Page 145 of Dark Endures

Why did I just say that? “She lives on The Street. Mindy is my responsibility.”

Vex nods and turns to his wife. “Dahl?”

“We’ll have s’mores tonight. And Maddox isn’t a liar.”

Silence fills the library as we wait to see if Vex will explode. No one dares even to breathe for fear of setting him off.

“Dahl.”

“Yeah?”

“I like your friend.” Vex turns to me. “Let’s talk.”

As soon as my office door closes, Vex says, “Adonis will die by my hand.”

“He might have kissed your woman, but he beat Mindy until she passed out. He’s mine.”

“KISSED MY WIFE! That means I get the kill.”

That might not have been the best way to stake my claim. “Mindy pulled him off of her.”

“You’re really not helping.”

Is Vex developing a tick?

“Gentlemen.” Dyce stands up from where she was sitting on a couch, unnoticed. “Either issue a duel at dawn or agree to work together. Personally, I’m hoping for the duel. I’ve never seen two grown men fight to the death with swords. I’ll be your second, Vex, since I know all Maddox’s weaknesses.”

My cousin is a nut, but she defused the situation pretty well.

She saunters over to Vex. “Can you play nicely? Or should I handle it myself?”

Dyce is going to get the two of us killed one of these days. Why doesn’t that girl have any natural fear?

Vex growls at her.

“I’ll take that as a yes and leave you two to sort out the details. Take as long as you like. It’s been a while since Dahlia and I had a chat.” She saunters off, closing the door after her.

“Your cousin is a pain.”

“Every day of my life.” Especially when she was a teenager and decided to become part of the Deathadders.

“Let’s figure this out before she gets irritated and starts telling Dahlia stories about the old days.”

She wouldn’t tell Mindy stories about our childhood, would she? “Better make it fast. But there’s one little catch.”

“I haven’t liked a word you’ve said today, and I’m sure I’m not going to like this one. Tell me.”

It’s the reason I haven’t already tossed Adonis in the dungeon. “When I was looking for Mindy, we found a bag of cash in his apartment.”

“That’s not strange. Everyone has a go bag filled with cash.”

Not everyone. Maybe I should add one to my collection of guns. “This case was different. It looked very similar to oneused by a child trafficking ring we just broke up. The leader told us that Plant was the one providing the children.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me this immediately?”

“Things have been a little distracting around here.”

“Understandable. But that could mean Plant sold Marlie to human traffickers.”

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