He winked. “Five more minutes.”
I took another bite, letting the warmth of the food and Legend’s easy attentiveness wash over me. For a while, we didn’t talk about names, cartels, or La Madrina. We just ate, teased, and laughed, the sounds and smells wrapping us in comfort.
Goblin bumped my knee, but Voodoo rose and got him his dinner. “Sorry buddy,” he murmured. “I blame Lunchbox.”
“Me too,” AB concurred and the guys laughed, not that Legend seemed to mind.
I leaned back slightly, sighing contentedly. “I could get used to this. Domestic chaos with lasagna and you guys making stupid faces.”
“Domestic chaos is my specialty,” Legend said, holding up the crispy, delightfully savory, garlic bread for me to bite into and I let out a lusty little sigh. It tasted even better than it smelled. “And yes, we adore your stupid expressions, too.”
Bones snorted. “She’s enjoying it. Stop pretending this isn’t what you’re here for.”
“I am enjoying it,” I admitted, smirking through a mouthful. “It’s… nice. Real.”
Voodoo leaned forward, tapping a fork against his chin. “We need more of this. Otherwise, you get cranky. And trust me, cranky Firecracker is terrifying.”
I laughed again, reaching for the piece of garlic bread on the side of my plate. Legend caught it first. “Nope,” he said, lifting another forkful of the cheesy lasagna to my lips. “You get everything in moderation. Even happiness.”
I leaned forward, biting the lasagna, and caught the gleam in his eye that was half mischief, half affection.
The warmth of our laughter, the smell of the food, and the steady presence of the men I trusted—it all pressed together like a shield around me. For a little while, I allowed myself to believe nothing could touch us here.
Then the quiet beep of AB’s laptop cut through the kitchen. One soft, insistent tone. Search complete.
Everyone froze.
AB’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. “Uh… that’s… interesting.” His brow furrowed as he scanned the screen.
Legend straightened in his chair. “Interesting how? Good interesting or bad interesting?”
AB’s eyes darkened. “Both, maybe. I’ve got movement on Maikel Castillo. Him and a couple of others linked to the cartel. Patterns shifting. We might have just found their latest operational node.”
Bones’ jaw tightened. “Figures.”
Voodoo let out a long breath. “Well, that escalated fast.”
I slid off Legend’s lap, my stomach knotting slightly, the comfort of dinner and teasing slipping away. “Show me,” I said quietly.
AB turned the screen toward us, the glow painting our faces. “This isn’t small,” he said. “And it’s not going to be easy. But it’s a start. And we have to move carefully.”
Legend’s hand found mine across the table. “We do this together,” he murmured. “Like everything else.”
I nodded, swallowing hard. The domestic bubble we’d been in—warm, teasing, safe—had burst. But now, like always, we were together. That made the danger manageable.
For now, at least.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
ALPHABET
The sun beat down on the tarmac as our little charter touched ground, heat shimmering off the concrete like a mirage. Bones was already scanning the horizon, Voodoo quietly muttering into a phone headset, as he locked down vehicles, backup, and supplies. Lunchbox handled the flight and the landing with his kind of calm competence.
Goblin dozed next to me, head tucked against my left foot with his tail flicking lazily, so patient with all of us. Grace sat next to me, a digital tablet open where she was scanning news from a few different countries. The fact she could read as well as converse in multiple languages let me assign a task for her.
I ran a hand over my face. Time had blurred since New Jersey. Days, nights, late nights, early mornings… and somewhere along the line, Miami had become the next logical step. Yakov Dvorak—our closest lead to one of the names Sinclair had butchered in his interrogations—was here. Somewhere. We were going to have a little chat with him.
