Chapter 3

The transfer assignments hadn't been announced yet.

But the older members of the Caruso family threw us a party to celebrate early. I had a little red wine, then sat in a corner scrolling through my phone.

The older members gathered together to talk about their children's plans.

The whole place was buzzing.

A little later, one of the older members suddenly turned to my mother. "If I remember right, all three of them applied for the Boston arms route, didn't they?"

They meant Charles, Susie, and me.

Another older member said, "Susie's been clever since she was little. Those kids are going to make it into the inner circle for sure."

The praise made Susie duck shyly behind Charles.

Charles smiled too, then turned and ruffled her hair.

Susie said, "Oh, I'm not that great.

"As long as I'm with Charles, I don't care where I apply.

"I'd miss my boyfriend too much if we were apart."

The words were barely out of her mouth before everyone's eyes went wide.

Someone started whooping. "You two are together?!"

"I always said those two looked perfect together!"

"When did this happen? How did nobody know?"

One of the older members even clapped Susie's father on the shoulder. "Charles is a fine young man. Susie's going to be very happy. With the two of them going to Boston together, you've got nothing to worry about."

Everyone was so caught up in the news that no one paid any attention to me.

Only my mother gave me a long, searching look.

The girl next to me laughed. "Now they can both look after Selena."

Susie, who'd been quiet during the congratulations, spoke up. "We'd love to look after Selena, but she's staying here. She applied for the job at the local docks."

Her words hung in the air.

Every eye in the room turned to me.

I'd beaten Charles when it came to trophies and certificates, and later on I'd left Susie in the dust too.

I'd once smuggled a shipment of drugs from Boston to Staten Island all by myself.

I'd gotten it past every inspection and mapped out a brand-new route while I was at it.

Everyone had assumed I'd apply for the Boston job and go on to bigger things.

Susie's news stunned the whole room.

I let out a short, cold laugh and looked at her like none of it mattered to me.

"As far as I remember, I applied for the Boston arms route too."

Susie laughed even louder. She shrugged and glanced at Charles.

"It was just a joke. But we never thought you'd actually submit it without checking.

"Charles and I were betting on how long it would take you to notice.

"But you... you were actually that careless.

"It's a good thing we played that joke on you. Otherwise, we never would've found out how careless you are. If you'd actually gone to Boston and taken over the arms route, your carelessness would've caused a disaster."

She hooked her arm through Charles's. "Don't you think?"

Charles hurriedly looked away. He lowered his head, biting his lip, and said nothing.

They'd done something disgusting, yet they talked as if they had nothing to be ashamed of. They thought calling it a joke would make it all go away.

"Charles, you knew about this too?"

I looked at him and waited for an answer.

Charles kept his head down for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter. "It really was just a joke. I thought you'd check.

"I didn't think you'd be this careless. You didn't even check."

My heart sank. He was blaming me for his own actions, as if it were all my fault for not checking.

It felt like I was meeting him for the first time.

This wasn't the Charles I knew.

I didn't say anything else.

My mother stepped in front of me. Without a second's hesitation, she slapped Charles across the face. "How could you play a joke like that?!

"What did my daughter ever do to you?!

"You're trying to ruin her life!"

She was furious. Ignoring the stares around us, she raised her hand to hit him again, but Charles's father, Frank Romano, stopped her before she could.

"It was just a joke! Is it really that big a deal?!"

Frank gave me an icy look. "All right, Selena, you calm down too—"

Before he could finish, I cut him off, my eyes on Susie. "I'll make sure you die. Charles too."

I gave a small smile, then took Mom by the hand and walked out.