by Finn, Emilia
“Someone’s hunting me?” Kane pokes his own chest. “Right now, there’s a contract on my head?”
“Yes.”
“How much am I worth?”
“Kane!” Jess smacks his shoulder. She smacks him a second time, then a third, and stops only when he disables her hands.
“Relax, Blondie. I’m right here. I’m safe.”
“You have a fucking contract on your head, and you only care about the dollar value?”
“I’m just curious. Like I said, I’m right here; we’re insulated, and I have my own army now.” His eyes come back to Jay. “How much?”
“A million.”
Sitting back, Kane lifts an ankle to his knee and nods. “Fair price. Not massive, but not small either. I’m flattered. Who’s looking for me?”
“I dunno,” Jay replies. “That’s what I’ve been doing. Whoever is looking for you is the same guy who runs this entire organization. He choreographs these mini-clubs; he orders the girls. He watches their transportation, then he… allocates them, for lack of a better word. Whoever he is, he’s powerful; he’s protected, and he’s not keen to be found out.”
“Why’d Ace approach you and not me?”
Jay’s lips twitch as he tosses another gummy in. “Probably because I’m sexier, to be honest. There’s no other logical reason.”
“Mm.” Kane runs a heavy hand over his jaw and gives himself time to think. “Why’d you bring the neighbor in? You’ve been trained better than that. You didn’t need across the street. You could’ve gotten the same results from a few doors up.”
“Sophia was mine before we came back to town.” The way he says mine makes my heart skip. It’s not a simple word, but a declaration for the whole room. “She was my neighbor in another city; shit went down, then we ended up here. She brought us to that house, not me.”
“How’d you have access to that house?” Kane’s eyes lock onto mine and make my heart race. “I saw no lease signs; I saw no for sale signs. How’d you land on the exact right house on the exact right street?”
“I bought that house two years ago.” I nod when Jay’s hand squeezes mine. “I’ve been in and out a lot for work.”
Jess’ eyes narrow to slits as she attempts to stare straight into my brain. “You’re our neighbor. You’ve owned that house for two years. You were also his neighbor in a different city.” She sees what the guys don’t. She can see straight through to the core of what’s happening. “That’s a lot of coincidences.”
“Or maybe not such a coincidence,” I offer. “Maybe I placed people where they were needed to be placed, switched documents when they needed to be switched, and did what I had to do to catch a trafficker of girls.”
“You’re Ace.”
“What?” Kane turns to Jess in shock. “Huh?”
“She’s not an innocent neighbor,” Jess declares. “She wasn’t seduced by the sexy thug and tricked into a dangerous world. She stepped in front of him and said come get me.”
“Well, I didn’t say–”
“You’re Ace?” Eric leans across the boardroom table as though to get closer. “You’re his intel? But you’re… you’re…”
“A woman?”
“No! It’s not…” He drops his pen and slides a hand into his hair. “Wow, I don’t mean it like that. But yeah, I’m coming up empty, because you’re the chick clutching his hand, and I kinda expected you were brainless and were just along for a little adventure.”
“Must be disappointing that some women have brains, huh? All this free will and the ability to vote must’ve hurt your soul when they undid our shackles and told us we didn’t have to marry a man just to be considered valuable.”
“You’re projecting.” He points a finger and laughs. “You’ve got man issues, and that’s cool, because most men are pricks, but I’m not the cause of yours. I have nothing to do with the hate you have for our kind.” He pauses for a long minute. “You’re really Ace?”
I nod. “My name is Sophia Asa Solomon. I’m also Ace. And I’m really fucking smart.”
“How do you get your intel?” Spence leans against the wall and studies me so hard, I feel the heat on the side of my head. “Someone feeding you?”
“I’m feeding me. I’m in your security center; you got the gun range and a blonde who likes to visit your bed. I’m in his.” I point at Kane. “Also has a thing for blondes. I’m in Checkmate’s; I’m in your houses; I’m in the local PD. I’m anywhere I need to be; I listen to conversations all day long, then I take what data I need, feed it to whoever needs it and order a hit on whoever needs to be taken out.”
“No way!” Andi leans forward; where fear should be in her eyes, excitement shines. “You order hits on men. That’s illegal, right? Like, super illegal.”
Riley chuckles. “That’s murder, Dee. That’s straight up fucking murder.”
“Nobody called it murder five minutes ago when Jay said he made the hits. Nobody bats a lash because it’s Jay, but then you find out it was me who ordered it, and suddenly we’re growing a conscience?” I sit back and fold my arms. “You’re not a cop anymore, Cruz, and I’m not sorry for my choices. I don’t hurt anyone who didn’t hurt an innocent first. I’m exterminating, not murdering.”
“The law would beg to differ,” Riley says easily. “But let’s leave that to hang for a moment; define ‘you never hurt an innocent.’ Who do you hit?”
“Men like Aguilar,” I snap. “Like Neal, like Corrin. I’m working my way up their chain in search of their boss. CAB.”
“What’s CAB?” Finally, Kane speaks again. “What’s that?”
I turn and stare into eyes identical to the pair I’ve fallen in love with. This was supposed to be about Ellie, but now Jay’s here, and he’s changing the game. “CAB are initials, I believe. I think that’s the man who runs this empire of clubs. He’s the one who orders girls, abuses them, then sells them to someone else who’ll abuse them.”
“And why are you involved at all?” he presses. “I see you; I see your body and the way your legs bow. You’re a dancer, and I don’t mean the kind who sits in men’s laps.”
Jay snorts and reminds me of that time I sat on Trenton Neal’s lap.
Kane’s eyes snap between us. He doesn’t get what’s funny, and he’s too proud to ask. “If you’re so smart, why’d you get involved at all?”
“I became involved more than eight years ago, years before you even considered undercover work.” Sitting back in my chair, I try to slow my racing heart. Act cool, be cool. “I’ve been involved since I was seventeen, when they took my little sister, abused her, raped her, hurt her, and murdered her.” I throw each word across the room with the express intention to hurt them. If I have to hurt, then so can they. If I make them hurt, then they might get invested and help. “She was fifteen years old; she was a dancer too, then they took her straight out from under my nose and dumped her a few weeks later like she was trash. I’m involved, and I won’t stop until I watch that man’s eyes close for the final time.”
“I get why she orders hits now,” Andi says oh-so-easily. “I would have men killed for less. In fact, I’d have men killed just for assuming Ace has to be a dude.”
Eric tosses his pen and nails Andi on the side of the head, but he asks me, “Are you a Fed?”
“No.”
“Who do you answer to?”
“Nobody. I’m self-employed, self-funded, and self-sufficient. I answer to no one, and there is no voting committee with a say about how I work.”
“There’s a committee now,” Kane declares. “Everyone in this room is part of your committee, because I trust every one of them with my life. Except Andi.”
“Hey!”
“Not likely,” I snap. “I’m not looking for your guidance, Bishop. I’m not looking for anything. I didn’t even want to be here today. Jay wanted to see you. We saw your security glitch; Jay decided today was a good fucking day to blow his cover, and now here we are. I don’t need you; I
don’t need your committee, and I can shut you down with a stroke of my fingers, so don’t get cocky on me. The second you think you can step on me, I make myself disappear. I could make Jay disappear, too.”
“Are you threatening my brother?” He shoots to his feet and slams a shiny nine-millimeter Glock to the table. “Choose your words carefully, Sophia Solomon, because they may be your last.”
“Stop.” Jay stands to cover me, while everyone else in the room leans back. The two Bishop men are the only men standing. Kane is protecting his brother, and Jay is protecting me. “She’s not threatening me, so chill. She kinda loves me.”
“She just threatened to take you out!”
“No, she threatened to delete my files and go into hiding.”
“That’s the same thing to me!” Kane roars. “That’s the same fucking thing. My baby brother will be dead again.”
“So don’t step on me.” Standing, I pull Jay back so I can see his angry brother. “I’m not a damsel, Kane. And I didn’t ask for your help. If you want to do this with us, then I’ll take your input and implement it in the most effective way. But you don’t take over. You don’t swing your cock around and think you get to supersede just because I’m a woman. If Ace were a man, you’d be asking what your mission is.”
“That’s not true!”
“It’s kinda true,” Spence says. “Five minutes ago, we said ‘Ace’ with a kind of reverence in our voices. Now Ace is a chick, and the tone changed.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Kane snaps. “You don’t know what’s in my mind.”
“I know what’s in your mind. I know you’ve spent more than half a year mourning your brother. I know you felt responsible for his death; you blamed yourself, and you died a little inside each day that passed and he didn’t come back. I know you’re scared right now because he’s back, but he’s a different man. He’s not your little brother anymore, but a man, and he doesn’t take orders from you anymore.”
“I never ordered him around!”
“I’m not saying you abused your power, but I’m saying he deferred to you. He asked you for direction. You guided him, and when he got lost, you blamed yourself. Now he’s found again, but he’s not asking you for directions.”
“Can you stop speaking about me like I’m not here?”
Kane and I turn to Jay as one. “No!”
“Oh boy,” Eric snickers. “I see what’s happened here.”
“You need to accept him as an equal,” I push on. “Then you need to accept me as an equal. I know that’s hard for a guy like you, but we are not less than.” Taking out my phone, I slide my thumb across my screen twice. On the third swipe, the boardroom lights flicker off, and we descend into darkness. “I’m not stupid; I’m not inept, and I’m not going to take orders based on the fact you have a dick and I don’t. I can control this building, and you had no clue I was in. I can control the police station, and they still have no clue I’m in.”
“Alex is gonna be so pissed,” Jess whispers. “Like, rampage and kill us all with a flamethrower pissed.”
“I control Spence’s security. I see your voluptuous receptionist eating fried chicken at her desk right now.” I flip the boardroom lights on again and stare directly into Kane’s eyes. “We are your equals. We are willing to work with you. But we will not be stepped on and brushed aside. If you don’t want this, then I walk, and you never see me again. But I’ll see you. I’ll save your fucking life when the contract is being carried out, and I’ll slit CAB’s throat before he pulls the trigger.”
“She’s not walking.” Jay grabs my hand and squeezes. “And I’m not leaving Kane again. Which makes us all one big happy fuckin’ family. Get used to it, then hug it out, because she’s gonna be your sister.”
“My sist–” Kane balks. “This ain’t a…” He points between us. “A partnership of convenience?”
“I already answered that question. She’s all the way in, so I hope you can trust my judgment on this.”
“Okay, hang on.” Eric, the man I know to be the Bishop men’s superior, the peacemaker, stands and raises his arms. “Let’s just take a couple steps back.”
“No, I don’t wanna hash that over again,” Kane snaps.
“Because I’m right,” I jab. “Because nobody goes toe-to-toe with me and asks for a second round.”
“That’s kinda true.” Jay grins.
“No, hush.” Eric steps around his chair and pushes it in. “Let’s just stop a sec. We’re all on the same side here, right?”
Jay and I nod. Andi and Jess do too. But everyone else in the room remains cautiously silent.
“Yes,” Eric declares for the rest of them. “Jay is our brother, and Sophia is his girl. We don’t question this. Today has been kinda big, kinda shocking, and I think Bish may be working in fight or flight mode.”
“He’s choosing fight.” I smile because jabbing Bishop brothers might be my new favorite thing. “But I’m here, and I’m not stepping down because a Bishop wants to assert his dominance.”
“Stop picking at him, woman!” Spence, the seven feet of mountain with a scarred face and a playful grin steps in front of Kane, if only to break our connection. “She’s kinda savage, Jay. What the fuck happened to the airheads you used to bang? They didn’t talk back.”
“Smart women intimidate you boys?”
“Alright.” Laughing, Eric comes around the table and steps in front of me before I get myself shot. “I think we need a moment in our quiet corners. Find your happy places, people!”
“No.” Kane’s hard voice creates a chill in the room. “I want everyone to get out. Everyone, leave. Even you.” He turns to Jess and holds her close. I can feel the grief in his eyes when he nods toward the door. “I need you to step out for a sec, Blondie.”
“What are you gonna do?” Her voice quivers. “I wanna stay.”
“I want everyone to leave… except Jay.”
My heart spins in overdrive at the implication behind his words. Turning, I stop in front of Jay as though I’m his shield. “I don’t trust this situation. Let’s take it home, and we’ll find a new plan.”
“No new plan.” Bending lower, he looks into my eyes and smiles the way he smiles whenever he tells a dumb joke. It’s almost like this is a big game to him. “Go outside with the girls for a minute.”
“I’m not being relegated to the kitchen with the womenfolk, Jay! You’re fucking insane if you think the men get to stay in here and make plans while we’re shuffled aside.”
“This ain’t man versus woman,” Kane says with a crackling voice. “I’m asking everyone to get out. I even asked my girl, and trust me when I tell you how fucking hard that is for me. I just want two minutes with my brother.”
It hurts my heart to allow myself to be shuffled aside, but when the other girls start moving, then Eric, Riley, Spence, and Angelo move out, I’m left with little choice but to follow.
Stopping in the hall when the door closes with a soft snick right in front of my nose, I turn back to my crowd and swallow.
My eyes dart from one face to the next. The blonde twins. The rebound bro. The giant mountain man and Riley with his prosthetic. I stop with the woman known as Andi and work extra hard not to smile when her mini-pig pokes its head out of the satchel.
Stopping on the skater-mechanic with nice hair, I finally allow myself to smile. “I like your haircut.”
Frowning, he pushes a hand over the shorter side. “My haircut?”
“Yeah. I saw you the day after you got it cut. You were all nervous and shit, because you had the hots for her.” I nod toward the quiet twin, the one who was once a club whore, the one I wasn’t able to save. “She had the hots for you too. But you know that already. Anyway, I like your haircut.”
“Ah… okay, thanks.”
“Jay didn’t like it, so don’t take it personally if he says something mean about it.”
Angelo’s silver-gray eyes flicker over my face with uncertainty. “Okay…”
“So, you’re not always looking to fight?” Eric DeWhit steps forward and extends a hand. “You just save your attitude for Kane?”
Accepting his hand, I smile. “I guess he tweaked my bad attitude button. I don’t like sexism. And I don’t like to be brushed off as stupid when I’m clearly not.”
“You won’t find any of that around here,” Angelo says. “We agreed long ago not to fuck with the women. Muscle ain’t shit when you’re up against a scorned woman.”
As long as they understand.
Exhaling slowly, I fold my arms and nod toward the boardroom. “What do you think is happening in there?”
“It’s unlikely they’ll both survive,” Spence says. “But it’s important that meeting happens. I’ve got fifty on Kane walking out alive.”
My first instinct is to throw down thousands on Jay because I know who he is, and I know what he’s capable of. But when his opponent is Kane, I just don’t know who’ll come out on top. Most of me says Kane, if only because Jay would bow down and defer to anything his brother says.
22
Brotherhood
Jay
I close the door in Soph’s face and lean against the solid timber for a moment. I need twenty seconds to process the fact that I’m finally in a room with my brother again—but maybe he doesn’t want me.
This isn’t how I pictured our reunion.
“She’s gonna be okay out there?”
Keeping my eyes low, I turn and shove my hands into my pockets. “Soph? Yeah, she’s got it under control.”
“She gonna run to the cops and narc?”
I frown. “Narc on what? She’s the one who admitted to ordering a hit on several dozen men.”
“Several dozen?” he balks. “You named three or four men, not dozens.”
Shrugging, I finally lift my eyes and meet his. “I lost count, but I know for a damn fact they each deserved what they got. She pulled the information and gave me the proof I needed. I pulled the trigger. Neither of us are sorry.”