Page 14 of One for the Money

Thank fuck. Having identical twin brothers, I knew how much trouble they could cause simply by looking exactly the same. Of course, I knew my brothers like the back of my hand, but I’d seen the fuckery they’d caused.

“Happen to remember the name you gave them?” I ventured.

Trent didn’t respond but stood and walked back into the kitchen. I’m betting he did remember but wasn’t going to make it that easy for me to hunt them down. The way he talked, I would guess Trent liked the boys he’d been helping to hide for over twenty years.

Pulling out my phone, I entered the address to see where the fuck it was. “Well, what do you know… it’s right on the border of Hasnad and Nepreea.”

Bear snatched the phone out of my hand to look for himself. This wasn’t going to be a trip we could drive to unless we wanted to waste a whole bunch of time riding for twelve hours. Being able to fly on a whim was one reason I got my pilot’s license. That and you never knew when it might come in handy to have the skill.

Hearing my phone buzz, I looked over to see a text from Queenie. Fuck, we’d planned to do girls’ night. Bear tossed my phone back, and I opened the text.

Queenie:

Bad news, something came up that I have to deal with. Sorry girls.

Poison:

The work of a queen is never done. It’s fine, we will find another time.

Me:

No worries. I was gonna have to take a pass on tonight myself. Got a lead on the sneaky babies who just happen to be twins.

Queenie:

Twins? How did no one know that?

Me:

They wouldn’t be sneaky sparesie babies if people knew that kind of stuff. I’ve got a lead from the guy who helped them disappear. It’s five years old, but it will be a start.

Poison:

Nicely done, sweets! Wish my dance with Torben was going as well. Bastard has built himself an elegant human shield, knowing I would be hesitant to kill innocents.

After the fall of the five families, I’d been tasked with cleaning up any messes left behind by the Accardi Family. The lovely and deadly assassin, Ivy Foxxx, had taken on the mission of taking down the human trafficking ring that had been snatching women off the streets. Once upon a time, there had been honor among the criminals that no one went after the big five unless they wanted to start an all-out war. Over time, the unspoken rule was brushed aside, and soon the family name you represented meant nothing.

Ivy had been a victim of this ring when it wasn’t nearly as large. It grew rapidly once the Leoni Family put their backing behind the men running the ring. The problem was that the late head of the Leoni Family, Bosco, had been manipulated by a man, Torben Hecht, who claimed to be acting in the best interest of the Family. He actually used them to build his own criminal empire, running the trafficking ring. Too bad for Torben, Ivy had her sites targeted right between his eyes, and she’d pull the trigger the moment he fucked up.

Me:

Don’t you worry that pretty head, Poison. Torbeeno has no idea who he’s dealing with and when he does, he’ll be dead.

Poison:

Hahaha, well said, sweets.

Queenie:

Don’t hesitate to ask if there’s a way I can help, Ivy. Oh, Von, Hound wanted me to tell you to keep your ears open about some rumblings he’s heard going on in Trian through the dark web.

Me:

Yeah… about that. Someone might have asked me to locate some out-of-date SAM missiles. The only place to find them is Trian. Not sure what the hell is going on, but I’ll keep you in the loop-dee-loop.

Queenie:

Thanks, Von, talk to you gals later.