Not yet.
If I answer with rage, I make her the center.
If I answer with guilt, I make the same mistake twice.
If I answer with softness, it’s a lie.
So I say nothing and walk into church.
The officers’ table is waiting. Diablo takes the head. Vice comes in two minutes later, jaw hard, eyes on me first, then Cherry.
“Six has Lady and Darling in sight,” Vice says. “They’re heading toward Darling’s place, not Lady’s tower. Two blocks back, no contact.”
My chest tightens.
Darling’s place.
Fuck.
Lady ain’t alone. That matters. Lady ain’t with me. That matters more.
“Sit,” Diablo says.
I do.
Not because I want to.
Because if I keep standing, I might start breaking furniture.
Magic puts Cherry in the chair across from me. He doesn’t shove her. He doesn’t have to. Vice takes the wall to her left. Diablo sits at the head. Magic stays behind Cherry. Alpha enters last with a tablet tucked under one arm.
“Before we start,” Alpha says, “we pulled partial data from Eddie’s phone. Mutherfukers used a relay chain, but one number hit twice before the burner wipe. Not Toro’s. Not Boca’s.”
“Whose?” Diablo asks.
Alpha’s mouth barely moves. “Unknown contact saved as C.S.”
The room turns colder.
Carmen Solano.
Cherry starts crying again.
I laugh once. It sounds ugly even to me.
“Carmen.”
Cherry shakes her head. “I didn’t know it was Carmen.”
“Bullshit,” Magic says.
“I didn’t.” She looks at Diablo, desperate now, because presidents look like gods to people who need mercy. “I swear. A woman called once. She didn’t say her name. She knew things.”
“What things?” Vice asks.
Cherry’s eyes flick to me.
No.
