Page 116 of Chaotic Curse
“You have Peter keep Haynes off any official docket he can, and if it lands anyway, it doesn’t land with your fingerprints on it.”
I nod.
“You talk to Vinnie about Reyes,” Falcon says.“About how we unwind that without blowing us up.”
“He’ll tell me to let him go.”
“And you’ll say ‘not yet’ and give him twenty-four hours to give you a plan that doesn’t end in handcuffs.”
I rub my temple against the ache springing up.“And Dani?”
“You call her.You tell her the truth she asked for, and then you shut up and listen.You don’t argue.You don’t justify.You say you heard her.You say you’re pulling back.Then you actually do it.”
“Pull back from what?”I ask.“Breathing?”
“From breaking into a third house today.”
I snort.“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were thinking about it,” he says.“Every time Gordon Brown was mentioned.I can see it in your eyes.”
I scoff.“Thought you saw love there.”
“I see both,” he says.“That’s the problem.”
I glare at him.“And what do you see now?”
He exhales sharply.“Message received.”
I sigh, gazing out the nearest window.“It doesn’t matter anyway.It was easy to find information on Reyes.He’s a well-known man, a member of the Colombian congress.I don’t know shit about Gordon Brown.His last name is so common.A million results come up when I do a search.”I think about signaling Byron for a third bourbon but then decide against it.I turn back to Falcon.“You know the thing about being the fixer?”
“What?”
“You don’t get any credit when it works.You just get the next mess.”
He lifts his empty glass.“To the next mess.”
I clink his and don’t smile.
36
DANIELA
I slamthe door to the mother-in-law suite.
The frame rattles.The wall shakes.My breath does, too.
Footsteps.
Then knocking.
I open the door.
Raven stands there.“Hey.Are you okay, Dani?”
I fall into her.Tears start again.“We fought,” I choke.“Hawk and I.He’s… He’s going rogue, Raven.I’m scared.Anyone he thinks might be behind the gifts?He goes after them.Evidence or not.”
Raven eases me to the loveseat while keeping her arm around me.“That doesn’t sound like Hawk.”She lifts her eyebrows.“That sounds like Eagle.Or Falcon, if it’s for Savannah.Hawk’s the cool head.He doesn’t blow up.”
