Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

GIANNI

Terry moved around the large kitchen, grumbling to himself under his breath. Every so often, he'd glance at us, Reuben in particular, with disapproval in his eyes. Not at anything we were doing, or talking about, but at him being uprooted from Sydney to come to Dusk Bay. He knew, as well as we did, that we couldn't function without him, but he was very much a creature of habit. That included knowing where everything was. Every time he came here, he had to rearrange everything in the kitchen to suit himself.

Ultimately, that was the prime source of his annoyance. The staff who worked here in our absence didn't leave things where he put them.

I patted him on the shoulder on the way to grab a fresh cup of coffee. "Maybe we should lock the cabinets when we leave."

He grunted his agreement and trudged off with a stack of plates.

I smiled to myself, picked up my coffee and carried it into the office. The air between everyone inside had changed since we were here last.

Reuben and Damon kept glancing at each other awkwardly. In between that, Reuben looked at Mina like he'd won the lottery. Considering he didn't need to play, because he had plenty of money, I assumed they'd fucked.

Good for them. It was about time.

I slipped into a chair just as Damon said something about the Vipers.

"If he's there, we need to speak to them," Damon was saying.

It took a moment for my brain to catch up to what he was saying. "You think Enzo is working with them?"

When it came to Damon's brother, I was as conflicted as everyone else in the room. I wanted to kill him on Mina's behalf, or at least hold him down while she did it. I also didn't want to cause a rift between either of us, and Damon by killing his brother.

"He has in the past," Damon said. "They'll know where he is, if anyone does. They're his kind of people."

"Riffraff?" I suggested.

Not that I was perfect, but the Vipers were a special breed of asshole. The kind that left their morals at the door. I was aware that we took part in human trafficking from time to time, but the Vipers put in orders for the kinds of people—usually women—they wanted to receive. I tried not to think too much about what happened to them after that, but I knew they had a lot more freedom than Mina was afforded.

Usually.

"Exactly," Reuben remarked. He rubbed his chin. For the first time in a long time, he actually looked relaxed. For him, that meant slightly less wound up than usual. Definitely the look of a man who got laid.

I glanced over to Mina, who sat on the couch near the window which was usually occupied by the twins. Her legs were crossed at her knees, eyes half closed as if she wasn't paying attention.

I knew better. She was listening to everything we said and everything we didn't say. Taking in every nuance and every movement. If things went to hell, she'd move in a heartbeat. Faster than a heartbeat.

I let my gaze linger on her, appreciating the sight. She was so fucking gorgeous, she sucked the breath out of my body.

I raised my hand to my neck and brushed the pad of my thumb across the healing wounds around my throat. Picturing her with the knife while she rode me made me harder than diamonds in a heartbeat. Just when I thought she couldn't surprise me, she went and did something like that. I had a feeling I'd still be uncovering layers of her until the day I died. She was fascinating and complex. I loved that about her.

My attention returned to Reuben as he spoke.

"We'll all go," he said finally. "They won't kill me, that would be too messy."

"If they know Mina is looking to kill Enzo, they might—" Damon started to push himself up from his chair.

"Then we don't tell them," Reuben interrupted. "You're looking for your brother. That's all they need to know."

Damon sank back down with a gusty exhale. "I don't trust them with her."

"That's why we're all going," Reuben said. "They won't get past us."

"Let them try," I said. I wasn't afraid of a bunch of street thugs. "I don't mind handing them their asses."

"This would be better if I went by myself," Damon said. One last attempt to change Reuben's mind, albeit a weak one. He was defeated and he knew it, but he wasn't going down without a final swing. "I can talk to them."

"They won't say no to me," Reuben said, effectively ending the conversation.

"No." Carlos Jones looked Reuben right in the eyes, arms crossed over his burly chest, chin jutting out like a dare. "I cannot give out the whereabouts of anyone who works for me."

"You mean, you will not," I said.

Carlos' eyes barely moved. "Same thing."

We'd been given a cool welcome to the Vipers' headquarters, which was little more than a warehouse beside the Dusk Bay docks. Several members of the cartel gave us dubious looks and a wide berth, as a young man led us to the cartel's leader.

A short, stocky man in his mid-forties, the only place he had no visible ink was his face. He didn't need it; the scars across his forehead and cheeks were enough decoration. They made him look exactly like what he was. The kind of man women should cross the street to avoid.

Like me, but with less class.

"Enzo is my brother," Damon said. His tone was as icy as Carlos. "I know the cartel rules."

"Don't quote my own rules to me," Carlos snapped. "I wrote them."

I decided that vocalising my surprise at his ability to write was low-lying fruit, even for me. I also strongly suspected that Carlos wouldn't care whose company I was in, if I insulted his intelligence.

Unless he was really, really big, then that was a gun in his pocket. If it wasn't a gun, I was impressed.

"So you're going to ignore them?" Damon asked. "The cartel is supposed to protect brothers. That's what I'm trying to do here."

Beside me, Mina stiffened slightly. I could almost feel her thinking, wondering if that was Damon's agenda. If anyone else was aware of a response, I saw no sign. They were too busy trying to out testosterone each other.

"In the cartel, brother doesn't mean blood," Carlos said. "It means we protect the brothers of our allegiance. Our brother Vipers. Blood means shit." He spat on the concrete floor beside Reuben's shoe.

"Name your price," Reuben said. He seemed completely unruffled.

Carlos' jaw moved in irritation. Of course, this was just part of the game. The harder he made it look like we wouldn't get what we wanted, the higher the price.

I doubted there was anything in the world that wasn't for sale if we offered enough. Men like this would sell their own mother if it benefited them and their bank account.

Finally, Carlos jerked his head towards a room to the side of the headquarters that he used for his office. The space was makeshift at best. Trestle tables and folding chairs, a locker to one side that probably contained guns and knives. None of the finesse of our lifestyle.

Which begged the question, why would Enzo prefer to work here than for Reuben? Each to their own.

Carlos sat on one of the tables. It groaned under his weight, but held.

"How much do you want to know where Enzo is? It seems to me you want that a lot. The question is, why?" His gaze slid to Mina, taking her in like she was a piece of meat.

To men like him, women were nothing more than a commodity. A place to put his cock when he needed release.

He jerked his chin toward her. "That's why you brought her? You want to exchange her for him?"

We all anticipated the question, so none of us reacted. None of us even killed him.

Yet.

"That wouldn't be a fair exchange," I said easily. "She's worth more than six or seven of him."

That got Carlos' attention. He looked at her more intently. "You think so?"

"I know so," I said. If he looked at her like that for much longer, I was going to have to relieve him of his eyeballs. Didn't he know it was rude to stare?

"She's not for sale," Reuben growled softly. "We can double your next shipment in return for Enzo."

Carlos failed to contain his surprise at the generous offer. "You really do want him, don't you? If he's worth that much, maybe I should hold out for more."

"Maybe we should kill you and deal with whoever takes your place," Damon said mildly.

Carlos barked a laugh. "You think you'd walk out of here in one piece? I fucking dare you to try." He raised his hands to either side. He was beyond smug.

I would be too if I knew no one would kill me, even if I provoked them. Not openly, anyway. He wasn't stupid enough to turn his back on us, or anyone we might send to kill him later. Which we wouldn't do. Probably.

As long as he served our needs, he could keep breathing. He should be careful not to get too self-important though. That was when people started to make wrong moves.

"Do we have a deal?" Reuben said, clearly impatient.

"I'll take triple," Carlos said. "For four times that, I'll throw in my sister." He chuckled. "You look like you could handle a wildcat like her."

"Triple," Reuben said. "Keep your sister. I have no interest in buying women."

Carlos smirked. He was smart enough not to point out that Reuben didn't seem to have too much trouble selling them. A comment like that would see the price drop back to double. Or the regular price of shipments Carlos bought from us, would suddenly skyrocket. He couldn't afford that and we all knew it.

"Enzo first," Damon said. "Then I'll make the arrangements for the next shipment."

Carlos nodded. He jumped down off the table and sauntered over to the door. "Hades! Get your fucking ass over here."

I couldn't see who he was speaking to, but a male voice responded, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps heading out of the headquarters.

Damon's expression was tense. The muscles in his face were going to hurt later if he kept them as tight as they were.

I gave him a smile, which he responded to with a nod. That was as much comfort as he was going to accept right now.

Mina appeared less apprehensive, but she was getting better at containing her emotions.

Having only been around Kurt for so long, she'd had to relearn how to interact with other people. Including not flinching when the instinct told her to.

Honestly, I wished I had half of her self-control. Whenever she was in assassin mode, she was as closed a book as Damon or Reuben. Only the slightest twitch of her right hand gave away any hint of what she was feeling. Poised, ready to pull out a knife and use it.

I couldn't see one, but I knew she'd have several on her, within easy reach. Reuben would have insisted before bringing her here, but he wouldn't have needed to. She would have stashed them on her with as little thought as pulling on clothes.

The Vipers weren't given to being welcoming towards women.

I was tempted to suggest we take Carlos' sister, to save her from whatever might happen to her. Chances were, he'd sell her to a rival cartel to make an alliance. If she was the wildcat he suggested she was, she'd be pissed off at him for doing that.

Mina must have sensed my scrutiny. She looked over at me and offered a small smile. I gave her a bigger one in return.

Carlos stepped back into the room. "Seems you're out of luck. Enzo met with the wrong end of a bullet last night. He's dead."