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“What’s not a coincidence?” I jump in before Annika can ask. If it annoys her, she doesn’t show it. “Have you had sightings in Dao territory too?”

Preston takes a deep breath, considering his answer carefully. “We’ve not had any known Kukri’s snooping about in Dao territory. But Brent received an anonymous text message from someone who claimed to have information on the Kukris that we might find useful.”

“It was an untraceable number,” Brent explains. “No name given or any indication as to who they might be. I didn’t respond because it feels like a trap.”

“What have you done with the guys you found?” Goth guy—I think his name is Hayden—asks.

“They’ve been taken care of,” Annika answers, casually.

Hayden smirks. “You still don’t trust us, do you?”

“No,” she answers coldly.

“You hate that you’re here sharing this with us right now, don’t you?”

She glares at him, and he just laughs.

“There are two possibilities here,” Preston says, ignoring his husband. “Either the Kukri’s are aware that we are in cahoots and are trying to play us from different angles, or they are completely unaware of our relationship. Maybe they’re trying to send a message to you and there really is a traitor within their midst trying to help us.”

“We gained very little from the guys we picked up,” Annika says, carefully. “No matter how thoroughly we interrogated them, they wouldn’t give us more than they were looking for a good time outside of their usual spots and they didn’t think we’d notice them.”

The three of them nod in understanding. But Hayden watches Annika with an intensity that makes me glower at him, like he’s reading her mind or something. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

I can’t help my slight shuffle of discomfort. She didn’t want to bring the girls to anyone else’s attention, but if the Daos really are her allies, they need to know of what could be a major breech of territorial agreements.

“Annika,” Preston says gently. “You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to right now. I know you have difficulty in trusting us but please believe I meant what I said. I want us to work together.”

“Yes, yes,” Annika sighs. “You don’t need to patronise me, Preston.” She links her fingers over her stomach, elbows resting on the arms of her chair, and she squares her shoulders. I can practically see her filing away any emotion she has about this situation so she can explain it factually and not give any more away than she needs to. “It’s come to my attention that there’s an organisation dealing in the flesh trade…”

“Isn’t that what you do?” Hayden smirks.

“Children,” she snaps at him, effectively shutting him up and draining all humour from his face. “I donotexploit or sell children.” The ice in her voice cools the room considerably. “I don’t exploit or sellanyone,” she tags on the end quietly.

“What do you know?” Lance asks, the even tone of his voice at odds with the utter disgust on his face. I take some comfort in the fact that he finds this as abhorrent as it is. That the newly crowned Mafia King has some morals at least.

“Very little,” Annika answers.

“How have you come across this information?” Hayden asks leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He, too, has a dark look about him now, one that cements him as a member of The Daos.

Something tells me to trust the three men in front of us. I’ve always been a good judge of character, it’s what made me a good cop, made me able to pick out a suspect quicker than the evidence could. It’s what has me confused over what I know about Annika Wolfe from the file handed to me by the Cap and what I know from my gut with every interaction I have with her. It’s also what makes me step forward and gently take her shoulder in my palm. She stiffens and I see her head turn slightly to see where we’re touching, but she gets the message.You should trust them.Hayden watches us with an amused smirk.

“I met two girls who had managed to escape a holding place they were being kept. They’d been running for days and couldn’t tell me where they’d been or anything that would help me track it down.” Annika speaks without emotion, something I understand better now. She isn’t emotionless, she’s just well adept at hiding them.

“Girls?” Preston asks with an eery cool to his voice, his expression now glacial.

“Six and fourteen.”

“Shit.” Hayden drops his head to his hands for a moment before standing straight and trying to school the disgust on his face.

Brent looks like he’s about to pummel something, nostrils flared, and mouth pulled into a sneer. “Where are they now?”

“Somewhere safe,” is her vague answer. The three men just nod, not needing to know more than the innocents are safe.

“Could we speak to them? Maybe —”

“No.” Annika cuts Preston off before he can finish that thought. Those girls don’t need more gangster interactions and they especially don’t need three big and admittedly intimidating men asking them questions.

He holds his hands up in defence. “I understand.” He regards her with a suspicious eye. “Areyouokay?”