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“You’ve known her for all of, what, ten minutes?” I rolled my eyes.
“The truth was in her reaction to you when you gave me that warning in Dari. She’s intuitive.” That she was. “You like her, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then don’t give her a reason to be nervous.”
“I have enough shrinks in my life, Moore. I don’t need another.” I chuckled, and he backed off, but he had a point.
I took some time to fill Moore in on everyone and what was happening as Cole had asked. I knew Frank had talked to him about most of the guys before he came, but he still hadn’t met everyone in person, and it would take a little time to get him completely up to speed, especially with the situation we had on our hands with Lexi’s disappearance.
“Beckett!” Mark’s sharp tone had me on my feet in a flash.
“This is Mark Lopez,” I said to Moore.
“Nice to meet you.” Mark gave his hand a quick shake. “Sorry to drop you straight into the thick of it, but I’m sure Beckett’s told you about our situation.” As Moore nodded, Mark went on. “Well, that situation just got bigger.”
“What do you know?” I braced myself as another siren suddenly pushed its way through our phones.
Code Blue.
“We just got proof of life,” he yelled over the sound. I could see him flinch as he said it. “It’s confirmed. Lexi’s been taken by the Cartel.”
Eric
I tried to find a moment alone, but no matter what I did, someone was always watching. I felt claustrophobic and on edge. Alejandro mentioned his car had been followed. He thought he’d lost them and called Filippo to meet him at a local bar, then moments later some of Castillo’s men suddenly showed up there. Our cars had to be bugged. I eyed my phone and figured it had been bugged as well. I tried to process what that meant. Why was Castillo so jumpy? Why wasn’t he confident I’d keep the girl safe and do what he said? No matter how I looked at it, I knew something had changed.
Chili: I got my fourth girl. So, who the hell do you have? I thought we had an agreement.
I wanted to respond to Chili, let him know about just who I had, but I knew if Castillo found out I’d jumped the gun with my buyer, it could bring everything crashing down. Besides, the fool had said he wasn’t going to sell her.
Eric: We do have an agreement. You have my word. She’s for Castillo. If I’d known, I would have told you. I’ll be in touch when I can.
Hopefully, that would be enough for Chili to stand down and know something was up but was out of my control. Maybe he’d discover who she was without me having to tell him. I couldn’t risk a text right now, not until I knew my phone wasn’t being monitored.
Over the next few days, I watched the woman on the live feed. I learned her mannerisms, the way she ate, the way she angry cried, then got mad at herself. I studied her every move. She was feisty, I’d give her that. She actually made me smile when she used a broken tray and tried to beat Leo over the head with it. He was furious when he came cursing up the stairs with a bloody rag pressed against the cut above his eye. I was glad to see he knew better than to react and try to hit her because he knew he’d have to deal with me. He knew my weapon wouldn’t be just a tray.
I noticed a few small things that showed me what she was made of, like she always ate, which was smart, as that would keep her strength up. She always asked for more water, also smart because it kept her mind sharp, and she used the handle of the fork to track her meals with small marks on the wall just above her bed. I was especially amused by that. Most woman just gave up and sobbed after the first day. They’d curl up in a ball and sink into their own mind. But not this girl. She had spirit. I wondered if she’d been in a bad situation before and had managed to get out of it. Maybe she’d learned a thing or two. Either that, or she’d had some kind of training. It was fascinating to watch.
“Here’s everything we found.” Alejandro dropped a file on my desk late one night. “She’s got a history.” He waited for me to scan the contents. “Lexi Keith,” my brows rose at her last name, “late thirties, used to run with a street gang called the Almas Perdidas, dated the club president until a motorcycle gang called the Devil’s Reach did a drive-by and killed most of them. Rumor has it, her husband, who was just dating her at the time, pulled a favor and asked the Devil’s Reach to help take them out.” That was interesting. I’d never had any encounters with the motorcycle gang itself, but I remembered I’d met an older guy, Allen something, who claimed he'd founded the club. He’d worked a couple deals with Castillo. He’s a shady fucker, so I kept my distance.
“Anything else?”
“Yeah, actually.” He glanced out the door then lowered onto the chair across from me. “We know Blackstone has a connection with The Devil’s Reach, but guess who the Devil’s Reach President is friends with?”
“Who?”
“Elio Capri. He’s that big mob boss, the one who’s been splashed all over the papers and magazines and shit. You must’ve caught the story. Wasn’t all that long ago.”
“Story?”
“Yeah, it was called The Quiet Mafia of Italy or something like that. There’s a whole series about them. He and his wife did an interview.”
He looked at me like I was crazy for not knowing.
“Yeah.” He nodded slowly as he brought up something on his phone. “Castillo needs to be very careful. Read the article I just sent. It’ll show what I’m sayin’. Why Elio Capri might be headed this way.” I felt my phone buzz with an alert. “You can’t tell me that’s some loco coincidence.” Alejandro raised his eyebrows at me.
“Mm.” I let my gaze go to the window as I thought.
