The thought sends a twinge of pain through me. If I was back home, dealing with funeral arrangements and seeing little signs of him everywhere, I’m sure I would be processing my father’s death differently. But with all the crazy shit I’ve gone through in the past few days, sometimes it’s hard to remember that my dad is really gone. That his death is real.
Behind Eddie, the other two newcomers are staring at me with suspicious, angry expressions. The entire atmosphere of the room has shifted, and my skin prickles uncomfortably.
“Good. Because she doesn’t have shit to do with you,” Ciro says, breaking the silence. He reaches behind him, his solid hand grasping mine in a soothing but commanding gesture.
Hale’s gaze zeroes in on that small movement, a flicker of… something crossing his face.
Surprise, maybe?
It’s gone before I can fully analyze it, and the stoic expression of a leader takes its place as he jerks his head toward the gathered men. “Let’s roll out.”
The tension breaks as they all slip into soldier mode, and the guy named Eddie nods deferentially to Hale as they stride out of the room.
Ciro’s hand is still holding mine as I watch them go, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
15
Zaid
The van is silent as we drive through the streets of Chicago, and for good reason. Each of us is pulling into the headspace we need to be in to successfully pull this job off. We don’t know what we’re walking into, and we need to be prepared for anything that might be thrown at us.
“I’m not getting ahold of Marlo,” Lucas says, phone to his ear.
Marlo is the guy we’re supposed to be getting the shipment from—drugs, money, guns, I’m not sure what it is this time. Hale probably knows, but I haven’t asked. It’s better not to be curious if it doesn’t directly involve you, and we’ve all learned that the hard way.
“Did you try his other contact?” Hale asks, turning a corner.
“Yeah. I’ve been tryin’ fuckin’ everything.” Lucas punches another number into his phone. He waits for an answer, but when none comes, he glances up. “So what do we do?”
“We show up to the drop site, Marlo or not,” Eddie grunts from the back.
“For all we know, it could be a setup.” Lucas cocks a brow as he shoots me a look.
That’s a possibility I’ve considered too. Marlo knows we need the shipment, but he’s also an uppity little fucker. It’d take a fool to try to cross us, but it’s definitely happened before and not ended well… for them.
“We go through no matter what,” Hale says, fingers clenching the wheel.
I make eye contact with him from the passenger seat, and the look he gives me makes me think he knows more than he’s actually telling us.
“Hale,” I murmur, keeping my voice low. “What’s going on?”
“This isn’t the first time shit like this has happened. Another shipment went missing a week ago. Someone is fucking with us. Challenging us.”
My eyebrows shoot up. I’m not sure that’s information that’s generally known within the syndicate, but it’s concerning as fuck. No wonder Hale’s so tense. I almost wish Ciro could’ve come with us tonight too. We need a solid team, and although the three other men who’ve joined us are solid guys, I’d rather have Ciro. I trust him. Plus, he’s deadly as hell in a shootout.
But we couldn’t have left Grace alone—not even tied to the bed. I saw the way she darted for the door after Hale went after me at the first safe house, and I know she hasn’t given up on the idea of escape.
So it’s good that Ciro is with her.
I think she’s gotten under his skin too, although it’s hard to tell with that guy. But ever since his captivity, I don’t think Ciro has ever voluntarily allowed someone to touch him, or even initiated touch. Even though none of us would say anything to him, we all noticed the way he reached for Grace tonight.
She probably has no idea how rare that is, but we do.
A small stab of jealousy pierces my chest, but I shove it down.
Goddammit. This is all such a fucking mess.
This isn’t how I want things between us, if I’m honest. Between any of us, for that matter—I know my brother is struggling just as much as I am to get his mind right, even if we haven’t talked about it.