Wicked Ever After (Wicked & Devoted 2)

“You can bet on it.” Logan nodded. “Cartels don’t run themselves… But I don’t think he’s going to give up on his son.”

In Montilla’s shoes, he wouldn’t either. “Nope.”

“If he picks up on Valeria’s trail again, he’ll be back.”

“Absolutely,” One-Mile agreed. “But this time he won’t come alone.”

“Agreed.”

“And since he walked into a trap last time, he may not take more information from our mole. Ever prove it’s Trees?”

“We’re…working on it.” Logan sighed. “Well, Zy is.”

Were they out of their minds? “He is never going to believe his bestie is guilty of even a parking ticket, much less selling us out.”

“No, I asked him to do whatever he could to prove his best friend innocent.”

Okay, that made sense in a subversive way. Zy wouldn’t lift a finger to dig up dirt on Trees, but he’d move heaven and earth to prove the guy was clean. “And how’s that going?”

“Well…funny thing,” Joaquin drawled.

“What he means is that Tessa and her situation are really distracting him.”

“Situation?” A vague crutch-word like that could describe anything from a minor snafu to a catastrophic shit show.

“Apparently, her ex-boyfriend is sniffing around again. Zy isn’t happy.”

“She’s giving the time of day to the asshole who got her pregnant and left?”

“Yep. I get that they have a kid together, but…” Logan’s tone said he thought her decision sucked.

One-Mile agreed. Tessa deserved better. But since Zy was the one hard for her, it wasn’t his problem. “So you think he’s too busy with Tessa to investigate Trees?”

Logan shrugged. “Zy says he’s working on it. We’ll see what he comes back with.”

One-Mile scoffed. Based on what he’d seen? “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

His teammate would give his left nut to seduce their receptionist into some hot action between the sheets, but One-Mile doubted he’d succeeded. Even if he miraculously had, he’d keep it on the down low so neither of them got fired.

Hunter shot his younger brother an I-told-you-so glare. “See, Walker isn’t stupid all the time.”

“Gee, thanks.”

The elder Edgington replied with a very dignified middle finger, but turned to Logan. “Seriously. We can’t let this drag on.”

“I know.” Logan held up placating hands. “But give Zy a little more time.”

Hunter rolled his eyes but sighed. “Fine.”

“It might help things along if we plant more information,” One-Mile suggested. “If we give tidbits to Trees that make it to Montilla, then we’ll know. If not, we’ll re-evaluate.”

The bosses looked at one another. Hunter’s expression said he’d already had this idea. Joaquin and Logan looked at one another behind his back, speaking some silent language. But he could tell from their faces that they were coming around to his way of thinking.

“All right. We’ll try,” Joaquin conceded. “Where do you want this paper trail to send Montilla? He knows the safe house in St. Louis is dead.”

And he’d be hesitant about walking into a trap again. “Why not direct him to somewhere around here? That way, if Montilla shows and something goes south, the rest of the team is just a phone call away.”

The trio appeared to think things over before Logan nodded. “We’re going to need an address. I’ll find someplace that’s suitable.”

“Once you have, Hunter can write something up and pass it to Trees,” Joaquin added.

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but a decent one. “I get to help take this motherfucker down, right?”

“Absolutely.” Logan nodded. “That should be even better news to you.”

“Oh, yeah.” The only thing that would be a step up was dusting Montilla for good so he would finally be free to pursue Brea again. Yes, he knew the asshole had underlings, but Emilo’s vendetta against Valeria wasn’t their fight. In fact, it was likely someone would be grateful to him and the EM crew for offing the boss so they could fill his shoes and carry forth their drug-selling glory or whatever. “How soon do you think we can get started?”

“A couple of days. I’ll keep you posted.” Logan grimaced. “Now for the bad news…”

He’d almost forgotten about that, but since they clearly weren’t going to fire him and they’d finally taken his balls out of their purse, One-Mile didn’t see how bad it could possibly be. “Lay it on me.”

Joaquin and Hunter both looked at Logan, who tossed up his hands with a scowl. “What the fuck? Why me?”

“You’re the best with touchy-feely shit.”

No, he wasn’t. He sucked just as hard as the other two.

“Why would you think that?” Logan challenged.

Hunter and Joaquin exchanged a glance, then a smirk and a fist bump. “Okay, maybe you’re not better, but you’re the youngest so we’re pulling rank. Tell him.”

Logan gritted his teeth, clearly annoyed. “I hate you two. I’m so getting you back. When you least expect it—”

“Tell me what?” One-Mile demanded impatiently.

For a moment, no one said a word. Finally, Logan sighed. “Have you looked at your phone lately?”