“He gave you a fake name, the place he was supposedly living in was an Airbnb, or he sublet it, not sure which. But whatever it is, he doesn’t exist. At least the name he gave you doesn’t. I’m going to need you to be completely and totally truthful with me about this guy.”
She doesn’t say anything immediately.
I watch as her fork moves her pasta around the plate. She’s still got some shrimp there, and some broccoli, but she’s not stabbing either and eating them. She’s literally just shifting her food around the plate.
Slowly, her gaze lifts to meet mine, her eyes searching my own, and then her gaze shifts to the side before it slowly returns.
“You’re going to need to tell me why the fuck he targeted you. I know it’s because you were part of the Reapers. I know it’s because he’s part of some group that wanted inside. And I know that he came after you because you knew too much, but, Cidney, you haven’t given us details.”
She pinches her eyes closed and shakes her head a couple of times, clearly not wanting to tell me the truth. I know why she doesn’t. She probably feels stupid as fuck for falling for this guy. A liar, someone she let in just to fuck her over. I would feel embarrassed and like an idiot, but it’s time for the whole truth to come out.
“I was hoping that it was over, that he was found and that was that,” she whispers. “I don’t know why I thought that. Nobody said anything. It’s wishful thinking, I guess. I wanted it to just go away… far, far away.”
I do feel bad for her. I’ve been fucked over by women before. I know how it can fuck you up on the inside. And she’s feeling that right now, which is fine. Maybe we all need to feel that, but more importantly, I need to know what the hell this guy is involved with, so I can know how to take care of her. How to protect her.
“Where do I start?” she asks.
Stabbing a little shrimp, I lift it to my lips and take a bite, chewing for a moment before my gaze meets hers. She watches me, her gaze searching, and then she tilts her head down slightly, her gaze on her plate, before she slowly lifts it to meet mine again.
I can see the pain behind her eyes. She’s trying to work through the betrayal of this motherfucker. But she doesn’t have to work through shit. Once I find him, he’s dead. Plain and simple. He came after family, and he shot one of our own. He could have killed either of them.
So he’s a dead man walking at this point.
And I’m going to be the one who kills him. I mean, sure, Lightning has dibs, but I don’t think I care. If I find him first, I’m taking the fucker out—whoever he is.
“Jeffery Hagerty, or whoever he is, told me he was part of the Front Mob family.”
My blood runs cold at her words. She must be fucking joking with me. I know that family. We steer clear of that family. That family is the reason we don’t do business in Raleigh.
We’ll do business around Raleigh, we’ll do business in Virginia and other states, but not within the city limits, and the agreement we have with the Front family is the reason why.
As much as I want to tell her that she’s completely fucking cooked, I don’t. Instead, I stab a piece of broccoli, a vegetable that is not one of my favorites, but tonight, I’m going to pretend like it is while I chew and think.
“Okay,” I murmur. “Okay.”
“Okay?” she asks.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” I try to act like what she’s told me already is no big deal.
If I act surprised, she’s going to freak out and probably keep things from me. If I act cool and fucking collected, maybe she won’t.
“He said they were moving drugs, firearms, too, but mostly drugs.”
“Where?” I ask, though it comes out as a demand.
She looks down at her plate, moving the food around a little more before she lifts her gaze to meet mine. “He didn’t say where, but I got the impression they weren’t happy with the distribution and thought someone else could do a better job… they used the name Robin.”
“Robin?” I ask, playing dumb, even though I know we run protection for his trucks as they move from one place to another.
“That’s the name he used. I don’t know much more, but he was adamant that he thought they could do better, be better… take over the state.”
That means taking over us, and I fucking highly goddamn doubt it.
“You’re a good girl for remembering that, Cidney,” I say. “If you think of anything else, anything that could be useful, even if you don’t think it’s useful, just anything, let me know, yeah?”
I try to make it sound like no big deal, but inside, I’m screaming at her to give me more. She doesn’t. Instead, she shifts her attention back to her plate and thankfully starts to actually eat her food.
The rest of the meal is eaten in somewhat silence. I try not to push things even though I want to, especially push her shorts down her hips and fuck her. That is one thing I definitely want to do, but I don’t, at least not yet.
