Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Not in a good way.
Slowly, I reach into my pocket.
The burner.
I pull it out.
One new message.
It can only be from Reyes.
His favor.
He’s calling it in already.
14
DANIELA
Chef Charleston’s house has an old feel, with original oak floors that groan in just the right places, a mantel crowded with mismatched pottery and framed drawings done with a child’s untrained hand. Gwen’s. It’s comforting and infuriating at once. It makes the danger outside feel obscene. Evil shouldn’t be allowed inside rooms like this.
Or anywhere near this house.
But it was here.
“Thank you,” I say to Chef.
He nods. “Of course. I want her to come home safely. We all do.”
“I know. I don’t think I’ll sleep a wink until then.” I attempt a smile. “I’m sorry to wake you and then force myself into your home.”
“It’s okay.” He offers a small smile. “Please keep us posted.”
“I will. I promised Hawk I’d go straight home. I… I may not be in class for a while.”
“Please don’t worry,” he says. “You’re already at the top of your game. If you miss anything important, I’ll let you make it up. There are more important things than culinary school.”
I nod slightly as he walks me out the door to my car and then waits outside until I’m out of sight.
Chef Charleston is a good man.
The lights are on at home, so I park in the garage and enter through the kitchen into the main house. I find them in the family room. Vinnie stands with his palms planted on the back of the sofa. Raven is next to him, robe belted tight.
“Anything?” Raven asks the second I step in.
“Hawk is coming,” I say. “He had to take care of something first.”
Vinnie’s gaze flicks to mine. He doesn’t press.
“Chef found something on his security cameras,” I say. “He sent it all to me. You need to take a look.”
Vinnie raises his eyebrows.
“You’re not going to believe it,” I say.
He flexes his jaw. “What are you saying?”
“Let’s just take a look.”
Vinnie fires up his laptop as I send him the files.
“Got it,” he says as he pulls up the footage.
I look over his shoulder.
And I see it all again, only this time it seems clearer. Probably because I know what’s coming.
There’s sweet Belinda slipping out the back door, the sliver of a hooded man, the wind lifting the fabric just enough to flash a profile I would know blindfolded.
Vinnie’s jaw goes rigid. “What the fuck?”
I swallow. “I know. It’s him. It’s Diego Vega.”
He blinks for a few seconds. “But…I saw the photo. And it was from a source I trust.” He shakes his head.
“It could have been manipulated. AI and all.” Raven sighs. “My God. Will this ever end?”
Vinnie stares like he can force the pixels to confess. “I can’t believe I let a photograph convince me,” he mutters. “I didn’t even think about AI. I should’ve verified a dozen ways. I—”
“Hey.” Raven squeezes his arm. “You wanted it to be over. We all did.”
“That’s the point,” he snaps. “He counted on that. Slippery son of a—” He breaks off, shakes his head. “From now on? I don’t outsource death. I do it myself. Hands on.”
The room goes still.
Raven freezes.
No words.
Did Vinnie just vow to kill his enemies? To pull the trigger himself?
“Vinnie,” Raven finally says, her voice calmer than I expect. “You fought hard to go legitimate. That’s not your life anymore.”
He looks at her. Some of the fury in him unclenches. “You think I don’t know that?”
“I think you do,” she says. “I also think you need to hear it said out loud before you pick up a gun and go after all the monsters in the world.”
He stares at the frozen image a second longer and then looks away. “He was supposed to be dead,” he says, quieter now. “Twice.”
“Maybe it isn’t him,” Raven says. “Hood or no hood, it’s grainy. Lots of men have that jawline. It could be—”
“It’s him,” I say. “I know it. Vinnie knows it. We’ve both memorized his features.”
I don’t raise my voice. I don’t need to. And they both know it.
“It’s him,” Vinnie says. “The one who called me Little Cobra. The one you…” He sighs.
“That’s not a face you forget,” I add. “Not when it’s the face that laughed while it stole your life. He chose Belinda on purpose. Trapped her in his game with the information about her father being the bait. But it’s not Belinda he wants.” I pause a moment, gulp down nausea. “It’s me.”
“This isn’t your fault, Dani,” Raven says and then she sears her gaze into Vinnie. “Nor yours, either. We agreed to give her normal. Not give her the whole truth about Declan. To let her be a kid for as long as possible. It was the right call. She’s eleven.”
“She’s eleven,” I echo, and something inside me snaps. “And she still went out that door in the middle of the night to meet a stranger.” I tip my chin toward the screen. “Because curiosity doesn’t care whether you made the right call.”