The phone in my office buzzed. I stared at it like it’d sprouted legs. I didn’t use this room much, since I was usually out in the field.

The call was from reception, and I picked it up, frowning. “Yeah, Lulu?”

“Tomas Mendoza is here to see you, can I send him back?”

The fuck?

Tomas did not make house calls. He requested your presence. Because of our history, growing up in the same neighborhood as most of us here at the agency, there was a certain amount of respect between us.

Him and I, though, our relationship was more complicated. To say he wasn’t happy when I became a cop was an understatement. He felt I betrayed him, to an extent. We’d avoided each other for a lot of years. I never would have gotten in the way of an investigation if it involved him, but I also made a decision, even with what I knew, to never actively go after him.

A lot of things had changed since I joined the agency; for one, we now both knew where we stood. But there were still some trust issues there, shit we’d chosen to ignore. At the end of the day, though, we were all family. Yeah, a fucked up and highly dysfunctional family, but we had an understanding, and in recent years, a working relationship.

Still, the man never did anything for nothing, despite our history. And I had no idea what would bring him to my office now.

“Send him down,” I said to Lulu.

Tomas walked in a minute later.

“Tomas.” I motioned for the seat across from me.

“Jude.” Tomas took a seat, body held in that unnaturally still way of his.

I decided to forgo pleasantries. My curiosity over his presence here was well and truly piqued. “What’s going on?”

The man’s dark, razor sharp stare locked on mine. “Business.”

“You want Van in on this?”

Tomas shook his head and relaxed back. “Willa Hartley.”

My spine straightened, muscles bunching. I didn’t like hearing her name coming from his lips. Not one fucking bit. If she was in his sights, if he went after her, I couldn’t be held responsible for what I’d do. “What about her?”

“She’s yours?”

I answered the only way I could, in a language he understood. “Yeah, she’s mine. Anyone touches her, looks at her wrong, fucking thinks about her, and we’ll have a serious problem.”

Tomas’ lips curled up on one side.

“What the fuck is this about?” I asked, not in the mood for games.

“She came to me this morning, asked for a loan.”

I shot to my feet, unable to stay in my damned seat. “She what?”

“Twenty grand.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

“Is she in some kind of trouble?” Tomas asked. “People don’t come to me for that kind of money, unless they’re in deep with someone.”

No, they didn’t.

“She didn’t come to you for help?” Tomas asked, and for once there was no sardonic expression, no glee that he had one over on me.

I shook my head. “She say what she wanted it for?”

“She wasn’t in the sharing mood.”

Fuck. “You give it to her?”

He paused. “Not yet. Told her I could swing ten, she wasn’t happy.”

I stared at the guy, waiting for his angle, the catch, for him to tell me what he wanted in exchange for this bit of information.

“And?” I said, when nothing came.

“And nothing. I thought you should know. Despite our past differences, we’re family.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” I said. He hadn’t given a fuck about family when Neco and Zeke had both gone to him for help. Their women had been in trouble, and Tomas had still taken his pound of flesh.

Tomas sucked a breath in through his nose, glancing out the window and back. His jaw worked and I thought he was going to say something, then he just shrugged.

I didn’t know what had gotten into him, but I wasn’t going to start pushing. Being in Tomas’ debt was something I’d like to avoid.

“What happens now?” I asked.

He shrugged again. “That’s up to you.”

I had no clue why she needed that kind of money, but it had to be something serious. Fear coiled like barbed wire in my gut.

“I want you to give it to her.”

Tomas’ eyebrows rose.

“I’ll cover it, just don’t say it’s from me. I’ll take it from there.” I needed to find out what the hell she was messed up in, then she and I needed to have a long overdue chat.

* * *

Willa

The wad of cash in my purse felt like a ticking time bomb. I’d never held so much money in my hands before. Tomas’ call had come the day after I’d seen him. Things had moved quickly after that and the whole process had been a lot easier than I thought. My first payment was due at the end of the month. I’d have to carry on doing a couple nights at Stilettos as well as my day shifts, but it was worth it.

Trent had agreed to meet as soon as I’d called. He’d sounded edgier than before, and I knew he wasn’t going to be happy with me when our meeting was finished. But I had to protect Tilly, I needed time, and this money should buy me that.

Or it could all blow up in my face.

I’d chosen a coffee house, a block from the club, for our meeting. Extremely public. It also meant I had help close by if things went bad.

The door opened right on time and Trent slunk in, eyes darting around the room. He looked twitchy, nervous. The sooner he was out of Tilly’s life for good, the better.

He slid into the seat across from me. “You got my money?” He glanced around the shop again, fingers tapping on the table between us.

“I have it.”

He leaned in. “Well, fucking give it to me.”

I refused to let him think I was intimidated by him, and held his stare. “You agreed to sign all rights to Tilly to me, yes?”

He scowled. “I said I would.”

“You don’t exactly have the best track record for keeping your word, so you’ll have to excuse me for not believing you in this either.”

He twisted in his seat, searching the room again, before his eyes came back to me. “What is this? What are you playing at?”

“For you to sign away your parental rights, we need to go to family court. It needs to be done properly, legally, or there’s no deal, and I’ll find another way to scrape you off,” I said, forcing steel into my voice.

“You didn’t say anything about that. I’m not dealing with courts and lawyers and all that shit,” he spat.

“You will, or you get not one cent from me.”

His hand shot out and he grabbed my wrist, leaning in closer. “I will make your life a living hell if you don’t give me what you owe me.”

He’d make my life a living hell either way, I knew that now. “You need the money pretty bad, huh?” I said, and yanked my wrist free.

His expression turned ugly. “Don’t fuck with me, Willa. You do not want to fuck with me.”

I ignored him and his threats. “This is the deal. You can take it or leave it.”

His eyes narrowed on me, so much hate coming from him it was a struggle to hold off my shudder. “Listen, bitch…”

“I’ll give you half the money now, ten grand. The other half once we’ve had our day in court. It’s set for four weeks’ time. Four more weeks, and you’ll have the other half,” I lied, making sure that steel was still in my voice, that my eyes stayed locked on his. He’d been specific about the amount he needed. The way he was acting meant he was in some kind of trouble, that someone may even be after him. Ten thousand should be enough to stall whoever he owed. I knew that because we were in the exact same position, only he was my blackmailer.

He’d take the deal.

He stared at me for several long seconds. He wanted to wrap his hands around my throat and squeeze, I could see it written all over his face.

“And just FYI? I don’t have the rest of it at my house. It’s somewhere safe,” I lied again, reading the intent in those mean, beady eyes. “There’s a note with it, to give to the cops, with your name all over it, if anything happens to me.”

He stared at me for the longest time, then finally said, “You have it all worked out, huh?”

“We do this my way, or I’ll make your life a living hell,” I said, throwing his own words back at him.

He leaned in again and the hatred in his eyes had reached levels I’d never seen before. “Fine,” he spat.

“You agree to the deal?” I asked, unable to hide the hope in my voice. God, that I’d actually pulled off my bluff, and that he’d fallen for it.

“Yeah, now give it to me.”

I took the envelope from my purse and handed it to him under the table. He snatched it, stood, and walked out without a backward glance.