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“Tell me about your brothers.”
“What about them?”
“Viper gave me a quick rundown. What’s the full operation, though?”
“I can’t tell you that. You have to be in to understand.”
“In?”
“Yeah. Not like, partners – boyfriend and girlfriend.” She glances over at me, smiling quietly. “It needs to be more than that. They have to accept you, and welcome you, and then you find out. It means all the way in with my family. We’re not there yet.”
“We’re not?”
“No. Nowhere near enough for them. Besides, there’s no getting out once you’re in. Big decision to make. For both of us.”
My frown deepens, and I look back at the road again as she starts slowing through an area. It’s real dark out now, and she’s creeping along the roads as if searching for a number on a door. She finds it eventually and pulls over to the sidewalk, leaving the engine running.
“So, my package is in there. Alone, according to Knox.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, Mariana. No one talks about a package being alone. What’s going on?”
“Well, I’m here to get some property back.”
“Property?”
“Yes. A woman. She needs to come back with us.”
My spine stiffens. “Since when is a woman property?” She just keeps staring at me, flat faced, near fucking angry all of a sudden, and sure as shit that makes my brain fire towards those words Viper told me about – trafficking. “You’re hunting down a trafficked woman? What, she ran?”
“Something like that, and I need you to go in there and help me get her.”
“You do, huh? Maybe if she ran she wanted out.” I scowl and look at the small house in this suburban avenue. “Looks like she’s doing just fine.”
“The hell she is. She belongs to us, Kai, and there’s a whole other story you don’t know about that’s her fault and she’s coming back with me to answer for that.”
“What story?” She looks away from me, either unable or unwilling to let me in on it. “You better believe I’m not doing anything like this for you unless you give me a damn fine reason to. So talk.” She’s still quiet. Fists now clenched, eyes directed anywhere but me. “Mariana, this is the kind of shit I told you I didn’t want at my door and-”
“Fine.” She flicks her hair to spin at me, eyes like daggers. “She killed my brother. You understand retribution well enough, given that woman you were defending. Well, this is a dead member of my family, Kai. Let that sink in for a minute.” I keep staring at her all riled and aggressive. “Elias. That was his name. Elias Cortez. My brother. He’s dead and six feet under and it’s her fault and I’ve found her. I am taking her home. With or without your help.”
“Elias.”
“Yes. Elias Cortez.” She sighs and tries loosening her fists. “Look, I just need to get her home, Kai. You don’t need to do anything more than help me get her out of that house and on the plane.” I’m still staring, thinking. “Right.” She unstraps her seat belt. “Fine. I'll go do it myself then.”
“Sit your ass down, Mariana.”
“I'm getting her, Kai. Screw you if you think otherwise.” She gets out of the car before I can stop her.
“Yeah. Whatever. Fuck’s sake.” Stupid or not, I’m out of the car and next to her as she heads for the door before I’ve got my bearings about how I feel.
“She should be alone. Reed's out at this time of night.”
Retribution is something I do know well, though, and if this is what she needs to calm down and settle into being happy with me, I’m hooked enough to deal.
She presses the doorbell, and within a minute or so, a woman answers. Dark skin, pretty as hell.
