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“Hey, neighbor.”
Glancing over, my jaw dropped. Standing in gym shorts and one of those men’s tank tops where the arm holes were so large it almost wasn’t a shirt, was the guy…who’d just been standing outside in a suit. I turned slightly toward the side of the building where there was a widow, although it was too far away to see out of to really be of any help.
I looked back at my neighbor. The confusion on my face must have given me away because he laughed. “You must’ve met my brother. We’ve been told we look alike.”
I’ll fucking say.Now that I thought about it, the man outside had a lot more green in his eyes than Dante, he was an inch or so taller, and then there was the intense personality. Dante seemed more like a Golden Retriever compared to his brother.
I didn’t give Dante a real response, but made some unintelligible sound as I went back to shoving my key into the lock. When he spoke next it was right beside my elbow and I turned quickly toward him, startled. He moved fast and quietly for such a big man. He was probably six-two and while he wasn’t huge and bulky, he was cut, and he had a presence about him that made him seem even bigger—apparently, he and his brother had that in common—although his brother still managed to put off the bigger dick energy out of the two. The shirt was showing off the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and down his exposed sides. I swallowed and took a step away from him. I didn’t want this cop any closer to me than he needed to be.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he laughed softly. “I just wanted to see if you’d like to get dinner with me tonight?”
Those chocolate brown eyes had probably melted many women before, but it wasn’t going to work on me. “No, thanks.” My key finally worked. I shoved the door open and stepped in. The last thing I saw before I slammed the door in his face was the disappointed frown on it. I leaned back on the door and blew out a breath. This sucked. I was trying to take out a whole hit list and now I was living next door to two cops.
It had been a few days since I’d visited Rafael Santos. In the aftermath, I was having a hard time calling it what it was—murder. I wasn’t sure how to feel about what I’d done. One minute, I was wracked with guilt. The next, I remembered what the man had done to my family and how he’d spoken about them, and the lack of remorse he’d shown. I was going back and forth trying to decide if my vigilante justice was worth the price I could possibly pay, and I wasn’t talking about my loss of life or freedom, but the cost of my soul.
Then I’d spent hours waiting for the cops to show up at my home. When they didn’t, I’d slowly started to relax. Until this morning, when I’d bumped into Dante and his roommate at the elevator. I’d very nearly had a heart attack. I knew they were cops right away. Even if they hadn’t been carrying their gun belts, bullet proof vests, and uniforms, I’d have known.
Cops had a certain walk, a certain presence about them. They almost always walked with their arms out from their sides a little, a habit of always having a gun and radio on their hips so they learned to bow their arms out a bit. Then there was that ever-watchful attitude, scanning a room every time they entered it. Being in law enforcement helped you spot others in the profession quite easily and it seemed I hadn’t lost that skill.
I moved over to my couch and pulled my computer onto my lap. I’d been researching the next guy on my list non-stop for the last few days. I’d already checked out the address Weasel had given me. Since I’d taken care of Santos the entire NYC branch… Division? Chapter? What did you call the offshoots of these organized crime syndicates? Anyway, the Guzman Cartel had gone on lockdown and no one was moving right now, so I wasn’t able to get close to Mario Pérez or his home for now.
He lived in a little subdivision outside of the city, much better digs than Santos had. Pérez also had a family. A wife and three daughters. I felt the wash of guilt that’d been chasing me for the last few days. Did I have the right to take him from his family the way mine had been taken from me? All in the name of vengeance?
Once again, I found myself torn, but still I watched him from afar, waiting for my opportunity. I’d make up my mind if and when it presented itself.
For now, I was going to have to add learning the schedule of two police officers to my to-do list. It wouldn’t do to go out on one of my scouting missions, or worse, to cross someone off my list and come back at the same time as them.
* * *
A week wentby before I caught a break with Pérez. Whenever I wasn’t working, I was doing surveillance on his home. I had to be careful since I was doing it on foot. I began to consider buying a car, it would make this kind of work so much easier, but it was so inconvenient to keep one in the city.
I began to notice that they were having an influx of visitors to their home. Finally, Thursday afternoon I saw a van pull in that had a decal on the side that said ‘Quinceañera Party Supplies’. When the man driving the van parked on the street and ran up to the house, I snuck across the road and opened his passenger side door. It didn’t take long before I found a clipboard that had the Pérez family name on it, tomorrow’s date, seven p.m., and an address. I quickly took a picture with my cell phone and shut the door, darting away from the van just before the man returned.
Walking down the street, I plugged in the address from the clipboard and frowned when the building popped up on Google Maps. It was a club, from the looks of it. I quickly made my way back to the bus station and over to the address. I stood outside The Lion’s Den Nightclub and wondered why Mario Pérez was having his daughter’s quinceañera at a club. I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. It’d be easier for me to sneak into a place like this during the party than if they were having it in their home.
I tried the door and wasn’t surprised to find it locked. It was still too early in the day for them to be open. I looked around before ducking down a side alley. Skirting along the building, I searched for any back entrances. There were none, and no windows I could reach easily. There was just a long expanse of brick that led further back into a rat infested, piss-scented alleyway.
Returning back to the main street, I found the nearest bus stop. I needed to go shopping for a party dress.
* * *
It wasa bummer that this party was on a Friday night when I knew the neighbors weren’t working, but at least I had a good cover. I just needed to be able to sneak away without Dante catching me. It seemed like every time I stepped foot outside my door in the last week, he was there.
I smoothed down the black lace dress. It was shorter than I liked, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. It hit mid-thigh and was so short I could barely conceal my small holster and pistol. The syringe with tranquilizers was safely capped and resting underneath my breasts. I prayed the tape I had securing it would hold long enough for me to get through the party because the square neckline of the dress cut low over my breasts, revealing an ample amount of cleavage. The thin straps that looped over my shoulders were the only thing holding this dress up and that was the only thing concealing my weapon and drugs.
My hair fell down my back in long, loose curls, and I had on a pair of sky-high black heels. Not many would question why I was at the party. If they did, I’d done enough research to be able to pull a few of Mario’s distant relative’s names out of my hat.
I pulled on a short leather jacket to help ward off the chill on the way over. Stepping out of my apartment, I locked the door then dropped my keys, wallet, and phone into the tiny clutch I was carrying. In my other hand was a ‘present’ for the birthday girl. I knew better than to hide anything in my purse in case it was searched, so my gun and needle were on my person while everything else I needed was in the small party bag in my hand.
Turning, I stopped short and gasped when I caught sight of someone standing there. “Jesus!” I put a hand up to my heart, wincing when my hammer and knife clanked together inside the gift bag in my hand.
Dante didn’t notice. He was too busy staring. He was doing a great imitation of that coyote from the cartoon. The one whose heart beats out of his chest as he slams a foot on the ground and wolf whistles. He wasn’t actually doing the action, but his eyes were bugging out of his head and his jaw was practically on the ground.
“Holy shit.” I could almost feel his gaze rake over me like a caress, and it gave me an uncomfortable, aroused feeling. One I hadn’t felt in a while and I hadn’t planned on feeling again. I tried to ignore it.
“Charming,” I sneered and stepped around him, heading for the elevator. I heard his footsteps following me and rolled my eyes.What was it with this guy?Sure, he was gorgeous. Any woman would have to be blind to deny that. But I wasn’t about to be distracted by a pretty face. He was in workout clothes again. He and his roommate spent a lot of their free time at the apartment complex’s weight room. It made sense. In their profession they needed to stay in shape.
“Where are you headed, Havoc?” He asked, watching me calmly as we waited for the elevator to stop on our floor. I sucked in a sharp breath and glared at him. I still hadn’t given him my name. How had he gotten it?
