“Not interested in your excuses. I looked up to you. You were my hero. You hurt me, and I don’t trust you anymore.”
“Then trustthem.”
“Andie?”
I blink and refocus on the conversation only to find all eyes on me, waiting.
Declan brushes a hand down my arm. He’s sitting to my left; Rafe, Liam, and Tessa to my right, with Keane and Jax across from us.
“Tired?” Declan asks me.
“I’m good.” My mind scrolls back to what we were discussing.
Tessa giggles at something on her screen. It’s amusing to see her focused on her laptop and Jax on his phone. A part of me wishes I could connect with Jax in that way, and it makes me a tiny bit jealous knowing that Tessa can.
Liam drums his fingers on his knee, drawing my attention to his large, masculine hand. Several faint white lines score down his fingers. Old scars. All the men surrounding me bear them in one way or another. I do as well. The lives we live are not for the weak.
“If the trap we set at the docks doesn’t work, Rafael could always flush out his old man and brother. Heard Julio had a hard-on for you to come back to Mexico.”
“Not fucking happening,” Rafe snaps.
My hand slides over to rest on top of Rafe’s, giving it a small squeeze.
“I’m with Rafe,” I say, jumping in, daring Liam to contradict me.
Rafe will never go back to that life or his father.
“Clearly, I’m out of the loop. What plan are you talking about?” I ask.
Tessa looks up from what she’s doing. “The one where a little birdie told the DEA about a drug shipment coming into the docks.”
But that would mean—
“Hold up. Those shipments come into docks controlled by us—I mean the Rossis,” I correct myself, turning my concern toward Keane. “Wouldn’t that put you in the DEA’s crosshairs as well?”
“Not if they were paid to look the other way,” Declan states.
He must have DEA agents in his pocket as well. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said that. There’s a lot of the inner workings of the business I understand, and a lot I have yet to learn. I listened and absorbed while growing up under Max Rossi’s boot. He never saw me as a threat. I was a girl. Weak. Brainless. Useless. It was one of his biggest mistakes to underestimate me. But he’s dead now. By my hand. Karma is a bitch.
“With Julio and Alejandro still in town, have Keane set up another meeting using me as the bait, then take them out,” I suggest.
Julio wants hispropertyback so badly? He can come and get me himself, and then die for his arrogance.
“To repeat what Rafe said, not fucking happening,” Keane immediately interjects.
“Not up to you,” I tell him. I look at Declan to gauge what he thinks. “It’s a reasonable plan.”
“One that puts you at risk.”
I shrug. “I know.”
“I swear to Christ,” Keane grumbles, then abruptly stands up from his seat. “Can I have a word with you in private?”
Here we go. Keane all up on his high horse. I stand as well and walk out onto the small balcony, needing some fresh air to wake me up for this conversation. I peer over the concrete balustrade as the gusty wind whips my hair all around my face. We’re so high up, I can’t make out anything below. Looking down makes me think about the urban myth of killing someone by dropping a penny from the top of the Empire State Building. It’s not true. There was some University of Virginia physics professor who tested the theory and debunked it by using himself as the guinea pig.
Two thickly muscled arms appear on either side of me right before Keane’s body collides gently with my back.
“It’s beautiful up here,” he comments, his earlier irritation with me gone.
