CHAPTER ONE

SHAW

Goddamn fool is too good at everything.

I wish that thought wasn't going through my head constantly, but it is. He's arrived, stamped some kind of fucking authority on me that he isn't entitled to, and is now thrashing my ass at poker.

Throwing in my hand, I stand and head for the bar. Dina's behind it, smirking at me like she's got other things going through her mind. They're about me. More specifically, they're about the kinda fun we got up to last night.

She leans on the bar, pushing her chest at me and flicking her long, black hair. No need. I'm all in for another night of her mouth on me. "He beat you again, huh?" she drawls.

I look back at Kai and the guys sitting there. "Yeah."

"Seems strange now with him here instead of Dragon." She's got that right. "Same aura, whole different look." She laughs and leans back, reaching for a bottle of tequila and pouring two shots. "Although, Dragon got his way with me. That one hasn't even tried."

I frown. "You were with him?"

"Dragon? It was a few years ago. I was only eighteen. One night."

The imagery grinds every gear I've got, and the thought of another night with her disappears into a hole I'm never going back to. Laughter erupts from the table behind me, and although it might not be aimed at me, I feel it. I've felt it my whole damn life in this family. And now something out here in the real world, something I thought was mine, has already been fucked before by my brother? Screw all this shit.

Dina slings the shot back and jumps onto the bar, swinging her legs around until they're straddling me. "So, tonight."

"I've got somewhere else to be. Try Kai on for size." She pouts as I back away from her, but I bet it won't stop her acting like a whore for another one of us as soon as she can. Not that Kai will play that game with her. Whatever he is, he's loyal as hell to Mariana, that's for damn sure. I've been in too many places like this with him now to not know that fact. He doesn't even look at other women. Not even the ones he brands up. He's fair, too. He handles those girls with more precision and care than Dante ever did. Guess that's why I'm so pissed with him about shit I can't work out in my own skull yet. I want to hate him. I don"t.

Grabbing my keys from the table, I nod over at him to let him know I'm leaving and head for the back entrance. It's pitch black when I get outside. I breathe in the thick air instead of the stale smoke inside and look around the parking lot. I haven't got anywhere else to be at all. I've got places I could go, but no one needs me, and sure as hell, no one's calling me at this time of night for a heart-to-heart. Guess I could go to one of Mariana's places. Might as well. At least I know those whores aren't mine to concern myself with. I thought Dina was. I took her out for a meal or two. We even went dancing. I've been seeing her for around a month – only her. It was easy. She knew us and was used to the lifestyle because of that fact. She made me laugh, too. That's done now. I don't share.

The journey through the district goes by slowly, as I search for problems. Doesn't look like there are any tonight. Cops are doing their job, and where they're not, our guys are doing what they should be doing. Looks like Knox has it all in place for us, as usual, and there's nothing for the runt of this litter to concern himself with.

I end up at home. Don't know why, but that's where the car took me. I slam the door, still pissed at the thought of Dina, and head into my condo. It's nothing special, but it's been mine since I was twenty-one. Birthday gift from Abel.

I unlock the door and scan my phone. Reams of offers from girls. Cute language and all kinds of images for me to think on.

One from Abel.

Be at the jet at eight tomorrow morning. Pack for two weeks. Passport.

Fine.

I won't know where I'm going until I get there, but it's not like I have a choice. If he needs me – if any of them need me – I'm there in a heartbeat. It's not always because I want to be.

~

We've been up in the air for around three hours before Abel's off the phone and finally acknowledging my existence. He sits and slides a fresh coffee across to me, frowning about something. I don't speak. What's the point? He's not interested in my opinion or thoughts unless he's directly asked for them.

I stare out the window instead, sighing to myself about everything and nothing. I should be laughing my way through life, really. I want for nothing. I've got women on tap twenty-four seven. Money isn't an object I need to worry about, and I've got the mother of all families wrapped around me. All I need to think about is being where I need to be, fighting what needs fighting, and killing anything that needs killing. I'm getting damn good at all three of those options.

"You're going to London," he says outta nowhere. I look back at him inputting something on his phone, mystified with that turn of events. "You've got a flight out of JFK today."

"Why?"

A burner phone vibrates on the table. "That's for you. You're going to retrieve some property. When you've got it, call me, and I'll get you home." Picking up the phone, I scan the contents of what he's just sent. There isn't much. A partly blurred picture of a pretty scared-looking girl, three addresses in London, and a name – Landon Broderick. "She's at one of those addresses, and if she isn't, the guy or woman who lives there will know where she is. Neither of them, nor their family, are to be touched in any way. Knox is contactable if you"re having trouble tracking her down."

"Who is she? I've never seen her."

He gets a heap of cash out of his pocket and puts it on the table. British currency. "You've no reason to have seen her. Her name's Miri. She's Naja's sister. She was one of the ones that got away with Reed." He gets back to his phone.

"Why are we needing her back?"

"Property."

"Yeah, but if she's already not here, then why not just let her be? We've let others run."

He looks up briefly before looking back at his phone. "She's one of the reasons Elias is under the ground. I'm not letting that go."

Frowning, I look at her picture again. He might be right with that theory, but Reed's dead now and this girl has nothing to do with the revenge we needed. We've got Naja, and, no doubt, she'll pay that price. She sure as hell did when Knox let loose on her. "Why is she in London?"

"Logan Cane owed this Landon a favour back then. Reed went to Landon for help. Looks like he and Naja left the sister with Landon and went on the run. Logan took them on to pay off the debt he owed Landon," he says, methodically. "Any more fucking questions?"

"No need to be a cunt. I'm only asking." His head rears up, a scowl dropping. "Don't do that either. I'm on your side. Thought I'd proved that enough in this family." I look back out the window, blowing the mother of all breaths out. It's always the same with every one of them. I'm not good enough, or I ask too many questions, or my voicing any fucking thing is just a pain in someone's ass. Mariana might think I've had it easy compared to her, but it's been far from a cute ride along this road to acceptance. I'm just good at hiding shit. "I'm a Cortez, too, Abel. I earn my way every fucking day."

"You're barely a Cortez. You're a young half-breed who needs to grow the hell up and get with the program. Check your mouth and do your job. And don't fuck this one."

"You're a half-breed, too," I mutter sullenly. "No one seems to mind that."

"Careful, Shaw."

I keep staring out the window. "Why? It's not like I do anything fucking right. Might as well speak my mind. I"m gonna get my ass handed to me one way or another."

"Look at me."

What's he gonna do? Kill me if I don"t? A half-hearted snort drops out of me. They'd have no one to criticise then.

"Out of all of us, it's me that believes in you most." I frown and look back at him slowly. "You've got everything you need to be as we need you to be, but you've got to stop questioning and start delivering to be heard."

"I deliver all the time."

He sighs. "Yeah, but you love pussy too much, and you act like those girls need caring about. They don't. They're business. A product. You want to fuck, help yourself out there in the wild, but you keep it out of my goddamn profit line, you hear me? Harden up about them. Quickly. None of us have time for problems inside our own family. Definitely not now."

I sneer and turn back to the window. Be a full-blown asshole, he means. Treat the women like they're nothing but objects to be bought and sold and categorised. That's not me, no matter how hard I've tried. You get a lot more out of a woman by charming them than you do by forcing them, in my experience. Although, even I have to concede that his profits and supply lines would reduce by a whole fucking heap if we took the time to try asking nicely.

"Where are you up to with Logan?" I ask, attempting to change the subject. Dealing with the streets of New York is far more my style. I'd be more than happy to clean up some asshole pimps and drug runners. Give me a gun and point me at someone treating women like shit, and I'm all over that crap. Being told to go get a runaway who managed to escape us, for no reason at all, is nothing but getting me out of the way for some reason.

"Knox is with him now."

"Yeah, but what's happening on the streets? And, as you've mentioned Knox, where's he running off to all the time? What's he got going on? He's here for a month or so, and then he's gone, and no one knows where or why."

"He's doing something for me."

"What?" He doesn't answer. Looks like he's got no intention to either. "See, you sit there telling me I'm part of this, and then you're hiding shit and not letting me in on whatever's going down. I need to know. Bet you've told Dante and Kai. Yeah, they'll be all over the inner workings of a fucking family that likes to keep me on the goddamn periphery and-"

"You really are a whining little dick, aren't you?"

I stand, pissed at the implication. He doesn't even move. He laughs and stares me down. Everything about his face hardens to the point where I'm questioning what the hell I thought I was gonna do.

"You wanna sit that ass back down? Or am I putting you back on it?"

I keep staring at his frame, wondering if I'd have any chance at all. I wouldn't. He's an animal when he loses it, and he doesn't give one damn if it's a family member he's beating on or not.

"Sit, Shaw. Get out of your head and heed a warning. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you screw this up and we're gonna be on a long ride to you getting nowhere fast and being alone."

Outcast, he means. Exiled.

I sit and stare at the window again, as pissed and frustrated as I've ever been. I don't even know if I am part of this family some days. I don't think like any of them. Kai's about as close as I get, and he's not even one of us. He's an outsider, not blood. Whatever genes Mother graced me with, they sure didn't produce the same effect with my father as they did when mixed with true Cortez blood. Dante and Knox bleed animosity and hatred. Elias did, too. Fuck knows where Abel's pimp of a father came from, but he must have been one nasty son of a bitch. Me and Mariana? Harris blood. Weaker in comparison. More thoughtful, at least.

"You calm now?" he asks.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good. You know what you're doing?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"Get the girl. Don't hurt the family. Call you when I've got her, and you'll get us home. And don"t fuck her."

Not like I've got any choices by the look of it. I grab the money and pocket it. I'll just do as I'm told, as usual.