I chuckled, but it wasn’t my usual laughter. It was a sound to fill the space as I whizzed back to the mansion. Something was eating at me. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. Why hadn’t we found anything? Why hadn’t the name Stan come up once?
Each one of us had called our contacts on the streets. And no one knew a damn thing.
I dragged my hand down my face as I pulled to a stop at a red light. It wasn’t adding up. It just didn’t make any damn sense.
“Mateo?” Aida called from the backseat. I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. She pointed ahead. “The light is green.”
“Shit.” I slammed my foot on the accelerator. I wasn’t paying attention. Fuck. I couldn’t afford to be distracted, not when I was responsible for Aida’s safety.
I pushed everything to the back of my mind, keeping my wits about me until we got to the mansion. As soon as I pulled into the gates, I drove to the front door, and switched the engine off.
We both exited the car and entered the mansion at the same time, but neither of us said anything as we split at the bottom of the stairs. If I would have been my normal self, I would have asked Aida if she was okay, but my mind was already full to the max.
I clicked the code into the keypad and let myself into the command center. Romeo, Rafael, and Mario were sitting around the table, papers scattered on the entire surface.
“Anything?” I asked them.
Romeo stood, stretching his arms over his head. “Nope. Not a damn thing.”
I jammed my hands into my pockets, pacing the room. “This isn’t right. Who the hell doesn’t know a damn thing about a local dealer?” I let my head drop, looking up at the ceiling, and halting in the middle of the room.
“Unless his name isn’t actually Stan?” Mario said.
My shoulders stiffened. “Holy shit.” I turned, looking at each of them in turn. “His name isn’t Stan.”
I sprinted toward the table, spreading documents out and seeing if any names looked unfamiliar. Whoever it was had to be a new guy. We knew everyone in our territories, but not this guy. Which meant he’d turned up out of the blue. And if he was using a fake name, it meant he was hiding something. Something he was determined to keep on lock down.
“There.” I jabbed the paper, reading the name. Tanner. “That’s the only name a few people have mentioned that we don’t know about.”
Romeo pulled the paper toward him, frowning down at it. “My contact told me about him.” He pulled his cell out. “I’ll call him. Find out more information.”
He turned, walking toward the other side of the command center, and I blew out a breath, relief washing through me. Finally, we were getting somewhere.
CHAPTER 17
LUNA
My head thumped like someone had been playing basketball with it. My mouth was drier than the Sahara, so I smacked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, but it didn’t make a difference. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like they were glued tightly shut.
I didn’t have a couple of seconds where I wondered what happened. No. I knew exactly what—or should I have said, who, happened.
I rolled my neck, taking stock of my body. My arms and legs were stretched out, and when I finally pried my eyes open, I realized I was tied to a bed. The mattress was missing, the slats of the bed digging into my back and making me wince.
It was quiet, the silence almost deafening, but it gave me time to wake up fully. I needed to put a plan in motion. I needed to figure out what they wanted from me. I tried to grasp at my thoughts, but every time one would start to formulate, it would disappear again, not staying long enough for me to do anything with it.
I needed time. But as a door creaked open, I realized I’d run out of it.
“Hey there, princess.” I refused to look at Stan. Refused to acknowledge him. “Playing the silent game, huh?” His footsteps neared and the bed shook as the sound of his boot kicking metal rang out. “I like games.” He sounded happy—too happy for my liking. He was probably high.
“Fuck off,” I ground out, my throat burning at my words.