12. Bradley
brADLEY
“Protect me?” Zira repeats with distrust flooding her tone. “You can’t protect me from the Mafia.”
“The Mafia who, until ten minutes ago, you didn’t believe were real?”
“I may not have believed it, but I’m not stupid.
I’ve heard the stories and the rumors. I just chose to ignore them because it’s insane to think that organized crime is the backbone of the city, but if…
if I was working for them and I stole from them, then I…
” Distress flashes in her eyes like a beacon and she covers her mouth when her words get trapped in her throat.
“Zira… there’s a lot to cover. All I can assure you right now is that here, you are safe.”
“Where is here?” she squeaks out, forcing her words past the fear clogging her throat.
“A safehouse. No one will harm you here, especially not after I spent fifteen minutes patching you up. Have some water.” I nod to the bottle beside the bed. “And rest. Get your bearings. In here and for the immediate future, you are safe.”
Zira seems to suddenly recognize that she’s thirsty and snatches up the bottle of water, cracking it open and taking several deep, gasping gulps.
I watch her closely, studying how she holds herself to combat the pain at her ribs, how her leg bounces as if she’s seconds away from surging up and sprinting past me.
She strikes me as a gentle woman, but right now, she’s caged, which makes anyone unpredictable.
After drinking, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and groans softly. “I feel sick.”
“There’s a bathroom through there.” I turn and nod toward the closed door opposite the bed. “If you need it.”
“I don’t understand why you’re being nice to me,” Zira replies.
“Why didn’t you just let me fall after what I did…
I did to… you…” She barely gets her sentence out before her eyelids become heavy and her mouth slows.
The drugs in the water are fast-acting, and before she can take her next breath, she slumps forward, completely unconscious.
I dart forward and catch her before she falls off the bed, then scoop her up into my arms and gently lay her down properly on the bed. She’s fast asleep. Gently adjusting her head on the pillow, I brush her dark hair away from her face and throat, then cover her with the blanket.
She needs rest, and given how tightly wound she was, I knew she wouldn’t go down without some aid.
Once I’m certain she’s sleeping peacefully, I walk from the room and close the door behind me. Three feet and I’m in the kitchen where Frank leans against the counter staring down at his phone.
“Any news?”
“Cassian’s dropped the car off with Valentine and Raven. Ruslan’s dealing with what’s left of the body. Pretty fucked up from the fall.”
“Can we identify him?”
“There’s not enough left for a facial,” Frank remarks. “But we’ve got his wallet and everything, so Raven’s digging up every bit of information we can find on the guy.”
I move to the counter next to Frank and set up the kettle, focusing on making two strong cups of coffee while Frank talks.
“If there’s anything about him that links him to Damian, then the reason behind all of this will be simple and it’ll all be cleared up within the week.”
“I’m not so sure there is a link.”
“You think?”
“Mmhmm. If you consider the previous robberies, the work was sharp but if you look at them as a whole, it was sloppy. They never hit on the days we would pick for a heist. They stole only what was in each vault at the time. I understand that the store robberies were to create a distraction so that the second team could move on the ship, but the way they moved doesn’t strike me as a guy with beef.
He also doesn’t strike me as someone who knew Damian well.
I can count on one hand how many people know that man who aren’t part of the Mafia, and even the lowest grunt would go about things differently. ”
Frank nods slowly as he mulls over my words, tapping his phone lightly against his chin. “So you think they all really are amateurs?”
“Amateurs who stumbled onto something bigger. Think of every family you know.”
Frank grunts and accepts the coffee cup. “That’s a big list.”
“How many of them would have waited this long to move stolen gems?”
“I can think of maybe a handful.”
“Exactly.” Warming my hands on my own cup, I start pacing the kitchen. Walking while thinking always gets things flowing easier. “And those families are idiots. How many of them would be bold enough to raid the ship like that?”
Frank sips and the frown between his eyebrows deepens. “Even less. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t plan out something more secret. The longer the target doesn’t realize they’ve been robbed, the more precious time to get those stones cut and sold on the black market.”
“Exactly. There’s just…” Back and forth I pace in a kitchen with walls that press in a little too close. “I feel like I’m missing something.”
“We don’t have to understand it all,” Frank says. “That’s not our job.”
“How can I mediate if I don’t know everything?”
“You’re right, but you’re not mediating between the Mafia and the government. You don’t have the mayor breathing down your neck or some hot shot lawyer looking to stir the legal pot. This is Damian versus a group of idiot thieves who stumbled onto something way bigger than them. That’s all.”
“Maybe you’re right.” My steps slow to a halt. “But Zira… there’s something about her.”
“Aside from the fact that she tried to kill you?”
“Yes, aside from that.”
“Does this something make your insides tingle?” Frank smirks suddenly, and I glare at him.
“Fuck off.”
“I’m just saying. Maybe it’s like the reverse of the bond between victim and savior. You two have a bond between victim and perpetrator.”
“Remind me why you’re here again?”
“To keep you safe.”
“Right.” I scoff sharply, but the conversation derails as my phone blares into life and I answer with a swipe of my thumb. “Valentina?”
“Hey, Bradley. Listen. We didn’t find any diamonds on the initial sweep of the car.”
“Shit.”
“It’s not bad news, though. Raven had the idea to look deeper, so we’ve been taking the car apart piece by piece. The diamonds are there. They’re just inside the car. Name a loose part that’s hollow and bingo, it’s filled to the brim.”
“Huh. Maybe this Harris was smarter than I gave him credit for.”
“Maybe.” Valentina fights a yawn. “Anyway, this’ll take some time because we have to go through every compartment, every tube, every everything, but at a glance, Raven thinks we’re still missing a good portion.”
“How much?”
“Anything from half to three-quarters. Wherever the rest of those diamonds are, they’re not here.”
“Alright, thanks. Keep me updated.”
“Will do. You owe me.”
“Steak and wine, it’s already ordered.”
“Mmhmm.”
The call ends and I meet Frank’s curious gaze. “They found the diamonds in the car, but not all of them. Which means we’re wrong and Harris is working for someone smart enough to have sold them already, or they’re stashed.”
“Looks like sleeping beauty just became more useful,” Frank replies. “I’ll make some calls about Harris.”
Zira sleeps through the night until later morning and announces she’s awake by slamming the door to her room and storming into the kitchen.
I sit at the table nursing my umpteenth cup of coffee and remain calm as she slams her hands down on the table with enough force to make the salt and pepper shakers jump.
“You drugged me.”
“I did.”
“And don’t lie to me— You’re admitting it?”
“I am.”
“Where the hell do you get off drugging me? Are you fucking insane?”
“You were scared, exhausted, and in pain. I knew you needed rest and I knew you wouldn’t be able to get it on your own, so yes, I had a sedative placed in your water.”
“That’s so fucking creepy!”
“But don’t you feel much better?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Rested?” I lift my eyes from my phone to her. “And the pain in your ribs is less because the morphine cream got to work. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“That—” She cuts herself off and seems to be evaluating how she feels, then she straightens up and glares at me. “That’s so not the point.”
I mask my proud smirk. “I understand it may be strange, but I did it because it was best for you.”
“You don’t know shit about what’s best for me.”
“On the contrary, your improved energy levels and lack of intense pain prove otherwise.”
Her mouth opens and closes for a few seconds, then she crosses her arms over her chest. “That doesn’t make it okay to drug people.”
“You’re right. I apologize.”
“I… well, good.” She deflates somewhat and stands there looking much brighter and healthier than she did last night.
“Sit.”
A simple, gentle word brings her to the nearest chair and she slumps down in the seat, stifling a yawn now that her anger has subsided enough to make her tired again.
“Zira, I’ll make this as clear as I can. The situation you are in is complicated. As I said last night, you stole from very dangerous people.”
A shadow moves across her face and her fingers curl hard into her arms as they remain crossed over her chest. “I know.”
“It gives me two choices.”
“Which are?” Zira meets my eye and then tucks some of her black hair behind her ear.
“You stole from an Irish family. That family is the one who requested my help in investigating what was happening at their chain.”
“What are you, the Mafia police?”
I bite back a smile. “Not quite. Now my two choices, while drastic, are fairly clear-cut.”
She shifts in her seat but doesn’t speak.
“Either I hand you over to them, in which case they will torture you until you give up the location of the rest of the diamonds and in the event that you truly don’t know, they will torture you and kill you to make an example out of you to anyone else who dares to steal from them.”
All color immediately washes out of Zira’s face, including her lips that part as she stares at me. “A-And the other option?”
“You work with me to recover the rest of the missing diamonds and return them to the Irish, thus saving your life.”
“Hardly seems like a choice,” she replies hoarsely, and her fingers once again curl tightly into her arms. “What… what will you choose?”
“That depends on you,” I reply softly. “And whether you are willing to work with me.”
Zira’s gaze falls to the table, and she studies the sloping grains and swirls in the wood for a few long seconds before she speaks. When she comes to a decision, her brows twitch and she slowly lifts her head.
“Will working with you get my brother back?”