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I winced. He has a point. Real nice being bitter toward a guy who was thrown off an overpass to die alone. My pencil slowed. And this is the guy who did it.
My teeth clenched, looking into those eyes. I was too good at this. I captured the sharklike emptiness with scary accuracy.
“This is him.”
Sunny took the sketch from me, dropping the trickster’s grin as he scrutinized the graphite lines. “I can say for certain I don’t recognize him. I know my enemies and he’s not one of them. I also know more than a few of the people who want me dead can afford a hit man.”
“I wish there was more I could do.” His hand lay on the table between us. I couldn’t resist resting mine over his. “I’m just really happy you’re going to be all right. I hope you find the son of a bitch who did this.”
Sunny turned his palm up, lacing his fingers through mine. He didn’t let go, and neither did I. “Mackenzie, can I talk to you about something?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“This... shouldn’t have happened. Someone getting close enough to drug and kidnap me. Snatching me the one night I ditch security. The odds of everything coming together so perfectly the night he poised to strike are... infinitesimal.”
“He was watching you. For weeks, maybe months, like you said. He saw when you left this place alone.”
Sunny was shaking his head before I finished. “I did ditch security and leave the compound alone that night, but I didn’t stroll out the front door, Kenzie. North Quay is my turf.”
I frowned at the non sequitur. “Your turf?”
“After my parents retired, my brothers, sister, and I split the boroughs, each ruling one. Liam has Leighbridge. Genny has Harlow. Bane’s locked up Waterford, and I have North Quay.”
“What about Rockchapel?”
“Rockchapel has three times the number of gangs than the other boroughs combined. For the most part, they’ve existed side by side without needless bloody turf wars. We didn’t see the need to kick one off by forcing them to fold into the Merchants. As long as they know who’s in charge, we’ve let them be. Same can’t be said for North Quay,” he continued. “Whatever they called themselves before, the North Quay crews are now all Merchants. They report to me.”
Understanding dawned. I ripped away from him. “Report to you? That’s why Luca knows you, and that’s how you knew him and the shit he does to women. You let a guy like that run free in North Quay!”
“Whoa, Kenzie, slow up. I run the gangs, love, not the pimps. Not even I want part in the Cinco sex trade. I didn’t know about Digger or what he was into until a friend of a friend told me her friend was having trouble with the guy. I heard from her and her roommates that he was pressuring them into trading sex and party entertainment for a break on their late rent payments.”
That sounded awfully familiar.
“I sat the man down for a chat and told him what would happen if he tried it again. I thought he was a sleezy piece of shit slinging his shot at an easy opportunity. I had no idea then or now that was how he ran his business. Not until I heard the shit he was saying to you.”
Tears stung my eyes. “But you had h-him in the factory and you let him go.”
“Kenzie.” He tried to touch me and I flinched, growling at him. “Hey,” he said softly, lacing our fingers together anyway. “I had to let him go. I had him all wrong, Angel. If he built his stable on kidnap and rape, the women he’s got working for him are being held against their will. Likely with men guarding to stop them escaping. Killing Digger wouldn’t free them. Actually, it’d cut off any chance of me finding them. He’s the only lead to where they are.”
“Finding them?”
“Yes, gorgeous. First thing I did after waking up was call Liam. He will find out everything there is to know about Luca and his operation. If he doesn’t fold up and release those women like I ordered, we’ll do it for him. I swear to you, Digger will not get away with this. And those women, they’ll get their lives back.”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to speak but unable to push the words through my clogged throat. Against my will, my opinion of Sole and his asshole brother changed.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“You don’t have to thank me. This kind of shit’s not going down in North Quay. Not while I’m in charge. Not while I’m alive.” Sighing, Sunny dropped his head, gazing up to where the stars should be—hidden behind the veil of light pollution. “I figure that’s why someone had me taken out.”
