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I almost laugh. Mia’s not going to like it as usual. There’ll be hell to pay when he gets back, but right now, I’m not concerned with any of that. Leo checked in with me earlier, as we have something big next week. It’s delicate. I can’t rock boats because there’s a connection to supplies he needs that are affiliated with Lowlanders.
He glances around. “Where’s your woman?”
“Bedroom.”
He goes to the kitchen, comes back with the tequila and two glasses, and pours us one each. “This is fucked, man.” Tizio downs half his drink. “You’re right. Girls are disappearing.”
“Not a lot, and not just here, but I’ve been researching it, and it’s moved here. When you look at the patterns . . .”
I turn the computer to him. He looks at it, then at me. “It sure as fuck looks like some kind of trafficking ring. A sophisticated, well hidden one. We gotta tell Leo.”
“Leo will bring down a war, Tizio. He won’t be able to help himself. And it won’t be just El Cabeza. It’ll be all the affiliates. Look.”
“I see—”
“You see what I put together. And it’s tenuous at best. This isn’t as far as we know Lowlanders.”
“But it’s happening on their watch, Nic.” He downs his drink and pours another. I pick up mine and take a sip.
“I know. But not on our territory that I can find. And I don’t want to bring down a fucking war.”
“Hear that,” he says, gaze shifting a moment to the bedroom door. It’s half open but Avah hasn’t appeared.
I know exactly what he’s thinking, I’m thinking the same. She’ll be listening, but I can’t dump her on Mia again, and right now, this is the safest place for her. My bedroom’s at the back of the house where it’s quieter, more protected.
Not that I think they’ll come here. This is De Luca territory and that would be a war of their making.
El Cabeza, not Lowlanders. But fuck, the tangles of these operations are always like this with people like Lowlanders. Too many pies, strings, and supply chains they run makes it like that. Which makes this harder.
Make my situation way more tenuous.
Not to mention Avah.
But I’m thinking this might not have to do with her father’s previous entanglement. Tizio’s gaze shifts back to me. He’s still in his suit so he just finished a job.
“Tiz, what if this isn’t just about old hurts with El Cabeza?” I ask quietly.
He frowns, takes a sip, and sits in the armchair. He leans forward, glass loose in his left hand. “Maybe. If they wanted her then . . .”
“They’d have taken her right at the start.”
“The stalker shit doesn’t fit.”
I tap my fingers against the arm of the sofa. “I know. She mentioned this guy with the scar—the one Lina also mentioned to her—”
“Fuck, are you insane? You took your new piece to Lina?”
I give him a dark look. “Asked for something back. Avah doesn’t know what. And when she was attacked they took her folio.”
“Who’s they? You need to fucking find out. Because none of this fits. You have to put her out, front and center.”
“No,” I say automatically, and then I glance up as the pressure around me changes. There she is, my shorts and the T. She looks glorious, mine. Scared.
“No?” she asks, coming in, and she offers Tizio—a scary motherfucker, just like me, just like Diego—a soft little smile and wave. “If we don’t end this, Nicolo, I’ll never be safe.”
“Well now, fuck.” Tizio takes another swallow. “I see why you don’t care that Lina met her.”
She comes up to me, then stops, clearly not sure whether to ask what that means, whether to argue or push some stupid thing in her head.
