He’d kept the light off, so he was just a shadow standing among other shadows.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I did my research. I knew who you were, what you could do, before I won you in that game. It’s why I went to that game.”

I’d never thought about it, but I realized he hadn’t gone to another poker game since that night.

“Why?” None of that made sense. Why seek me out?

“A girl whose gut is always right? You’re a weapon in living form in this life. You’re more reliable than an actual psychic and less work than a lie detector. You save time from torture. But I researched where you came from, and I got nothing. The first mention of you was that Bronksi had bought a new blonde from Korkov. Korkov brings girls from Russia to use here. Or they trick junkies into working for them. You were neither Russian nor a junkie. Korkov isn’t into randomly kidnapping American girls, so that made me think you made the decision. Why?”

I couldn’t answer that. No one could ever know.

“You’ve got an attitude about what I did to get this house, but no one died in this business deal,” he continued. “The real estate agent and the client are both alive. If they keep their mouths shut, they’ll remain alive.”

“And if they talk?” I shot out, my teeth grating against each other.

“They die. They know the score.”

I shook my head. “No one should know the score.”

He was quiet, and I felt him take a step back. “The cartels are here. They’re operating in the Valley. Anyone who lives here, knows the score.” He moved back again, his shadow separating from the others. “Jake picked up pizza. Your body needs to eat. If you’re going to do whatever you’re in this life to do, you need energy, no matter how much you hate living this life.”

Then he was gone.

I felt his absence as much as I felt his presence. I didn’t like that either.

My stomach growled, and I pushed up to my feet because he was right. I couldn’t find my sister if I was dead, and that’s what I’d be if I wasn’t useful anymore. Like Jake had said, I’d hitched my wagon to Raize, and I had to see it through, no matter where our path was heading.

Fuck him, though, just because.

Fuck him.

11

Carrie

A loud thud sounded, and I gasped, rolling over and jumping up at the same time.

It took a second to get my bearings. I was disoriented.

I’d fallen asleep on the floor—no blanket, nothing but me. I looked at the door. It was open. Cavers stood there, bending over to grab a bag from the floor. He looked over and grimaced. “Sorry.” He lifted it, pausing to look at me again. “Since you’re awake, the boss wants you downstairs.”

Well.

I “needed to be useful”— Raize’s exact words—so, ignoring the fact that my body so very much did not like sleeping on the floor, I moved into the bathroom. A quick piss, followed by a quick wash-up, and I felt a little… Nope. I didn’t feel refreshed at all. I wasn’t sure I would ever again, but still, I headed downstairs.

Jake was in the kitchen, making coffee with a coffee machine that he must’ve bought and brought along. He lifted his chin in greeting. “You want some?” He gestured to a pizza box on the counter. “There’s a few slices left.”

I ignored the offer of food and pointed to the coffee. “We have mugs for that?”

“Yep.” He reached behind him. “I mean, we have Styrofoam cups. Best I could do.” He glanced toward Raize. “Maybe we could stop and get actual mugs today?”

Raize stood at the table, studying a bunch of papers that were spread out. He looked up. “Get what you need.” He started to go back to the papers, but his eyes narrowed on me. “You need coffee, and you need to eat.”

I opened my mouth to protest.

He growled, “I don’t give a fuck what you’re about to say. Your body needs food. Eat.”

And my mouth closed.

Jake smirked, dropping two slices onto a couple napkins for me. “You want these heated up?”

I glared, taking the pizza and the coffee he’d poured for me, and went over to sit at the table. Raize moved the papers over, giving me some space, and as I started eating, I looked over at what he was studying. It was a map of the Valley and the Mexican border. He had marked some points with scribbles going over the border.

My mouth dried because I knew I needed to ask, but I didn’t want to know. Damn. “What is this?”

I could feel his gaze as a shiver went down my spine. I stuffed some pizza into my mouth and chewed, not tasting a damn thing.

“We’re down here to make a connect. These are some options for us to do that.”

Cavers came into the kitchen, dumping the bag he’d had upstairs onto the counter, along with three others. He started pulling out rope, zip ties, duct tape, and a bunch of other items. He left the guns inside, and I glimpsed a few thick bundles of cash.

“These look okay?”

Raize looked up. His eyes were cool, taking in everything Cavers showcased as he moved over to inspect the bags. He didn’t answer, but his lips pressed tight and his jaw moved around, like he was chewing on something. Eventually he sighed and nodded. “Get it ready.”

Cavers put everything back in, zipped up the bags, and hoisted all three of them on his back. He took them outside, and a second later, we heard the garage open.

Jake seemed stunned. “You’re going to let him take off with that stuff alone?”

Raize lifted his eyebrows.

As if remembering his place, Jake flushed and lowered his arm. “I mean… Never mind. What do you want me to do today, boss?”

A different glint showed in Raize’s eyes. It was one I’d never seen before.

“I need you to follow him,” he said after a moment.

Jake looked up. “You serious?”

He nodded. “Don’t let him see you. Take pics, and record what you think I’d need to know about.”

Jake’s face clouded over, but he grabbed his gun, his phone, and the other set of keys. He was out the door almost immediately.

I looked back, and was startled to find Raize had been watching me the whole time.

He showed no emotion, but he seemed to be inspecting me. “What are your thoughts about that?”

I frowned. “About Jake or Cavers?”

“All of it. Any of it.”

I shifted back a step. A weird churning had started in my gut. “Why are you asking?”

“I’m curious.”

“My gut doesn’t work like that. You need to ask a yes or no question.”

He moved closer. “I’m not asking for that. I had my setup all done and put together in Philly. It’s different here. We’re the ones creating a need, one the Estrada Cartel doesn’t think they have. I have to create that need and reinforce it to them. I trust you the most in our group, and I am asking your opinion. What are your thoughts about what we’re doing here?”

Jesus. I did not want to have this conversation. The churning in my stomach became twisting, but with knives. Twist, slice, twist, slice.