“Chavez –”

“She’s been raped, assaulted, kidnapped, now twice, once by you, I’ll remind you. She found out her mother was whacked, had her f**kin’ gallery torched and has been drugged against her will. She’s been holdin’ on but she’s gonna f**kin’ break. After all that, anyone would f**kin’ break.”

“Chavez –”

Hector cut him off, his voice had gone low and it shook with menace, “Seth, I find her and they’ve broken her, you’ll pay.”

When he spoke again, Seth’s voice had changed too, it had gone soft. “Hector –”

“No joke. You’ll pay,” Hector repeated.

The door opened to Lee’s office and Lee’s upper body swung in with it but he didn’t enter and he didn’t take his hand off the knob.

“Call came in. Darius spotted Jerry’s BMW in the parking lot, Hyatt Place Hotel, DIA.”

“Anyone close?” Eddie asked, already moving around the desk.

“Marcus is headin’ his way,” Lee replied. “Said he’d be there in five.”

“Hector, what’s happening?” Seth asked in his ear.

“We got a lead,” Hector replied to Seth. “Pray she’s not broken.” Then he flipped his phone shut and moved toward the door. “Let’s roll.”

* * * * *

Sadie

Cordell threw me on the bed.

I rolled off and scrambled. He cut off my exit, I feinted to the left (he followed) then to the right (he followed again!) then stopped and we went into a stare down.

Glover lurched in, closing the door behind him. His eyes went to Jerry, still on the floor but he was now moving around.

Great.

Just great!

Then Glover’s eyes came to me and he snapped, “What the f**k’s goin’ on?”

I looked at him then I put my hands on my h*ps and said, “Are you kidding me?”

Glover and Cordell stared at me.

I knew them both.

Like Jerry, Cordell had worked for my father for years, I didn’t know him very well but we’d chatted because, well, he was around and not to chat would be rude.

Glover had been a new recruit a few months before my father went down.

Both of them were good-looking, fit, well-dressed and well-groomed.

All of this slid through my mind in a flash.

But mostly all I thought about was the fact that I was done.

Done.

Done!

Did I say done?

“Seriously!” I threw my hands out. “Did you think I’d just, I don’t know… what did you think I’d do?”

They kept staring at me.

“You roofied me!” I yelled.

Glover’s body jerked and his eyes shot to Cordell and I watched as Cordell’s brows drew together.

Then Cordell hissed, “Jesus, Sadie, keep your voice down.”

“Are you going to poison my father like you did Harvey?” I snapped and Cordell and Glover looked at each other while Jerry pulled himself up to sitting position. It would dawn on me later that they looked at each other in confusion. Since I was in a full blown hissy fit, I, unfortunately, didn’t notice it at the time.

“Well? Are you?” I pushed.

Everyone stayed silent.

“Whatever,” I snapped and put my hands back to my hips. “Let’s play let’s make a f**king deal. All right?”

Cordell and Glover just kept looking at me like I was some unknown entity as yet undiscovered, not like I was someone who served them coffee on more than one occasion.

“I need clothes, nice ones,” I went on. “I’m not going on an international flight without good clothes. We’ll call my father. I’ll get the Caymans account info. We’ll all go on a trip. You can have it. All of it. Every penny. You just promise to let me go at the end of it and promise you won’t poison my father or hurt him in any way.”

Glover’s eyebrows shot up and Jerry pulled himself unsteadily to his feet.

“Sadie –” Jerry started.

“You, shut the f**k up. I’m tired of talking to you,” I clipped at Jerry then, apparently not tired of talking to him, I went on, “And by the way, you’re cute but you’re a crap kisser.” So stuck in my hissy fit, I was on a roll, I looked back at Cordell then at Glover, both of their eyebrows were at their hairlines after my “crap kisser” comment. I ignored this and kept right on talking, “I call my father, warn him about the poison so you ass**les don’t kill him anyway, just to be ass**les, and he gives me the account numbers.”

“What’s she talkin’ about?” Glover asked Cordell.

Cordell shrugged.

It was my turn to stare.

“What do you mean, what am I talking about? Jerry poisoned Harvey Balducci and told me if I didn’t sleep with him, he’d put that same special sauce on my father’s breakfast,” I informed Glover and Cordell.

They both turned to Jerry.

“Jerry?” Cordell called and something in the room made me snap right out of the hissy fit and start to pay attention. “I thought we were runnin’ an errand for Seth. Gettin’ Sadie out of a bad fix, gettin’ her free from Chavez. What the f**k is this?” Cordell asked, turning away from me and toward Jerry.

Jerry was looking pale.

Light, luckily, for me, was beginning to dawn.

“He was working with Donny Balducci,” I told Glover and Cordell.

Jerry’s eyes came to me. “Shut your f**kin’ mouth.”

Oh my.

I decided, since things seemed to be a bit confused and Cordell and Glover weren’t paying much attention to me, that I should start moving slowly toward the door.

So that’s what I did.

But I kept talking.

“The Caymans accounts,” I said to Jerry as it hit me. “The Balduccis wanted the money in those accounts. Revenge against my father. You were going to get your share, weren’t you?”

“Shut the f**k up!” Jerry shouted, starting to come toward me but Cordell and Glover moved, fencing him in, so he stopped.

“Mickey Balducci killed my mother,” I announced to the room. “My father avenged her death. The Balducci Brothers wanted retaliation. Jerry was working with them.”

Cordell and Glover didn’t move but Jerry’s eyes were locked on me and his face twisted with rage.

“You f**kin’ bitch,” he hissed and I kept moving slowly to the door but, for some bizarre reason, Jerry lost it, totally and completely and he kept talking. “I was Seth’s boy. Me. Then f**kin’ Chavez comes along and Seth thinks his shit don’t stink. ‘Hector this…’ and ‘Hector that…’ like he f**kin’ walked on water. Everyone knew, once Bernie left and Seth settled on his new boy, that new boy would get you. Everyone. We all worked on it, we all wanted it. We knew the only one Seth would trust with you, the only one Seth would trust to take care of you, was his boy. The one who’d take his place when he retired. That was me until f**kin’ Chavez came along.”