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The situation is more delicate than I would like, but I’m not a stranger to complications. My entire life is filled with them, and this is just another one that I’ll work out in the long run.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he says as he pauses at the end of an aisle, and his brows furrow. “I thought we had more oxy than this.”

I follow his gaze and count the containers lining the racks. One. Two. Three. Four. Where are the other two? We had six the last time I did the inventory, which was only a few days ago, and shipments always go out on a Monday. It’s Thursday now.

“Check the footage,” I tell him and keep moving. There are few people who have access to this particular warehouse. It would be foolish to keep all of our product in one place, but this is where the bulk of it is stored, and I keep the people that pass through it to an absolute minimum. There’s a chance some of the crates have been moved to the warehouse in San Diego in preparation to leave the city, but I want to be sure.

I tug my mask from my back pocket and pull it over my face. The cotton slips over my face, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. The skull that covers my face has evolved over the years, but the current version is perhaps my favorite,

When you live so long with your identity a secret to everyone, you feel more at ease with the mask on than off.

Killian falls back in step with me, his fingers moving over his phone rapidly. “He’ll be here in five.”

“Were you able to gather any more intel about his crew?”

He shakes his head. “He keeps them close to the chest. The only one I could get any information about is his right-hand man, and he doesn’t have much to do with recruitment as far as I can tell.”

I hum in acknowledgment. Lucas Trainer is a pain in my ass, but he’s good at what he does. He and his team have their fingers in all kinds of pies, but primarily they’re thieves, and good ones at that.

They can steal anything from anyone, and that’s what worries me. How long before his head gets too big and he thinks he can steal from me?

Members of his crew have already made that mistake and paid for it with their lives. I would hate for Lucas to meet the same fate.

Okay, that’s a lie. I actually wouldn’t give a fuck. But it would be a dent in sales in LA, and that’s something I would like to avoid.

I step outside and weave through the neighboring warehouses until I reach the meeting point, one of many we use around the city. We never meet the same people in the same place twice. It’s just a precaution, but one we don’t take lightly. There are too many people who would wipe Killian and me off the face of this earth given the chance, just so they could take our positions in this world.

The sun is beginning to set on the horizon, giving day to night and leaving pink tinges mottled with the blue, and I take a few moments to enjoy it. I need to learn to slow down before I bring her home to me. I need to learn to enjoy the little moments instead of thinking five steps ahead the way I have for the last decade.

A black SUV pulls me out of my thoughts, and I stand straighter.

Killian and one of our enforcers are behind a pile of pallets with their guns trained on the situation, even though Lucas would be an idiot to try it.

The car comes to a stop, and the man in question slips out of the driver’s seat with one of his men on his heels, his hand poised on the handle of his gun.

Lucas approaches me, his dark eyes surveying the area as he gets closer, before pausing a few feet from where I’m standing. “Aren’t we past the mask?”

“We’re not friends, Trainer,” I remind him. I can’t remember having a meeting with this fucker where he didn’t try to get me to show him my identity. I’ve caught a couple of his men trackingme over the years, but none of them have gotten very far. Mostly because I kill them long before they can see my true identity. The problem is, I’ve never been able to confirm if they were tracking me on his orders or of their own volition.

He rolls his eyes and runs his hand over his bald skull. Tattoos decorate his entire scalp as he takes another look around. “What do you want?”

“I need you to do a job for me.”

He scoffs. “What’s in it for me?”

I stare at him for long seconds, wondering how quickly I could draw my gun and shoot these two motherfuckers for thinking they have any power here, but I breathe through the instinct.

Lucas is, unfortunately, too valuable to waste like that. But eventually his value will run out, and he’ll meet the fate that has been coming his way since the day we met.

He sighs. “Fine. What do you need done?”

His usefulness saves him for another day, but it won’t last forever.

No one’s ever does.

CHAPTER THREE

EMBER