Page 29 of Ashes

I whipped around to see her glaring at me. She was still in her black long-sleeved unitard jumpsuit, her dark auburn hair in a ponytail.

“Well, you better since you might have blown our only shot,” I gritted out.

“He might put up with you, but I’m not dealing with your attitude,” she said before shutting the door on her way out.

Neither of them deserved my aggravation, but after my impromptu nuptials and being in the same room as Barrera, I was on edge.

That’s an understatement.

Kai studied me for a moment before he finally spoke up, “Listen, if you don’t want to talk about what happened today, that’s fine. I know better than to push you.” He stood and glared at me. “But don’t you dare take whatever you’re feeling out on Valentina. This is the last time you’ll raise your voice at her. She did her job and you know it. Shit happens.”

He was right.

I groaned and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Like I said, I’m used to your little tantrums. But I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

“It’s just, he was finally in our reach. I could have gotten the answers I’ve been waiting for.”

“And you will. But, Jamal, you need to stop going athousand miles an hour. It’ll get you killed, and now, it might getherkilled. You might be willing to jeopardize your safety, but I know you don’t want anything to happen to her. So get your shit together. We’ll get them. Just be patient.”

I knew he was right, but after waiting all these years, I finally had my in. Being so close, only to lose the opportunity to be able to infiltrate their systems knocked some of the hope I had to finally find the iron-clad proof I needed to go after who was behind my parents’ murder.

The near-constant gnawing in my chest flared up again. It’d gotten worse since I found out that my parents’ death wasn’t accidental. It’d been four years and waiting in the shadows for the right time to get revenge was nearly killing me.

The Barreras were old-school to a fault. They made their money through extortion, smuggling, and drugs, and that unfortunately didn’t involve much of my trusted friends, computers. Which meant that finding what I needed was more difficult than I anticipated.

Although I’d been mixed up in more than my fair share of crime, I would never take an innocent life just to reach my goals. My gut screamed that Barrera was responsible, but until I had tangible proof, I wouldn’t make a move.

But we had to find out sooner rather than later because after my little entrance earlier, it wouldn’t take long before they connected the dots and figured out who I really was.

And when they did, the only thing that remained was when they’d strike.

I slipped off my jacket and rolled my sleeves up. Then I pulled on the picture of Kai and me of the summer we graduated and waited for the mechanism to click in place. Once it did, the shelves pulled back and opened sideways, revealing a staircase that led to our headquarters.

“Time to apologize,” I muttered.

He placed his hands on my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Good luck,” he said, chuckling.

I made my way downstairs and he followed close behind. Once at the bottom, I entered the code to our workroom then stepped inside.

My office as well as Kai and Valentina’s side of the house were the only ways to get here. Computer monitors lined almost every inch of the right side of the room, some of the screens projected over the walls. On the left was our equipment storage room and a training ring.

Although we all worked here, this was mainly Valentina’s space. She barely ever left the room, unless it was absolutely necessary.

Speaking of Valentina, she was bent over her desk, sifting through documents and furiously typing on her keyboard. If she kept going at that rate, we’d have to buy another keyboard even though I’d just gotten her this one last week.

Hopefully, she doesn’t bite my head off.

“Valentina?” I asked tentatively.

No answers.

Kai stayed behind, propping a foot on the wall, watching the scene unfold with a smirk on his face.

Bastard.

I drifted closer to her. I knew not to touch her when she was this focused on her job, so I said her name a little louder.