many times she begged him to shape up, he
wouldn’t listen. I tried my best, too. When Maria got pregnant,
she made it clear. He could get right, and be a father and a husband
to them, or he could get out.”

I already know this story won’t
have a happy ending, but I can’t help asking. “What
happened?”

Dax
gives me a tense smile. “One last job, he called it. An armed
robbery, some electronics place. They had an inside guy, it was
supposed to be easy, but the security guy there decided to put up a
fight. Jimmy was the getaway driver, and the police got him before
anyone could make a move. Ten years in jail.”

“I’m sorry.”

Dax shakes his head, a determined
look crossing his handsome face. “He made his choice. He could
have gone straight, stepped up for Maria and his family, but he chose
to put himself first. He missed that kid’s life, his first
steps, his first words. That’s the shit you show up for, no
matter what. Luca needed a father.”