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“You’re right. You ain’t shit and I don’t know why I came here.” I stand to leave, but he stalls me with upraised hands.
“Sorry man, what I should have asked is what made you hotfoot it here?”
I scrub my face and drop onto the couch again. This time, I lie horizontally as if I’m at a therapist’s office. In some ways, Aurelio acts as one when I need an ear. “You know my history, and how much I’ve fought not to live with reminders of it. And when I looked into her eyes, that’s all I saw.”
“Hmm, are you sure that’s all you were running from?”
I glare at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He places the bowl of popcorn on the table beside him and leans forward while crossing his arms. “Your father took you and your brother from your mothers.”
“Yeah? Your point?”
“Nah, you’re right. I don’t have one.” He burrows into his pants pocket to retrieve his phone. “You can stay here as long as you need. I’m going to order food. You in?”
I nod absently, more absorbed by his earlier comment. I hate being compared to my sperm donor. Right now there is a child who thinks I’m her father. If Valentino were in my place, he wouldn’t have fled. Maybe the real reason I didn’t go to my brother was to avoid the tough love I get from Aurelio. Coming from my brother, any criticism would make me feel worse than I do now.
Over a steak dinner, I mull the day’s events. Aurelio gives me the silence I need as I think about what I have to do next. My first call upon leaving is to Jamal.
“Where is she?” are the first words out of my mouth when he answers his phone.
“About that… She gave us the slip. We’ve been scrambling to find her since after you called me. Hold up a sec.” His voice sounds muffled, as if Jamal is juggling the phone. “Where the fuck is that cop we use for background checks?” he yells to someone else.
On this end of the line, the response is indecipherable.
“He said what? Oh… Hey Cap,” Jamal addresses me. “Bad news. She’s not in the system.”
“Did you misspell her name?”
“The guy we got tried spelling it a bunch of ways?—”
“Did you check the alphabet squad?”
“There’s no record of her at the FBI. The other places will take time. Did you get a picture of her? It’s possible we can find her through face recognition, but it will take a while to run it through all the databases our contact can access.”
“Do what you have to. I want her found.” Questions about today’s events bombard me, but one repeats more than the others.
Who the hell is Zakiya Chase?
CHAPTER 3
Zakiya
Congratulations, Sansone DeLuca, you’re on my shit list. Although you aren’t alone, the other folk keeping you company aren’t bastions of humanity. Now that you’ve earned your place, don’t come bitching to me if I have to respond.
The nerve of the asshole to threaten me in one breath, then have his people follow me.
A bubbling gurgle interrupts my mini internal rant.
Jinx hugs her stomach but avoids eye contact with me, preferring to stare out of the rear passenger window. I pull into the first drive-thru I come across.
“Jinx, what would you like to eat?” I go through the menu, but she doesn’t budge from her position.
I sense her mother is the cause of the child’s silence. Since I can’t depend on Jinx to tell me what she wants or likes, I order chicken nuggets. The last time I fed her the bite-sized morsels, something subtle in the way she ate them convinced me she liked them. I don’t know why. Mostly, she’ll eat whatever I give her. She doesn’t complain, linger, or gobble her food. Regardless, I sensed she savored the nuggets. Now I make apoint of getting them whenever they’re on the menu in hopes she will say something.
She eats quietly in the backseat.
I take note of everything. Since I’ll have to reevaluate the next relative on my list, I want to make sure they are fully prepared to care for Jinx. I was hoping Sansone would work. He is the most convenient option with more pros than cons in his favor. Jinx’s next relation on her mother’s side lives on the East Coast and lacks the resources to protect her. Of course, another DeLuca lives nearby, but being a public official will put Jinx in the limelight when she needs to stay hidden.
