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I hate that I like it.
“She’s known my business since before she was eighteen.” Brennan looks over and gives me a slight smile. ‘If there is anyone in this world that you can trust outside of your family and myself, it’s her.”
Pride swells through me at his words. We may not be related by blood, but we were lucky enough to find each other when we needed it most.
Brennan was my salvation. My home. My safe haven in a chaotic world where I was lost and alone. Thinking of our journey together, I know he helped grow a thicker skin, stand up for myself. On the other hand, in some ways, I think I humanized Brennan. Not that I would say that to him. Telling a criminal that he’s going soft isn’t the kind of thing they like to hear.
“Well, she doesn’t need to know my business,” Salvatore says, his tone sharp as he glares at me. “Unless I am going to be doing business with her while you are away.”
“I’m not part of the business,” I say before Brennan gets the chance to speak up. I’m tired of both of them talking as if I’m not there.
“What do you do, then?” His tone is more suspicious than it was before. Salvatore’s eyes on me feel like he’s trying to see through the walls I’ve carefully constructed around myself.
“Photographer.”
At least, I would be if I didn’t have to hide everything about who I am.
Photography is the only outlet I have. Though I enjoy showing my art to the world by posting my pictures online, I hate having to do so anonymously.
My dream is to be an investigative photographer, but to do that I’d have to build a career attached to my name. A name no one can know. I’d have to build a reputation for myself. Which is hard when you can’t show yourself. When no one can know who you are.
So, for now, I settle by photographing anything that calls to the artist in me. Landscapes, daily snippets of the world outside, a world I live in but have to pretend not to exist in.
Yeah, me as an investigative reporter isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
“A photographer,” Salvatore says, spitting the word out like it’s poison. “Keep your cameras pointed away from me and my home and we won’t have a problem.”
I scoff at his rudeness and glare at him. “I don’t know why you think you’d be interesting enough for me to photograph.”
Brennan chuckles and shakes his head, looking back at me. “I have to talk to Salvatore for a bit. Why don’t you head home? I’ll come back over in a bit and we can have dinner together. There should still be those steaks left from the last time I was over.”
As much as I’d love to stay with Brennan, I have no desire to stay anywhere near Salvatore. Even if I did, the glower Salvatore gives me shows me he wants me as far away from him as possible, which is fine by me.
“Sounds good. I have some work I need to get done.”
I turn and stuff my hands in my pockets, heading back to the house.
As soon as I’m inside, I lock the door before checking all the other locks. Once I’m certain that the house is still secure, I grab my phone and delete the message from earlier.
After another moment, I delete the account before setting up another one using a VPN to mask my location.
I can’t take any risks when it comes to my safety.
2
SALVATORE
“You know, this is a pretty nice place,” Sofia says as she looks up at the house. “I never pictured you as the kind of person who wanted to live close to the beach.”
“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” I say to my sister-in-law as she heads for the front door. “I appreciate you taking the time to come out here. I know the last year has been hectic for you.”
Sofia shrugs and opens the door like she’s walking into her own home. “It took some time, but I have the cartel mostly cleaned up after all the damage my father did. There are still some people I’m looking for, but I have good reason to believe that they’ve left this area.”
“Are any of the Alvarez members here going to be a problem for me?”
She looks over her shoulder, giving me a smile that tells me I am toeing the line with her. Sometimes, it’s hard to look at the tiny woman in front of me and see her as the leader of a brutal cartel.
However, she does a good job of reminding those that forget.
