“What does seeing you with me have anything to do with it?”
“I think Shield’s guys had been following me around for a while. Someone must have tipped them
off that I was spending a lot of time in the projects when I had no business to conduct there,”
he said smiling at me. “When Meatball hunted you down … and we officially met, I freaked out
because I was afraid that they would figure out who you were. In hindsight, if I had left you
alone and not gone back again, I don’t think they would have known anything was up other than
my stupid dog attacking some girl.” He held my eyes. “But I really hated to see you so upset
with me that day, and Meatball did break your ancient Walkman … I just couldn’t leave it
alone. I had to go back and fix it.”
“I’m glad you did,” I said.
He smiled a tight smile. “Well, I shouldn’t have, because the second time we met, I confirmed
their suspicion that something was up. Shield had sent one of his top guys to back up the
spotter’s story. When I saw him running past us in the projects, I knew the jig was up.”
Things suddenly started to make sense. “The runner? The one from the cemetery?”
He nodded somberly. “He’s the worst of his kind. He wouldn’t have just kidnapped you—he
would have done a lot more nastier things to you before he took you back to Shield. When I heard
him say in the cemetery what he had planned to do to you, it drove me over the edge … I
completely lost it.”
I remembered that night in the cemetery and the uncontrollable rage on Cameron’s face as he
shot the man repeatedly.
“Shield must have sent Norestrom to try to get information on you,” he reasoned.
“How is Norestrom related to Shield?”
“Norsetrom is Shield’s right-hand man, kind of like Spider is mine.”
“But I didn’t tell Norestrom anything.”
He smiled reassuringly. “I think they already suspected who you might be because of your hair.
I guess someone must have told them that Bill had a little sister with flaming red hair.” I
would have normally been slightly offended with that comment, but Cameron had a loving smile on
his face, so I let him get away with it—this time. “That’s why they planted a trap to see if
it was really you. But I didn’t catch it on time.”
“A trap?” I didn’t remember falling into a leaf-covered hole or getting caught in any flying
nets.
“We normally paid some local gang kid to keep Bill’s gravesite clean,” he explained. “But
the bastards threw garbage around Bill’s grave right before you came through. Of course, you
couldn’t resist cleaning up the mess, could you?” he teased. “When you stopped, they knew
without a doubt who you were, and we had to stop Shield’s man from coming after you. Spider and
I grabbed him just as he was running out of the cemetery after you.”
“Did Spider know who I was?”
“He knew that Bill had a little sister, but that’s it.” Cameron passed his fingers through
his hair. “Believe me, it wasn’t a pretty conversation when I had to admit to him that I’d
been secretly watching over you and that, because of that, we would have to kill one of Shield’
s top guys, possibly starting an all-out gang war.”
“You must have gotten in a lot of trouble because of me,” I mused guiltily.
He nodded. “We had to enlist one of the local gang leaders because leaders aren’t allowed to
hunt on each other’s turf without permission. But, for the most part, I tried to keep
everything as quiet as possible so that no one would know about you. That’s why I brought Rocco
along to keep watch, and, well, you know how that turned out.” He smiled with pain at the
memory his little brother. “When we got back to the farm, I held an emergency meeting with all
the leaders and gave them my version of events before Shield got to them. I let them vote on my
fate. They all hate Shield, so I got a unanimous vote of support right away.”
I turned to him. “What was your version, exactly?”
He smiled slyly. “Strictly what they needed to know—that Shield was still trying to go after
the money, even after he was told by all the leaders that it didn’t belong to him, and that the
financial controller of Bill’s estate had been targeted for kill.”
The memory of the day that I had heard Cameron coldly talk to Manny about me in his office
resurfaced. “And that you had taken care of the insignificant girl who had witnessed
everything,” I added. I couldn’t hide the hurt in my voice.
Cameron cupped my face in his hands. “Emmy, if I told them the truth about my feelings for you,
the word would get out really quickly, and you would become a target—not just because of your
money but because they would know they could control me if they had you.”