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And Dezi, well, I wasn't entirely sure he was up for the day, but rather that he hadn't been to bed yet from the night before.
"How are you?" my Aunt Lo asked, giving me a once-over, making sure my Uncle Cash hadn't lied to her about not getting hurt in the shooting.
"Fine."
"Physically," Dezi mumbled under his breath, then did a lock motion to his lips when I glowered at him.
"I'm assuming the cops were useless," Lo said, shaking her head.
"Well, with a national average of less than half of crimes solved each year, the odds weren't in their favor," Cary said.
"Says the guy who just got out of jail," Dezi mumbled, but was ignored.
"And that's why you have us," my Aunt Janie, still one of the best hackers in the area, said. "We are working on it. Aside from Chaz's, though, that isn't a great part of town for cameras, unfortunately. And it is a lower-income area too, so the chance of getting personal security camera footage isn't super high, either, but we are double-checking that."
"Did you guys come up with your list?" Aunt Lo asked, looking at me, expectant. "Chris is going to pounce on me the second I get into work," she added, referencing my cousin, the daughter she'd been grooming to take over the paramilitary organization she herself had built and been running most of her adult life.
But where my aunt had always been a strong, capable leader, her daughter was a bit more Type-A with a superhuman work ethic. And she expected that from everyone else.
So if she wanted us to come up with a list of all potential threats and enemies, she wanted it hours ago.
"We're working on it. I will send over what we have so far, though. I really don't think any of the names we have are real threats, though. No one has been coming for the arms trade in this area. That's all down in the Florida chapter with Huck and his never-ending issue with it. We've been stable here."
"Except for the Vultures," Janie said. "Could it have been them? Making it look like it was for both of you, when you were the real target?"
"No. No way. Danny just barely managed to miss taking a bullet. The gunshots were everywhere. If it was her people, they nearly killed her."
"So it sounds like they just so happened to luck out by catching two major players in the gun trade together in one place, and took their shot," Janie said.
"Literally," Dezi piped in.
"Chris will be all over seeing who might be flexing their muscles. I'm sure it's not the mafia, but you might want to reach out to the Grassi family to check. But even if it isn't the Italians, organized crime from every background has been growing lately. Russians, Ukrainians, Polish, hell, even the Irish are getting a stronger foothold. It's been a while since Reign reached out in a friendly, yet firm, manner to all the local enterprises. It might be time for you to think of doing the same," Lo said, giving me a nod, then moving with Janie back into their office.
I must have been lost in my own swirling thoughts, because all I caught from what Dezi said was something about 'wanting Danny.'
"What?" I hissed, whipping over to face him.
"You might want to talk to Danny," Cary explained, shooting me a curious look. "In case she might know who it was. Can't write off her being the main target, and you just being a perk."
That was true.
But it was also the absolute last thing I needed to do.
What I needed to do was stay as far the fuck away from that woman as possible. Because I wasn't entirely sure if we were close, that we wouldn't have a repeat of the night before.
And that couldn't happen.
"Even if she knew something, I think the chances of her sharing it is slim," I said, shrugging. "I mean, even if they gave us a name, who's to say we could trust the information? I wouldn't put her past tricking us into approaching someone who has it out for us. It would only mean more business for her if we were taken out."
"What made you two help each other?" Dezi asked.
"Instinct, I guess," I said, shrugging it off because it really did come down to that. I hadn't been using my rational brain in those moments. I'd just gone with my gut. And my gut said to protect the girl. That was how I was raised. Even if the woman would rather chew off her own arm than to take my hand willingly.
Don't fucking touch me.
That was what she'd said to me the last time I'd reached out.
There'd been venom in her words, too.
For a few horrifying moments, I'd stood there too stunned to move, worried I'd somehow overstepped my bounds, that there had been some sort of objection on her part, that she hadn't consented and been an enthusiastic participant.
