Page 25 of Merciless Obsession

“Emmet’s a private investigator. A damn good one too,” Ezra expressed. “The two of you working together can make this thing move along a lot quicker and easier.”

Everything they were saying made sense. I had hit a block, even with my sources I was still coming up short. The Tavarezes knew people and clearly had a hand in the underworld I didn’t, which would make getting certain info easier. My concern was could I trust them. For years I made it my mission to expose them for the crooked fakes they were. If I teamed up with them I would be a hypocrite, and if they were playing me, then I would be spitting on my sister’s grave.

A frantic knock on my front door halted the conversation and caused me to jump.

“Who is that?” Nazai asked, reaching for his side. I noticed his wife did the same and the brothers grew alert.

“You all can relax, it’s probably one of my neighbors.” I rolled my eyes and stood.

“Bumblebee. Wait!” Ezra called out, but I ignored him. This was my house. No one was going to tell me I couldn’t open my own door. Walking to the front door, I checked my peepholeand released a heavy sigh. Unlocking it, I pulled it open, seeing Inaya’s pissed off face on the other side.

“Ziora!” she shrieked. “Where the hell have you been!”

“Inaya…”

“Don’t Inaya me! Every time I’ve come by here you’ve been gone. All I’ve gotten from you were cryptic ass texts. I was surprised to drive by and finally see a sign of life inside.” She stepped forward, pushing past me. “I thought you had been taken or something.”

“Ziora.”

“It’s been almost a month since I laid eyes on you and—” Her mouth snapped shut when she turned and noticed I wasn’t alone.

“What the…” Spinning around, she stared at me with a thousand questions bouncing around in her eyes. “Those are the Tavarezes. What the hell are they doing in your living room?”

I sighed and shut my front door. “It’s a long story. One I’ll explain later, but for now, just play it cool.”

Her lips pinched tightly into a straight line.

“Inaya,” I warned.

Turning on her heels, Inaya walked deeper into the room. “You must be Inaya.” Ezra stood and held his hand out.

“How do you know who I am?” Her hands went to her hips.

Inaya was small, only five two on a good day, but she was a force to be reckoned with. What she lacked in size, she made up in personality. Her light brown skin had patches of white scattered on it due to vitiligo. We became friends the day I saw her beat up a girl for making fun of her skin condition. Some of the girl’s friends tried to jump in and I didn’t know why but I jumped in to help Inaya and we’d been thick as thieves since.

“I know everyone Ziora surrounds herself with.”

Inaya turned and looked at me with a bewildered expression. I shook my head and returned to my seat. I knew how my friendwas but hopefully she would keep it under wraps until it was just the two of us.

Inaya took a seat on the couch, putting her between Ezra and Emmet.

My eyes zeroed in on Cashlynn. “Your parents were involved in a lot of stuff. Some of the shit I found when I looked them up made me sick to my stomach.”

“Your point is?” Cashlynn asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Were they into human trafficking too?”

Cashlynn crossed her arms over her chest. “And if they were, again, the point? You think I took over for Mommy and Daddy?”

Nazai placed his hand on her knee. “Wildfire,” he warned.

“Don’t,” she hissed, still peering at me.

“I’m asking because maybe they said something that might give us a clue who could be behind all this.”

Cashlynn snorted. “Let me make one thing clear, miss techy girl. My parents, as we all know, were shitty ass people. They were mercenaries who would do anything as long as the price was right. Most of their clients were shady people I wouldn’t spit on if they burst into flames. So whatever you think I know, get it out of your head because as flashy as my parents were they were also sneaky as hell. Don’t ask me about them again.” She reached down into her bag and pulled out a bottle of apple juice.

Nazai cleared his throat. “Look, I get you don’t trust us; I don’t give a shit about all of that. In the end our goal is the same. Get the guys the law lets slip through the crack. It’s that simple. You want to find out who’s responsible for your sister, right? Don’t let your pride stand in the way of you getting that.”