Nate’s features were hard-set and he kept his gaze on the road. “When we roll up wedon’tknow each other.”
My eyes slid to him three seconds before I turned my head his way. I recalled that he’d majored in criminal justice, then went to grad school to master in the field.
“You’re undercover,” I said.
“You know nothing.”
My eyes widened. “We aren’t there yet. I’m not going to blow your cover.”
“Youthinkyou won’t. Hell, everyone thinks that.”
“Fine, but why me?”
He glanced at me for a beat. “They didn’t tell me. I just got in with them two months ago. The only reason I volunteered for this was because I knew you lived in that building and I guessed that was your apartment number.”
“Raff’s going to be pissed.” Then I added, “So is Beast.”
“Yeah. Hard to say if that biker’s the reason you’re still breathing or if he made shit worse. I’m thinking it’s worse because of them wading into this situation.”
“You would,” I muttered.
The entire Russell family was cool with Mom being with Dad. Nate and Derek hadn’t given it a second thought when they were younger. Once he hit college though, Nate had a chip on his shoulder about the Riot.
He had once asked Dad, “Why are you with them?”
“We’re not criminals,” Dad had answered.
“You’re runnin’ a strip club. Nothing but crime around those places.”
“Not ours,” Dad clipped out.
Nate doubled down. “So that woman who got beaten in the parking lot. Did she just take a bad stumble and land herself in ICU?”
“We didn’t beat her,” Dad said, his voice steel.
Leon, his dad, had waded into the conversation. “Son, let it go. Running a gentleman’s club is legal.”
“What I want to know is, how did you end up in this shit?” Nate asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Believe me, I’ve been asking myself that for the last couple weeks, and if Ines were still around, I’d have gotten to the bottom of it by now.”
“What do you mean, ‘were still around’? We heard she’d been in a car wreck, but…”
I took a deep breath. “She didn’t make it.”
“Fuck,” he hissed.
He stopped the car at a red light, and I glanced at his profile. “Why do you sound torn up about it?”
“This changes things.”
I nodded once. “I know why it changes things for me, but why do you say that?”
“Can’t tell you exactly. The Sixers wanted to use you as leverage against Ines. With her out of the picture… not sure what good you’ll do them.”
“Are you saying this gang had contact with Ines?”
Nate shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of. They knew she moved the product Tobias and Brantleythinkthey stole.”
