Shit.
Tama was mocking me. Even more so, when he said, “What do you need money for? Nappies for that boy of yours?”
I didn’t respond. I barely blinked. But I lowered my weapons and holstered them. Trying to peer around them, I uttered, “What’s the go?”
His hair was immaculately pulled up into a traditional topknot, worn immaculately, and when he let out a soft sigh, he lowered his massive arms. “I want her dead.”
My brow furrowed. “That all?”
He could have done that himself.
Tama looked down his nose at me. “I want her to suffer.”
Ah. There it was.
Tama didn’t torture women.
No. He left that to me.
I nodded. “No problem. Who is she?” His response was to give me no response at all, and after an intense staring contest, my feet moved. Leaving the money on the ground, I passed him, whispering, “Fair enough.”
The warehouse was dim except for the single light trained on the woman strapped to the chair in the center of the empty floor.
Poor bitch.
I wonder what she had done to warrant the wrath of Tama Hariana?
But then my mind went to the money and only one thought stuck.
Who cares?
It was a rough life, ours, and not many people could understand how we did it. Ethics were just blurred lines to me, to Tama. They weren’t rules exactly, just suggestions we chose whether or not to follow.
Sometimes we did; sometimes we didn’t.
For the right price, anything could be bought. Even death.
And that’s where I came in.
I strolled over to the woman, who was dressed in an oversized black jacket, black, generic sweats, and her feet were bare. Her head was covered with a loose calico bag, and from the way she struggled and strained, her screams muffled, they had taped her mouth over.
Good.
I didn’t want to hear it. It could be fucking distracting at times. I didn’t need that.
“Sorry, love,” I told her quietly. “Nothing personal. It’s just business.”
Taking the knife out of my leg wrap, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the leather gloves, putting them on before reaching to my neck and pulling up the black face cover up over my nose. The only reason I wore this was to protect myself from infected blood touching me. I was always careful, but you never knew the people you were dealing with.
As I pressed the tip of the knife into the woman’s hand, and she tipped her head back and shrieked from behind the covering.
My heart raced.
Her entire body shook, and I removed the knife from the center of her hand, then muttered, “I don’t know what you did to piss him off, but I promise I’ll end it as soon as I can.”
I didn’t dig cruelty. I wasn’t cruel by nature.
I was made this way.
When I peered back to find all four men forming a wall, my heart jolted.
That was odd.
Why did I feel they were locking me in?
The woman in the chair called out around her cries, and I swear, there was a familiarity about her. My brow lowered and I looked back to Tama, wiping the blade of the knife clean with my leather gloves. “Who is she, Tama?”
Tama shook his head. “Someone who needs to die.”
I twisted back to the woman and frowned at the way she tried to move her hands. They shook so badly, but she tried in vain to move them, making the motion over and over again, but I didn’t see what she needed me to.
Something made me feel uneasy. Looking back at how the men were guarding the exit, I peered back at the woman, and when I stepped closer to her, reaching out for the calico face covering, Tama warned gently, “You touch that mask and I swear to God, Molly, I’ll fucking kill you.”
My heart raced. My breathing turned heavy, and I watched the woman with wide eyes. When she moved her fingers into a twisted motion that took me back to my childhood, a choked gasp left me and I rushed forward.
It was an M. She formed it with shaking fingers and my heart stopped.
When the sounds of heavy footfalls followed close behind, I rushed to her, threw myself onto her lap, using her as a seat while I shielded her and, legs spread, my entire body shook with pent-up rage. I lifted my Glocks, and they stilled in their tracks.
Tama walked forward, and my voice shuddered. “How could you?”
He simply watched me, and he did this a while before he spoke calmly, “That’s the price you pay, Molly.” The words were emotionless, cold. “A sister for a brother.”
Motherfucker.
Standing on shaking legs, I held his stare. “I’m taking my sister and I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not,” said Tama.
But from behind him came a barely audible, “Yes, she is.”
My heart thumped.
Twitch.
Tama and his men stepped back from the unarmed man, and when Twitch spoke again, he looked directly at Tama. “You know me?”
Tama’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, bruh.”
Twitch scratched at the neatly trimmed scruff on his jaw. “Good.” He looked around the men and spoke to me. “Let’s go.”
I don’t know how he knew where I was, but right then, I was relieved for him turning up unannounced.
Tama’s voice was blazing white fiery rage. “Listen here, bruh. If Molly’s in your house, she’s there to infiltrate.” He warned Twitch, “Someone’s gonna end up dead, and it won’t be her.”
“That what happened to you?” Twitch asked Tama, but he didn’t respond. “I think if Molly did that to you—specifically you—you’re not asking the right questions. Namely, why?”
Tama shook his head. “You’re making a mistake.”
But Twitch just stared the huge man down. “Sounds like you already made a couple of those concerning your girl there.”
The second I had the head covering off of my sister, I looked down at her tear-streaked face with wide eyes. “Lenka.”
My older sister broke down in sobs, and I carefully removed the tape from her mouth. Her voice quivered. “I thought you were going to kill me, Mol.”
I was.
The thought rocked me to the core.
Tama turned, clearly infuriated that his plan was ruined, and he roared, “You killed my brother, Molly Te Wiata. And that will not go unpunished.” He pointed a stern finger at me. “Mark me.”
My sister turned to face me. “You never told him?”
“Shut up,” I muttered, walking her along.
But Lenka would not be silenced. She pushed away from me, and her voice carried out through the entire warehouse. “Your price has already been paid, you fucking dog!”
Tama stepped forward. Being called a dog was the lowest of insults. “What did you just say, bitch?”
Lenka was furious. She shook with it. “Your brother Uri was a pig of a man.”
“Say again.” Tama stepped closer and his voice shook.
But Lenka was not to be intimidated. “My sister loved you, you asshole. You think she killed your brother for fun? Ask yourself what the fuck he must’ve done for Molly to have taken his worthless life.” She panted. “We were on your land.” Her voice croaked. “We were promised protection.” She pointed a shaking finger at the giant man, and wailed, “We were promised protection, and you let us down, Tama Hariana!”
Tama looked confused. I lowered my gaze, refusing to look at him.
Lenka’s voice quavered. “He touched her. She was just a child. He did things to her, and she was not prepared for him. He wrecked her, and no matter how hard we tried, the nightmares consumed her.”
Tama sounded perplexed. “Who?”
“Keisha.” My voice was detached.
My little sister, Keisha. The baby of our family.
Lenka tried to keep it together. “Uri raped her. He took her by force. She was just a little girl.”