The silence stretches until I can’t hold it anymore. “Who is he to you?”
Her eyes don’t waver. “Tony’s my partner.” She pauses, then adds, “Partner with benefits.”
The words hit harder than I expect. My jaw tightens, but I force myself to swallow it down.
I shift gears, voice low. “I had nothing to do with Ty’s murder. Or your parents’.”
She studies me for a long beat, then nods. “I know.”
That catches me off guard. “You do?”
“Yeah.” She exhales, shoulders sagging. “The FBI and DEA came to see me in the hospital. They told me Ty was working with them, to bring down the Mendaro Syndicate. He couldn’t tell me because apparently, it would’ve botched months of undercover work. They said the cartel killed my family,” she says quietly. She sounds hollow, like she’s just parroting what they fed her.
I stare at her, the weight of her words sinking in. But what she says next, stuns me.
“And they think there’s a leak in my precinct. Someone in my own department is either working with or associated with the cartel and I need to find out who.”
Her words hit nerves she doesn’t even know she’s touching. Yeah, there are dirty cops… hell, some take our money. But you don’t betray the ones who go to war with you. That line? You cross it, and there’s no coming back
I watch her, trying to decode the cold edge in her eyes. She’s not just grieving… she’s already hunting.
“I told Tony I’d go into protective custody for a while. That’s what they wanted, but I’m not doing that. I’m going to look into my family’s murder myself.”
Her eyes lock on mine as she continues. “Malcolm, I need your help. I need someone connected to that world to find the leak in my precinct. Someone who knows how to move in it.”
She’s asking me to help her dig into her own precinct, to chase down whoever sold out Ty and her parents. I want to say yes. Hell, part of me already has. But the club isn’t just me. Taking this to Mav means putting it in his hands, letting him decide if we move or if we stay out of it.
Either choice could blow everything up.
He doesn’t play with cops. And he sure as hell doesn’t play with cartels. Bringing this to him could spark something none of us walk away from. It could pull the whole chapter into a fire we can’t put out.
But Ty was family. His parents were family. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. And it doesn’t matter how long it’s been, Ty was a brother to me, same as any man with a patch.
“Lolo, you know I’ll help you. But I gotta take this to my Prez first. Nothing moves without him knowing.”
“What do you think he’ll say?” she asks softly.
“Honestly? I don’t know. But he’s killed people for less.”
I’ve seen Mav drop men without blinking, but she doesn’t need that detail.
She just nods.
“I need a shower,” she says after a beat. “But I want you to stay. We’re not done talking.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She turns toward the hallway, but something in me won’t let her leave without asking.
“Hey, Lolo.” She stops, but doesn’t turn around. “How can you trust me? After everything. After I was ordered to kill Ty.”
Her voice carries back to me, unwavering. “Because you didn’t. You warned me instead. You gave me time to try and get him out. That told me everything I needed to know.”
“You think that makes me trustworthy?” I ask.
“I think it makes you loyal,” she says. “And I could see it in your face… you weren’t lying to me. That’s how I know.”
She disappears down the hall, leaving me standing alone in her living room, the echo of her trust wrapping tight around my ribs.
