Cora’s hand jerked at a hard knock to her bedroom door. She rushed to her feet, water streaming from her as she splashed across the floor and shoved the letter between a stack of towels on a nearby hamper.

Another knock, harder than before.

It wasn’t one of her men—they had the access code to get into her room even if she locked it. She wrapped a towel around herself and padded into the bedroom.

“Who is it?” she yelled.

“Neo,” came the muffled reply.

“Come back later.” She went inside her walk in closet and hunted out a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt to wear.

She was hopping into the jeans when her bedroom door opened.

Cora spun around, fumbling with her shirt as she tried to yank it over her head. Neo appeared in the closet’s doorway, glaring at her.

She bundled the shirt against her chest, shielding herself. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? How did you even get in here?”

“We have a problem,” Neo said.

“Get out!”

But Neo came in instead.

“Out!” she yelled, aiming a kick in his direction. “I’m getting dressed.”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“What?” she spluttered, trying to move around him so she could dart out the closet and—possibly—lock him inside until her men came back.

Wait…where the hell were her men?

“Finn!”

“Just you and me, chica,” Neo said, and for a moment he sounded just like Javier. She shuddered involuntarily and twisted away from him, yanking her shirt over her head. When she turned back, she wanted to climb straight back into the bath and wash off the feel of his eyes.

“What’s so important it couldn’t wait?” she demanded, backing out of the closet. The last thing she wanted was being trapped in a confined space with Neo.

He had a strange look on his face, like a wary predator that had just came across something it didn’t quite know if it should classify as prey yet.

Her Taurus lay on the dressing table. The small cheese knife she’d stabbed into Javier’s heart, by her nightstand.

She’d needed neither today, not when she was surrounded by three men wearing enough weapons for six.

But they weren’t here, were they?

Anger bubbled up inside her, making her voice tight.

“What do you want?”

“We have a shipment to deliver tomorrow, before sunset.”

“A shipment?”

“Yes, Cora. Drugs. Our dealers were expecting them.” For a moment, he looked uneasy, and then he added, “Today already. But I got them to hold off until tomorrow.”

Icy water flowed through her veins instead of blood. “But we don’t have anything, do we?”

“No, of course not.”

“But…wait a minute.” Cora tilted her head to the side. “How could they have wanted a shipment today? I mean…weren’t the poppies still supposed to have been harvested?”

“Now you know all about how to cook heroin?”

“I don’t think you cook it, either,” Cora said, frowning at him. “I looked it up on the internet, and—”

Neo cut her off with a hard bark of laughter. “You fucking looked it up on the internet.” He laughed again, slapping his hand into the wall beside the closet where he still stood. “Fuck, am I glad one of us at least knows what the fuck we’re doing.”

She blushed hard and hot, and gritted her teeth until she could hear them creaking. “Don’t you dare speak to me like that.”

“I can speak to you however the fuck I want,” Neo said, storming up to her.

It took everything she had not to retreat. As it was she trembled, but hopefully Neo didn’t see.

Surprise widened his eyes before they narrowed with irritation again. But he didn’t touch her. Didn’t grab her.

Maybe there was something to what Finn had said.

Don’t show emotion.

Even her blush was receding.

So what if she’d had to Google how the hell heroin was made? Just because her father had been a drug lord most of his adult life didn’t mean that knowledge had rubbed off on her.

And from what she knew now, she could tell Neo was lying.

Not about the dealers, but about the timeline.

But why?

“Look, whatever,” she said, swiping her hand between them as if to dismiss the argument. “This is why I wanted to talk to you. We have to decide what we’re going to do. Like now, with these dealers.”

He opened his mouth, but then closed it again as she went on.

“I mean, we don’t have anything to give them. So what are we going to do?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned his weight on his back foot. Then he shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Shit,” she murmured, jamming her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She inhaled deep, glancing around her room as her mind scrambled for a thread of a plan. “Do you know anyone who can get them heroin? Or get us heroin to give to them? We have money…” she trailed off. She had money, but it was locked up in her trust until she turned twenty-one. She doubted Nick could free anything, especially the kind of money they’d need for a shipment of heroin. It probably cost like a billion dollars or something.

Shit, she had to get back on the internet. Maybe there was a cartel start up plan she could download.

She gave Neo a grim smile, which he didn’t return.

“Maybe we should meet with them,” Cora said. “We can try and straighten this out. You know—” she moved her hands between them “—try and get an extension or something.”

Neo shrugged again, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before looking down at her again.

It had worked. Finn’s trick had worked. She’d never seen Neo this calm before. This…in control.

Now that she was taking control.

“If we both sit there and just lay it out, what are they going to do?”

Neo pressed his lips together, and let out a soft, “Hmm.”

“I mean, someone burned down our poppy fields,” she said, with a laugh in her voice. “Who does that? How could we possibly have known that was going to happen, right?”

Neo nodded. “You’re right. Maybe they’d accept money instead of product.”

“Right,” Cora said, but a little less enthusiastically. “Uh…as long as they’re willing to wait a few days.”

Neo’s dark eyes focused on her like ebony razors. “What you mean? You have money, right?”

“Of course…” she said, glancing at the door.

Where the hell were her men? Her self-assurance was disappearing like dawn under the midday sun.

“Because mine’s all tied up right now. What with my fath—” Neo cut off with a cough.

Her jaw clamped tight. He looked like he was struggling not to cry, the way his lips trembled.

Which made her want to apologize again.

But that would show emotion. She’d done what she had to do, and she would not beg for forgiveness.

“I’m sure I can work something out,” Cora said, reaching for him and then deciding against it. She didn’t want him to think she was okay with them having any kind of physical contact.

“Okay,” Neo said, sudden determination in his voice. “I’m going to call them. Arrange some kind of meeting. It’ll probably be tomorrow. We’re going to have it here, right?”

“Uh…” Cora took a step back, and then shook her head as she waved at Neo. “No. No, let’s not do that. Javier was—” shit, why did she keep bringing him up? “—we shouldn’t let people in here. This is our sanctuary.”

“Our sanctuary,” Neo murmured with a slow nod. “Yeah, you’re right. Well, where then?”

She shrugged at this, hugging herself tight and looking at the door. “Let me think about it. When do you have to speak to them again?”

“Tonight, I guess,” Neo said. “I’ll swing by before nine.” He started for the door, and then turned back to her, tapping his temple with a long, slender finger.

He bore such a strong resemblance to Javier, and that gesture was something she could readily see the monster doing. But not with the warm smile Neo had on his mouth; Javier would have worn one of his wide, fake grins.

“We’ll figure this out, Elle,” Neo said.

The name lashed through her like the ghost of a whip. “Don’t call me that,” she managed, but her voice was so tight that the words barely came out.

Neo’s smile widened, becoming as glassy as Javier’s would have been.

“Maybe we don’t make such a bad team after all.”

And then he left her alone with a twisted stomach and a thundering heart.

“We should get back,” Finn said.

Bailey let out a soft belch and crumpled his third can of beer in a hand. “Sure? Got the feeling she wanted to be alone.”

“Yeah, there’s being alone, and then there’s being depressed.”

“She’s got plenty to be depressed about,” Bailey said. “I mean—”

“There’s no point living in the past,” he cut in, giving Bailey a hard stare. “I insist on it.”

Bailey laughed. “She’s always done what she’s wanted. Or sulked for days if she didn’t get her way.”

“That was your Cora,” he replied, trying to ignore the itch between his knuckles that made him want to punch Bailey in the face. “This one’s mine.”

Ours, came the rustling whisper inside his head, almost the same time Bailey said, “Ours, don’t you mean?”

Finn’s vision doubled. He’d been heading for the stairs leading off the roof, but had to pause and grip the banister as the roof sagged beneath his feet.

“All right there?” Bailey asked. Luckily, by the time the guy reached him, the world had righted itself.

He drew a deep breath, and ripped his hand away from the butt of his pistol where he’d been rubbing the smooth metal.

“Fine,” he said, but through his teeth.

They walked down the stairs in silence.

Cora’s bedroom door stood open, which made Finn’s hackles rise the instant he noticed. He sped up, hurrying into her room and scanning it with a sweeping gaze.

She sat in his armchair, holding a glass of wine. Opposite her, in the settee, perched a nervous-looking Lars.

What the fuck?

Bailey came in behind him, and Cora cocked her head to the door. “Close it. Lock it.”

An invisible tremor shot through Finn. His beast sat on its haunches, sniffing the air as if trying to locate something.

Like the Cora he knew.

This woman sat that armchair like a queen…and a pissed off one at that.

“What did you do?” Finn barked at Lars, and the man tensed.

“Nothing,” he said, widening his eyes and spreading his hands. “I found her like this.”

“Sit,” she said, taking a sip of her wine as her eyes tracked his and Bailey’s reluctant steps across the floor.

There was only the armchair and the settee, which meant the three of them had to crowd into it. He sat on the edge, which meant at least one of his arms had elbow room. Bailey looked particularly uncomfortable sandwiched between him and Lars, and Lars hadn’t made a single wisecrack since they’d walked into the room.

His beast growled, but low and soft as if it didn’t want Cora to hear.

She took another long sip of wine, and then rested its base on the armrest.

“Neo came to see me.”

That had all three of them sitting forward. Bailey’s elbow slammed into Finn’s ribs, and Lars cussed under his breath so he’d probably gotten Bailey’s other elbow.

Finn craned around Lars. “You were here, right?”

“I arrived just in time,” Lars said, and then added, with a sheepish grin, “to see him leave.”

Finn swung back to face Cora. “What did he do?”

“Neo?” she asked, sounding surprised. “He had a discussion with me, Finn.”

He drew a breath, and forced it to stay inside his lungs until his jaw relaxed. “That’s all?”

“You think I can’t protect myself?”

“I know you can’t—” Finn began, but Lars coughed so hard it was like he was trying to expel one of his lungs. He glared at Lars, who refused to look in his direction.

“Our dealers want their product,” Cora said.

He didn’t like the tone of her voice. It was like she was trying to sound ten years older with a degree in physics.

“Product we don’t have,” she went on, when the three of them remained silent. “We’re setting up a meeting with them tomorrow to discuss—”

“It’s too dangerous,” Finn said, almost on top of Bailey’s urgent, “You’re not going as well, are you?”

Lars sagged onto his arm rest and let out a long sigh, dragging his hand over his face. “And here I thought the most complicated part of my day was going to be figuring out how to ship a lion back to the savanna.”

Cora bristled. Her shoulders pushed back, her spine snapping straight. “You expect me to leave this to Neo?”

Her voice could have kept meat fresh for a month.

“That’s not what I meant,” Finn said. “But you can’t expect us to sign off on you—”

“Sign off?”

The temperature in the room dropped to ten below zero.

Cora slowly got to her feet. Finn watched her as she stepped closer, and his eyes narrowed when he studied her face.

She wore no expression; not anger, not frustration, not panic or fear.

Because you told her to turn it off, his beast whispered from where it hunkered in a dark corner of his mind. Now we don’t know what she’s thinking. Now we don’t know if she’s playing along or not.

“Cora, don’t—”

“I am speaking now,” she said quietly. “And you won’t speak again until I’m finished.”

Arctic penguins would have been right at home. That the air wasn’t crystallizing into diamond dust…

He opened his mouth.

His beast growled in warning.

So he closed it again.

Heat coruscated through his chest. But whether it was because he was holding himself back from ravishing Cora, or slapping some sense into her, he had no fucking idea.

“You three,” she said, pointing out each of them “work for me. I am capo.” She pointed at Lars. “You are my lieutenant—” and then at Finn “—as are you.”

Bailey shifted a little, and her finger moved to him like a heat seeking missile. “You are my sicario. If I point and say ‘kill’, you kill. You don’t ask questions. You don’t tell me it’s too fucking dangerous.”

Cora took a few steps to the side, studying them with a tilted head.

“I need your answers now.” She spread her palms, like a teacher waiting for a pupil to spit out his gum.

Silence whispered like a gentle breeze. The settee creaked as first Lars, and then Bailey, shifted in their seats.

Cora rolled her eyes up. “You can speak.”

“Fucking finally,” Lars muttered. “Thought I’d never be able to order take out again.”

“You can do it online now,” Bailey said, which made Lars laugh. Which made Cora scowl at him.

And that made Finn’s chest relax.

She was still there, buried somewhere deep. But where the fuck had all this imperious bullshit come from?

“What answer?” Finn said, and the brief mirth in the room evaporated.

Cora hugged herself. “Are you staying? Because if you are, you have to listen to me. You can’t undermine me every step of the way.”

Finn opened his mouth, but she didn’t give him chance to talk.

“How am I supposed to get any respect if you three keep treating me like a piece of glass?”

She swung out her hands, but it obviously wasn’t a signal for them to agree with her because she kept talking.

“You know what I realized today? When Neo was here? I could actually hold a conversation with him. We discussed cartel business.” She pointed at them. “Because you three weren’t giving me looks, or interrupting, or—” the finger moved to Lars, quivering, “—cracking jokes all the time.”

Finn half-expected Lars to have a retort, but the man remained silent.

“So…” Cora brushed off her jeans and drew a visible breath that pushed her breasts against the thin fabric of her t-shirt.

Was that what she’d been wearing when Neo had been here? Because then he wasn’t in the least surprised there’d been a conversation. That thin fabric left nothing to the imagination, especially since she hadn’t bothered with a bra.

He’d probably been speechless the entire time. If he remembered anything about their ‘meeting’, it would most likely be the size of Cora’s breasts.

“Who’s with me?” Cora asked.

Lars snorted, and she turned an astonished face toward him.

“You know what’s funny?” he asked, leaning back in the armchair and lounging despite how cramped it was. “The fact that you still think you have to ask.” He touched fingertips to his chest. “And apparently I’m an authority on the matter, so you can take that the bank.”

“I think an off shore account might work better,” Bailey said.

Lars laughed and slapped Bailey’s thigh. “There’s the Bailey I don’t know.”

“If it’s so obvious that you’re here for me, then why don’t you act like it?” Cora said.

And now her voice was unsteady, as if this entire episode had drained her bitch reserves.

“Guess we all have issues with authority,” Lars said. “Some of us, more than others.” And then he pointed at Finn.

“It’s one thing for you to make decisions,” he said, ignoring Lars’s incriminating finger. “But if you’re going to step in front of a moving train, do you really expect us to stand and watch it pulverize you?”

“Ouch,” Lars muttered.

“He’s right, Cora,” Bailey said, lacing his fingers together and dangling his hands between his spread legs. “I get you have to be in charge, but we’re here to protect you. You can’t expect us to stop doing that.”

Her mouth worked, but she looked at a loss for words.

“This thing tomorrow,” Finn said, waving a hand at her. “What were you planning?”

She gave him a grateful smile, and then nodded to herself. “We don’t want to meet them here. This is our sanctuary, after all. Right?”

Lars and Bailey nodded. Finn just watched her, studying her face as she spoke.

“So…I was thinking…we have a party.”

There was silence. And then Lars let out a strangled sound. “A…party.”

She held up a hand. “The way I figure, if there’s a lot of people around, it’ll neutralize the situation. It’s like meeting in a public place, except—”

“You might be on a DEA or FBI hit list, so that’s not an option,” Lars finished for her.

Her mouth tightened, but she gave him a grudging nod. “Exactly. So I turn somewhere else into a public place.”

“Filled with public people,” Finn said, standing. “People we don’t know we can trust.”

She held up a finger and took a hurried step back when he came forward. “No, you see, it’ll all be El Calacas people.” She patted her chest. “Our people.”

Finn paused mid step. “How many?”

“I…don’t know yet.” She shrugged. “I’ll have to speak to Ana. A hundred, maybe?”

“That’s a lot of people to keep track of,” Finn said.

“These the same people that fled the wedding, screaming blue murder?” Lars asked. “’Cos I kinda have a feeling they may have a bone to pick with you.”

Cora pointed at Lars, and blurted, “No! You see, that’s exactly it. I’ve been thinking, right?” She turned to Finn and took another step back. “This party can set things straight. Neo and I can announce our partnership. Our vision for the cartel. With him up there with me, they’ll understand that Javier was a problem.”

“That’s…not actually a bad plan,” Bailey said.

“It’s a fucking terrible plan,” Finn said, “But you’ve come up with worse, so I’ll take it.”

Cora looked at him as if she hadn’t registered what he’d said. And then she hopped and clapped her hands together. “Really?”

He frowned at her. “We’ll have to approve everything first. Location, guard duties—”

Cora squealed and ran into him full tilt. He caught her with ease, and held her tight against him, inhaling her scent.

It was so easy to forget how young she was but when her enthusiasm burned like an incandescent flame…it was as if her youth scorched away layer after layer of hardened cynicism from his soul.

“We’re having a party!” she exclaimed into his chest, wriggling like she was bursting with energy.

“We’re having a party,” he said as he stroked her hair.

“A birthday party, if I’m not mistaken,” Lars said as he walked past them. “Sweet twenty-one.”

And then he was out the door without another word.

Cora leaned back from Finn, glancing up at him with wide eyes. “Is he—?”

“He’ll be fine.” Finn pulled her back to him. “But we should get Ana in here so we can plan this thing. I don’t want any surprises.”