Frank Knight leaned over the railing. He had a cell phone pressed to his ear while wearing his standard issue expression—the one that said he snacked on puppies and babies in his spare time.
But no Britt.
Julia felt like her entire body drooped with disappointment as, one by one, the Black Knights noticed her arrival and waved their hellos. She lifted a hand in greeting before she turned back to see Sabrina nervously twisting her fingers together.
“Right.” She nodded. “How about I tell you why I’ve come over a hot cup of coffee?”
“Of course.” Sabrina motioned for Julia to follow her to the kitchen.
Two minutes later, Julia found herself sitting at the center island. She’d shed the rest of her outerwear and now gratefully curled her hands around a warm mug of caffeinated heaven.
She tried not to remember how Britt had pushed her against the door to the pantry, tried not to remember how hot and hungry his mouth had been, how hard and ready his body had been. Tried and failed.
She wasn’t sure how her news was going to land. So she figured she’d start with a softball. “You’re looking well,” she told Sabrina, who offered her a shy smile as she stood across the island from Julia.
“Eliza’s quite the cook.”
Julia chuckled. “I’ve had the pleasure of sampling her pastries. If I lived here, I’d weigh three hundred pounds.”
Sabrina patted her still-flat stomach. “I’m working on it.” Then, she grew serious. “How’s Knox?”
“Still being held in a safe house, waiting for the day he’ll take the stand and turn state’s evidence against the cartel.”
“And after that’s done?”
“Agent Keplar will find him a nice spot in the WITSEC program. Knox Rollins will disappear from this timeline and a new man will be born in his place.”
Sabrina’s forehead wrinkled. “That’ll break Britt’s heart. Knox is the only family he has left.”
Julia swallowed the knot that lodged in her throat, biting her tongue against asking after Britt since Sabrina had brought up the subject. “I hate it, too. But I think Sergeant Rollins would rather know his brother is alive and well rather than…the alternative.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Sabrina sighed heavily.
Julia took a sip of coffee, luxuriated in the bitterness of the strong brew, and then said what she’d really come to say. “Eddy Torres is dead.”
Sabrina blinked uncomprehendingly.
Julia emphasized, “The man who killed your brother, the man who brutalized you, is dead.”
“H-how?” Sabrina’s voice was a bare rasp.
“Shot in the head.”
“Why?Who?”
All Julia could do was shrug. “Ballistics came back clean. Maybe his own guys offed him after he bungled the job with Knox and your brother? Maybe a rival gang caught up with him and did the honors? With a guy like him, it’s impossible to say. But I wanted you to be the first to know.”
“Thank you.” All the blood had drained from Sabrina’s face. Even still, she didn’t come close to resembling the weak, wounded creature Julia had met months earlier.
Black Knights Inc. was good for Sabrina. Not that Julia was surprised. Black Knights Inc. seemed to be good for everyone lucky enough to live and work there.
“I really appreciate you coming all this way in the snow to tell me,” Sabrina added.
“Tell you what?” Hew sauntered into the kitchen and made a beeline for the refrigerator. He pulled out a carton of strawberry yogurt that looked impossibly tiny in his huge hands.
Peanut appeared from nowhere.
Julia wasn’t surprised. Her own animals had a Pavlovian response to the opening of the refrigerator door. Nor was she surprised when the grizzled-looking tomcat ran figure eights around Hew’s ankles in a feline bid for treats.
