Page 118 of Sinful King

I could see him trying to find something to say.

“I…” he brushed his hands down his face and turned away. “Fuck. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Finnegan and I looked at one another, his expression mirroring what I was feeling.

Sean wouldn’t approve if we sent him to Miami to peep the scene.

“She’s not alright in the head,” Liam said, drawing our gazes back to him. “Don’t even try. I wouldn’t say yes anyway.”

I chuckled and leaned back, phone in hand as I called the man I hadn’t spoken to since he summoned his granddaughter home.

This was long overdue, especially with Esi going ghost on us. My gut was telling me something was amiss.

“Ms. Phillips, to what do I owe the pleasure?” someone who wasn’t Augusto questioned upon answering.

I put my index finger to my lips and placed the phone on speaker.

“Who am I speaking to?”

There was a long pause before the mystery man spoke again.

“She said you weren’t easily fooled,” he said, an edge to his voice I didn’t appreciate. “I was wondering when you’d call.”

Was Esmeralda in some kind of trouble?

“You have the upper hand here,” I mused, getting out of the car to open the truck and get my laptop. “A name could put us on an even playing field. If you dare, that is.”

He chuckled and I found myself smiling.

Something about a game of cat and mouse thrilled me.

With my laptop in hand, I slid back in my seat and got to work hooking my phone up to an encrypted tracking system. Even though he had blockers on, I could get through them as long as I kept him on the phone.

“I grew up as Miguel Arce, but my father was a Constanzo man.”

Even though Finn and I were calm, I felt the tension rolling off Liam.

“A Constanzo man, you say? Who’s your father.”

Another laugh.

But this time I didn’t think he found it funny at all.

“Esmeralda is my first cousin,” he said coolly. “Our fathers were half-brothers.”

I hummed.

“I see…” my mind was trying to work the problem, while the computer did its thing. “And your father. Is he alive?”

“Nahhh. I killed him. He was a bitch, needed to die.”

I tapped the mute button and looked between Finn and Liam, while showing them my laptop screen where I’d pulled up all I could find on Miguel Arce—the thirty-three year old from Oakland with a record a mile long and gang ties.

“He’s at the Constanzo estate in Miami. The encryption on his phone was a little weak, which tells me he’d really been waiting for my call. I can only assume Augusto is already dead.”

“Ask about Esmeralda,” Liam said, showing us where his priorities lie without thinking of the bigger picture.

More information always gave you room to plan accordingly and it seemed Miguel wanted to talk and I was going to listen.

---