Page 19 of Thaddeus

“If you already knew, why’d you ask?” Her smile turned into a deep frown and I simply shrugged my shoulders.

“Right. Now that that’s outta the way, let’s talk about tonight. The clock is ticking,” Declan reminded me.

All eyes landed on Emerson and suddenly she looked nervous. Her gaze slid to Tatiana for support and that pissed me off. I wanted her eyes on me, I wanted her to look to me for comfort just like she used to. I’d refuse her, because I was an asshole and wanted her as uneasy as I was.

But that was the truth. I wanted Emerson to feel every bit of the hurt I was.

“This morning after Jefferson dropped me off at the hotel, he left to go do his inspection.”

“Did he tell you that?” Tatiana inquired.

“Not in those words. He told me to rest, he had business to attend to and would be back later. When he got back, his mood had turned. He was ticked off and anxious. Jefferson had summoned Carlos, the other man you killed, to the villa. I overhead part of the conversation. He was upset that some of the girls were too old, others were unattractive, and one was what he called overweight. They’d slipped into speaking Portuguese so I missed part of the conversation. When they switched back to Spanish, Jefferson was telling Carlos he was only taking possession of ten of the girls. He was also clear he wanted Carlos to find him a new supplier—that was the second time the stable hadn’t passed his examination.”

“You said he didn’t discuss his business dealings with you. How did you know he was going to inspect his stable in the first place? And to that end, if he didn’t talk to you about activities why would he discuss such things in your presence?” Max asked disbelievingly.

Max had a first-class bullshit meter. He also had trust issues that stemmed from birth and were built upon one conniving brick at a time, over the span of his life, until all that was left was cynicism and distrust. When someone broke through Max’s hardened exterior, you had his loyalty and that loyalty would be for a lifetime.

Emerson was holding Max’s stare. Her head held high, shoulders back, and fuck me, I knew that look. Defiance. The woman had grit and a backbone to back it up. I remembered that, too. When she felt she was in the right, she didn’t back down. Not to me, not to her boss, her teachers, not to anyone.

She was also gearing up to mouth off to Max. That wasn’t her smartest play, but I wasn’t going to warn her she should hold her tongue. If she wanted to go toe-to-toe with my teammate, that was her business. And when Max had enough of her lip—he’d handle it.

It wasn’t my business.

Emerson Pierce could take care of herself.

Emerson

Thad’s teammate, the one he’d been with in Mexico, was eyeing me up and down like I was the biggest lying piece of shit he’d ever seen. He thought he’d caught me in a lie and was calling me on it. Part of me didn’t blame him.

All of us were playing a game. Them, as a team, against me. They didn’t trust me and I sure as shit didn’t trust them. It was actually funny—I needed them and they needed me for information, yet neither of us wanted to give the other what they wanted.

Once again, we were at a crossroads.

An impasse.

And we’d remain deadlocked if one of us didn’t budge.

Then I made a decision. I’d give a little if they did.

“If I told you how I knew what Jefferson was doing, will you tell me why you killed him?”

“Tatiana already told you why. The man was a shitbird,” Max said, if I was remembering his name correctly.

“Yes, we all know what Jefferson was. But I want to know, why tonight? Who ordered him dead?”

“Why do you care who wanted him dead? And why not tonight? He’d already been left breathin’ for far too long. Someone should’ve taken him out ten or fifteen years ago.”

I was fast losing my temper with Max’s doubletalk. And his sarcastic tone was pissing me off, too.

“I wanna know who, so I know how much danger I’m in. I wanna know why tonight so I can understand how eight months of me having to lie next to that piece of shit was all for naught. Eight months wasted. Eight goddamn months I had to breathe his air. So, you want me to tell you how I knew he was inspecting his stable tonight, you have to give me something in return. And all I want to know is how everything I’d worked so hard for all crumbled in the matter of the time it took for your bullet to leave your barrel and slam into his face.”

Max was still eyeballing me, Thad was giving me a serious stink-eye, and Tatiana looked sympathetic. The rest of the men just looked annoyed. Like I was a gnat they wished they could shoo away and be done with me.

“You shouldn’t be in anymore danger than you were already in,” Max gave in and responded. “There is no answer as to why tonight. Garcia was our secondary target. We want the man he was meeting with tonight. Though, I have to tell you, none of us are upset the asshole’s dead. The contrary actually. Anytime we get to eliminate a man like Garcia, it’s a good day. So, while he may’ve been your man, you may love him, and you may even be the kind of woman who can overlook his business dealings as long as he keeps buying you off, none of us give a fuck. So, if you’re waiting for our condolences—you’ll be waiting a long time. As in, never.”

“Condolences?” I angrily spat out the word. “Listen, asshole, I don’t want or need anyone’s sympathy. But since you answered my question, I’ll answer yours.” I didn’t address the love part mainly because I didn’t owe these people an explanation. “When I was first with Jefferson, I used to follow him when he left to deal with business. He always took Carlos with him, leaving one of his two-bit lackeys to watch after me. I could easily slip out of the hotel and tail him when we were in the city. But here in Venezuela, it’s too hard. The first time we were here and I followed him, I almost got caught. So, this time, I didn’t bother.”

“But you knew he was going to check out the girls?” Tatiana asked.