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I was almost tempted to agree to wait for him at a coffeehouse or another hotel, but I’ve had enough of running. I’m also done with other people dictating my next move. It’s time for me to take control of my own life—or at least, figure out what to do next.
“What time do they open?” he asks.
“Four. Happy hour goes until six.” I glance at the clock on the dashboard. It’s 2:30. The sky is overcast with a thick layer of metal-gray clouds, and seagulls skitter around the alley, pecking at bits of garbage and old food.
Half an hour later, the back door opens, and my mother steps out. My heart catches.
She’s as beautiful as ever, though dressed down compared to what she usually wears—or what Eddie makes her wear. Her slender body is clad in jeans, a T-shirt, and a cashmere cardigan, and her blond hair falls in shiny waves to her shoulders.
I’m the only one who would notice—even from far away—the dark smudges under her eyes or the lines of stress underneath her carefully applied makeup.
Dane doesn’t ask questions. When Selina gets into the driver’s seat of a BMW and drives out of the alley, he starts the car and follows her.
“She must be going to meet Eddie somewhere.” I tighten my fingers on my bag. “He never wanted her to go anywhere alone.”
“He’s in Richmond right now.” Dane indicates his phone in the console. “I’ve got someone watching him.”
“She can’t be going to meet him all the way over there. He didn’t want her to drive to the grocery store, much less across the Bay.”
Dane follows the BMW at a distance. No surprise that he’s an expert—no matter where Selina turns or how many lights she crosses, he never loses sight of her car. She leaves the city, crosses the Bay, and drives south. She turns into a shitty neighborhood in San Leandro, sparsely populated with run-down houses and vacant lots.
“What’s she doing here?” I watch Selina as she parks in front of a small house that looks deserted—boards and blankets cover the windows, the wooden porch is falling apart, and trash and weeds litter the yard.
She gets out of the car, glancing behind her as if she’s scared of being followed.
Dane drums his fingers on the steering wheel, his expression darkening with a frown. “I’m guessing this is one of Keller’s stash houses. He wants to expand his territory and run a bigger game. To that end, he’s been dealing with the Venado cartel, a crime syndicate based in Colombia. Drug smuggling and money laundering.”
My stomach pitches. “I’ve heard of the Venado cartel. They’re huge.”
And brutally violent. The kind of drug smugglers who behead and decapitate their victims.
Dane nods grimly. “The cartel smuggles the usual suspects into the US—pot, cocaine, methamphetamines—but they’re known for manufacturing and distributing massive quantities of fentanyl. They keep moving and changing tactics, so the DEA hasn’t been able to nail them.”
“So you think this house could be connected to the Venado cartel?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible. It’s definitely Keller’s.”
“But why is my mother here?” I shake my head in bafflement as Selina disappears around the back of the house. “Eddie wouldn’t let her get involved in his drug ring. To him, women are good for stripping, fucking, and looking pretty. Not for his so-called business deals.”
Dane doesn’t respond, but I can practically hear the wheels and gears snapping together in his mind.
Selina comes out after only a few minutes and gets back into her car. She pauses to check her phone before returning to the road.
We follow her back to Zodiac. Dane glances at his watch.
“I’m leaving you at the hotel, and I’m coming back alone,” he says.
“I told you—”
He holds up his hand. “I need to go into the club, ask some questions, see if I can find out what’s going on. You’re not coming with me. No way can anyone—bartenders, other waitresses, regulars, whoever—see you. I won’t risk it.”
Though I know he’s right, I grumble at the idea of not being able to do anything. We leave Zodiac, and he books us into a nearby hotel.
After making me promise several times to stay put, he gives me a kiss that turns into a hot caress and a swift firestorm of lust.
Next thing I know, I’m bent over the table and he’s plowing into me from behind.
“Goddamn.” He clutches my hips, his thrusts so thick and heavy that I feel him all the way up to my belly. “How are you tighter and hotter every time I plunge into you? I can’t get enough of your sweet cunt…ofyou, my beautiful goddess. Fuck, that’s good.”
