Page 96 of Bronx

Knox hands me the photo and I choke on a mouth full of lobster tail.

“You’ve seen him before?” My brother asks with deep concern.

“It’s him.”

“Who?”

“The other kidnapper. The dead one.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me?”

“No, it’s him,” I confirm, staring carefully at the photo, but I’m definitely confused about this new information. Did Lev kill his own Father to help me escape? That doesn’t make any sense.

“Bronx, we have to pull Dad in on this.”

I snap my eyes back to my brother. “No.”

“Bronx–“

“You promised me.”

“I didn’t know what we were dealing with at the time. This is serious. We have a concrete lead for the first time in six years and it’s connected to the man that our father found dead in the cabin.”

“Which he claimed didn’t lead anywhere. Don’t you find that odd?”

“I promise you that Dad did all his due diligence when it came to identifying that body. The prints led nowhere. The Consortium knows how to cover their tracks. There isn’t anything he isn’t telling you.”

“Knox’s words of assurance give me some peace of mind, at least about my dad, but that’s it. Can I please tap him in? This is bigger than you, little brother.”

“No, the hell it isn’t!” I stand, slamming my fist against the table. I cough and take a drink of ice water.

“Okay, you need to calm the fuck down. All this stress can’t be good for your throat.”

“I live with this every day. I know what’s good for me and what isn’t.”

Knox exhales softly. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do. All I’m saying is that you could use a little help if you want to get this fucker. We may only have one chance at this. This is not some numbskull we’re talking about. He’s smart and way more connected than we originally thought.”

“He may be smart, but he has one weakness.”

“Of course.” My brother asserts. “His sister.”

I nod.

“Is she still staying with you at your place?”

“For now.”

“She found a place to live?”

“I took her to see some places a few days ago.”

“Will any of them work?”

“The ones she can actually afford are in shitty parts of the city.”

“Well, you didn’t show her any of those, did you?”

“I showed her units in buildings Uncle Cutter manages.”