Page 66 of Blood in the Water

“Ryu told me to go fuck myself.”

I snorted. “Sounds about right.”

“What do you think, though?” Wynn asked, voice low. “If the money didn’t matter, would you help her?”

An image of her hand entwined in mine flashed across my eyes.

“I don’t know, Wynn. It sucks what happened to her, but that stuff happens all the time in our line of work. People get killed. New leaders rise. Shit go—” My throat caught on the phrase, and the sound died. I took a slow, deep breath, forcing the muscles in my throat to relax. “Shit goes down. Why do we have to be involved?”

Yes, she held my hand. And yes, it felt fucking good. But Wynn was an optimist. I was a realist. If he took on a contract from her and she couldn’t pay, we’d set a dangerous precedent. The whole reason that we operated as we did, with the approval of the major organizations worldwide, was because we were fair. Clients paid money. We did jobs. We didn’t play favorites or take sides. If we started discounting or doing our work for free, it could be viewed as declaring allegiance.

Did we want to make enemies of one of the strongest of the Five Families? Or maybe all of them? The Italian Mafia families were one thing, but what if the entire criminal underworld took issue with that?

“I know. I know it’s ridiculous, Ciel. It’s just... I—,” Wynn started, clearly choosing his words carefully. “I feel something for her.”

His eyes flicked to mine with a certain shyness and uncertainty he had never shown before. Damn, he was in fucking deep. What had this woman done to him?

“I haven’tfeltin years,” he continued. “Besides our brothers, besides Willow, and besides the work I do, nothing else mattered to me. But now it’s like something else matters, and I… I don’tthink I want to let it go. I don’t think Ican. If we can help her, I believe that we should.”

I leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes, picturing her face again. The shower was still running down the hallway, and it was taking monumental effort to keep my attention focused on Wynn and what he was saying instead of imagining what she looked like naked.

It’s not like I didn’t understand where he came from, even if he had it bad. I couldn’t deny that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.Mi ángel.

“Itisridiculous, Wynn,” I finally murmured. I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands under my glasses. “But, last night in the van, the only thing that made me feel better was her hand. So I guess I get a little bit of where you’re coming from.”

Where I was expecting a smidge of resistance or perhaps a little jealousy, all I saw on his face was brazen hope. Understanding.

“So you understand then. Why we can’t just let her go,” he said, voice hopeful. “We can make a difference for her. I know you don’t believe the same way as I do, but you can agree she didn’t deserve anything that happened to her.”

“Yeah, but Wynn. You’re asking us to take this on because we’re attracted to her. That doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to potentially fuck up the Shadows as an organization.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Just because you can’t explain why we feel drawn to her doesn’t mean it’s not a legitimate reason to take her on as a client. I think if it feels right, we should do it.”

“That sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

He held my stare but said nothing.

I sighed heavily. “So, what do you want then? You want me to agree to a price cut? Take her on as a client for free? You want me to take your side if Ryuji and Obi disagree?”

He stared at the ground. “Yes. For free. Without the Irish, she’s as good as dead. We can give her back her life.”

“I have to think about it.” Sure, I thought she was pretty, but I’d only talked to her for a total of like five seconds. The one place I felt safe and accepted was with the Shadows. My skills had found me a home here. I was happy. Content. Did I want to introduce an unknown factor into our orbit? What if I lost my place here because of it? I’d be wholly and entirely alone.

Finally, Wynn nodded, seemingly accepting my current noncommittal. Wynn was like a terrier, though; once he sunk his teeth into something, he didn’t easily let go.

“In the meantime,” he said, “we have to find her bodyguard. Caspian. I want your help looking into his location.”

The water down the hallway finally shut off, so I lowered my voice.

“Why? Sounds like Volpe has him. He’s probably dead by now.” I didn’t miss Wynn’s slight flinch. Did he care about the bodyguard, too? From what I saw the night before, Volpe wasn’t hesitant to pull the trigger.

“Technically, they were under my protection when he was taken,” he said while looking down the hallway. “I could make the argument that we owe it to her. To him.”

I rubbed my eyes underneath my glasses, my brain already bouncing to how I could track Volpe with the cameras I had already tapped into last night. “You just want to get in her good graces, don’t you? Save the damsel’s bodyguard; maybe she’ll be interested in you too.”

He huffed a laugh. “I know, I know. But without him, without us, she’s dead anyway. Just help me with this. Neither of us have open contracts right now, so it’s not like you’re doing anything better with your time.”

“Hey, I deserverest. I might not be like you and Ryuji, who will never stop moving until you’re six feet below, but days offare a thing. Binging my shows and catching up on my games are well worth my time, asshole.”