Page 176 of Unruly

It took Andino a few seconds.

Then, a minute.

Finally, the man said, “You’ll have a group of ten men sent to you next week that I feel might fit what you asked for. You’re the one with an eye for who might fit best, so find the three out of the ten that are most trainable.”

“Four,” Cross corrected. “Every man needs a partner, especially when gunrunning.”

Perhaps had Cross remembered that, and opted into a partner for this past run, things might have ended differently.

Or not.

“Four, then.”

“Sounds good.”

“Good,” Andino echoed.

That was that.

Cross sipped from a cup of coffee and watched the scene happening just a few feet away. As always when Catherine was dealing with business, especially with her mother, he opted to stay as far out of it as he could.

This time was no exception.

Cece stood at his front, and leaned into his legs. If he moved an inch, his daughter would likely go sprawling on the floor. She put all of her weight—and trust, it seemed—into her father, and that he would catch her.

He always would.

Cross took another drink of coffee, and ran a hand over the crown of his little girl’s head. She barely reacted to his touch at all. She was too busy watching her grandmother and mother stand toe to toe with one another in the middle of their kitchen.

It never failed to amuse him how Cece’s attention was zoned in every time the women in her life were talking. She was going to be just like them, he knew. No doubt about it. She may have gotten her attitude from him, but her spitfire, her slyness, was all Catrina and Catherine.

“This was my last lesson, wasn’t it?” Catherine asked.

Catrina smiled cunningly. “Figured it out, did you?”

“I didn’t want to believe it at first.”

“Of course, not. Who would want to think their mother betrayed them?” Catrina laughed lightly, adding, “I suppose, in a way, that’s what I did.”

“Details,” Catherine supplied.

“Exactly. It wasn’t something we could talk about, Catty. This kind of thing is not the sort of lesson you can learn at the table. It’s like most things in this business, firsthand and on the frontlines. You didn’t have competition to begin with because I’ve culled damn near all of it over the years. Smart, quick ones have a tendency to pop up. I had to help someone along to make sure you had something to chase, though.”

“Evira.”

“Evira,” Catrina echoed.

“You cost a girl her life to teach me a lesson.”

Catrina’s smile faded, and she lifted a single finger as if to wave that thought away. “Evira was susceptible because she already had an idea planted to go out on her own. Some girls will be like that. Usually, you can placate them into their position. They like it when they don’t have to worry about managing suppliers, getting clients to keep coming back, or finding clients to begin with. They come to you, work for you, because it is easy. All they have to do is show up and make money.”

A small shrug fell from Catrina’s shoulders in her red dress as she added, “Evira was a weak link in the girls—she had contacts, and I knew about them. She was already beginning to see clients off the time she was supposed to. I knew what that meant. It was a sign she was beginning to attempt to step out on her own.”

“I have to watch them all the time.”

“Never, ever trust them, Catty. The very second they think they can pull one over on you, they will.”

“And if they do,” Catherine said, “it can’t be a lesson learned kind of thing.”