Amara stepped outside, phone to ear, spotting Keisha before ducking back in.“I think my coworker’s in on it,” Keisha whispered.“She signed off on some of these.”
“Who can you trust?”
“You.”Keisha’s satchel pressed close, Tiana’s photo inside.
Cassia’s Honda screeched into the lot.“Hop in,” she said, face tight.
Keisha slid in, clutching her satchel.“Can we swing by my place?I need to lock down these files.”
“Start talking.What’s happening?”Cassia sped off.
“They’ll do anything to keep me quiet.”Keisha checked the mirror—no one followed.“Tiana and those kids are in real danger.”
“No more going it alone, okay?”Cassia squeezed her trembling hand.“We’ll sort this out.”
As they drove to her apartment, fear still shook her hands, but Tiana’s trust comforted her.They could watch, threaten, destroy her car—she’d keep digging for those kids.One file, one name at a time, until she made good on her promise.
Chapter 2
The needle buzzed againstskin, steady in Sergei’s grip as he traced a vine across his client’s forearm.He wiped excess ink, crisp black lines emerging.Controlled.Unlike his thoughts.
“Almost done,” he murmured, dipping the needle into black ink.
His client—a regular, arms mapped with Sergei’s work—nodded, staring at the ceiling.Silent.Sergei liked that.Fewer questions about the Belarusian symbols hidden among the parlor’s designs, coded warnings the average person wouldn’t notice.
Cleo watched from a stack of towels, her mismatched eyes—green, blue—tracking the needle’s buzz.Her black tail twitched.Three months ago, she’d slipped through the back door.Now she guarded it.
Under neon glow, the room pulsed pink and blue from Calle Ocho’s signs.Cars honked.A street vendor shouted prices.
Sergei refined the vine’s curve, hands steady.Five years of tattooing had killed the shakes.Five years since Belarus.Since Svetlana’s blood on his hands, her final words—”You promised”—after he’d trusted a society contact.Guilt carved deeper than any needle.
His burner phone sat quiet on the counter.The morning’s call echoed.
“Grove base compromised.Switch to secondary.Crawford, the social worker is digging into Coastal’s records.”
Keisha Crawford.
