“Or it could be original samples of their drugs. The most potent formulas.”
“They could easily recreate their drugs.”
“But whatever was injected into us had tracers in it. What if she stole the tracking equipment for the tracers?”
I rubbed my fingers over my temples, trying to work it all out. “If they’re using the tracers to track their shipments, how much is sold, where it’s distributed?—”
“How far it’s reaching across the U.S.,” he added.
“And she took it, then they would have no way of seeing the results.”
“Which means whatever they injected in you is special in some other way. Not just the formulation, but they want to know the possible side effects. Drug overdoses are bad for business when it all comes from the same supplier.”
“I had a massive headache for days. My whole body felt off.”
“And that was from one dose.”
It was entirely possible we were on the right track, but it was all just speculation. Unless we set up a meet with DeLuca, we wouldn’t have any answers.
“It’s suicide,” Knight said as if he was reading my thoughts.
“We have to find a way to get them off our backs, and Krista seems to have a problem with handing over Alicia.”
“The woman deserves what’s coming to her. You don’t mess with the mafia without knowing you might be ending your own life,” Knight said scathingly.
“Still…Krista doesn’t want this on her head.”
Knight scoffed as he turned away from me. “You’ve fallen for her.”
“What?”
Spinning, he pinned me with a glare. “You’ve fallen for her, and now, you’re going to risk your life, and everyone else’s, to make sure that you give her everything she wants.”
“That’s not what this is about?—”
“Yeah? Then hand over Alicia. That’s the only way out of this that doesn’t end with you filled with bullet holes. That hooker knew what she was getting into. She took the risks. She gambled with her life, all for a high-rise apartment. Hand her over and end this.”
It was the smart thing to do, but I could still see Krista’s face as I argued the same point with her. The shock that I could allow someone to be killed all to save my own skin. She didn’t realize what was at stake, how easily this could all come back on us.
And maybe that’s why I wanted to do this for her.
Because she was innocent of the horrors in this world. If the worst thing she ever did was shoplift at the age of seventeen, then she truly didn’t know how bad things could get. Sure, she got a taste of it while we were on the road, but that was nothing compared to what the Ratti Crime Family would do if they got their hands on her.
“I’ll talk to her.”
Knight stalked over to me, his jaw hard and his nostrils flared in anger. That dead look in his eyes told me exactly what he was going to say.
“You do this, then you leave me out of it. I won’t put my family on the line for a hooker who got in over her head.”
“Noted.”
He stormed out of the room, rightly pissed at me.
I would be angry, too, if someone else was in my position, willing to risk it all for a woman he met in a casino.
This was Parker’s baby sister. I had to do whatever I could to keep her safe. But I also wanted to spare her from the reality of what would happen to this other woman. And if there was a way to do that, I had to try.
“You want to do what?”Cap asked, the tone of his voice reflecting just how ridiculous he thought my plan was.