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I turned back to glare up at him. “I don’t have anything to pay you for it.”
He shot me a wry look. “Let’s just say that you getting out of my apartment for good will be payment enough.”
Grumbling, I sat up, trying to swipe the tiredness from my eyes. “What is it? Because I fucking swear, if it’s another dead end, I’ll never leave.”
“God, I hope not.” Wen passed me a small piece of paper. “Here. Go to this location. There’s a drop-off tonight, and I have it on good authority that it’s another run for the Snake.”
“On whose authority?” I asked, wary. “You could have just gotten a bunk tip.”
“I’m going to pretend as if you didn’t just insult me.” Wen turned away, heading back to the door. He stopped, glancing at me over his shoulder. “When this is all done with, Dante, you’ll owe me big time.”
I sighed just as the door closed. I knew he was right—I would owe him. I just didn’t know if I’d ever be able to repay him once this was all over with. Wen wasn’t known for his charity, and I’ve clearly overstayed my welcome. I just didn’t have anywhere else to go. I’d left everything to Sienna—the family business, the house, the bank accounts, everything.
My eyes skimmed the paper once before crumpling it up. The location was at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. No shipping containers came out of there—only high-end yachts and ships. Unless the Snake had upgraded, I doubted anything would come out of this tonight. Even knowing that, I still felt the urge to go, just to check it out. It was something, at least. Anything to get me off this damn couch.
It would take me about an hour to reach the place, more if there was traffic—which there always was in New York. I figured I could stand to at least shower after running around the city’s underground clubs and warehouses for the past few nights. Just because I was out hunting didn’t mean I had to smell like an animal. Besides, the shower helped clear my head a bit, pushing the monster back just a tad as I dried off. I felt more human, stepping from the bathroom. More human than I’d felt in days.
In the morning, when I’d get back, I often wondered how long it would take before I lost the humanity I’d fought so hard to keep all these years. My father had tried to train it out of me, and I’d always kept a sliver of it alive just to spite him. Now he was gone. And so was my mother. I could choose freely whether or not I finally gave in to this feeling or not. And now I had no one, nothing to hold me back.
As usual, I dressed in all black as if preparing for a funeral. After running from my parent’s estate, and Sienna’s home, I’d left all my suits and nice clothing behind. The only clothing I had left was what I’d taken or bought with what little money I had left after signing it over to Sienna. Pulling the black T-shirt over my head, I ran a hand through my hair, not caring if it looked a bit messy. No one was going to comment on my looks. Not when I was torturing them for information.
Shrugging on a black leather jacket and hiding the gun halter across my chest, I stepped out of the apartment and onto the landing. Wen’s safehouse was in a shady part of Harlem. The apartment building itself looked as if it were about to collapse, the paint in the halls peeling, and the wooden stairs rickety. There were no windows in the hall, and the lights flickered, giving everything a sickly color.
Taking a cab, I reached the docks in just over an hour. The sun had finally set beyond the city skyline, casting everything back into the glow of the street lights. The cruise terminal was nearly empty, with only a few workers darting along the docks. I kept my distance, eyes scanning the area. When I was sure there were no signs of the Snake’s men in the vicinity, I started down the docks.
The night air along the water made me feel calmer, though I was still on edge. Wen was rarely wrong, and it would surprise me tonight if I found out it was actually a bunk tip. My hands stayed close to my sides, ready to wrap around the grip of my gun any second.
That’s when I spotted them.
Sienna was sitting on one of the benches, watching the water. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders, the way I loved it. But she wasn’t alone. A man moved, wrapping his coat around her shoulders, even though it wasn’t that chilly out tonight.
I saw red.
I’ve only been gone, what, a few days? And already, she’d found someone else. Wen was the one to give me this information. Did he know I’d find them here rather than the target I was searching for? Did he do this on purpose to warn me what I was losing if I stayed away?
The man spotted me first as I drew my gun, pointing it directly at him. He shot up off the bench, hands raised. I didn’t like the look of him. First, I noticed there was no way he was Italian. He was too pale, too blond, and too obnoxiously American. His cheap suit didn’t fit him right, which told me he had poor taste and an even worse fashion sense.
“Don’t shoot.”
I scoffed. “Give me one good reason.”
“Well, for starters, I’m not with the Snake.” I tensed at his words and said nothing. The man’s head tilted, blond hair gelled back. “We gave Wen the location to give you.”
“Sienna.” My voice cracked, but I didn’t dare lower my gun from the man beside her. Something hot flared in my chest, a dark emotion I couldn’t help but acknowledge. “Who the fuck is this?”
“Dante put the gun down,” she said quietly. Standing, she moved to the man’s side.
My hand shook as I glared. “Tell me who this is,” I growled, “or I shoot.”
“David’s going to help us.”
“Oh really?” I sneered. “So as soon as I’m gone, you go running to someone else? Is that it?”
“She didn’t come to me,” David said. “I called her.”
I clicked back the safety. “That’s really not helping your case right now. Step away from my wife.”
He didn’t move, which just pissed me off even more. “I’m really just here to help.”
