TEN
Enzo
It was barely five AM when they all shuffled inside Rhodes Investigations like a bunch of criminals.
And, to be fair, most of them were criminals in one way or another.
"I knew I should have pushed her to take Kane or Ra," Xander said, blaming himself even though they both knew that Espen would have thrown an epic shitfit if he really tried to push it.
"From the sound of things, she has just as much training as the rest of your team, X," K said, shrugging his shoulders in his expensive, perfectly tailored suit. K was a lot of things. K was an ex-boxer who owned a boxing emporium. But that emporium was really just a source of income to do his real work in life; which was to help extricate, train, and disappear women in need. He was a worthy opponent in a fight. He was a fearsome protector of his women. He was a meticulous stickler for details. He was a good looking black man with a bald head, dark eyes, boxer build, and an impeccable dresser.
"Yeah, I mean if she is Atien's daughter, she definitely can take care of herself," Gabe chimed in. Gabe had the rare distinction in the group of not being a criminal in any way shape or form. This was mostly due to the fact that as a bondsman and skip chaser; he had to stay on the right side of the law if he wanted to keep in good with the courts and law enforcement. Gabe was easy to dismiss if you went off looks alone. He was tall, but lean, with pretty boy good looks, and blond hair. He, like K, dressed well in charcoal slacks, and a black tailored button-up. Even at this ungodly hour of the morning.
Gabe had been a street kid with Xander when they were younger, getting into a scuffle that somehow allowed them to form a seemingly lifelong friendship. And while Xander operated mostly in the gray or black areas of life, and Gabe stayed more toward the white and cream sections, they somehow made it work.
Gabe, aside from Xander, was the only one of the guys who had had contact with Atien personally.
Enzo had to force himself to keep his questions about him inside. Was he like Espen? Was he hard to warm up? Was he distant and guarded? Had he perhaps been too stern, making it hard for Espen to grow up and learn that men could do soft, that they could be a safe place to land, a solid shoulder to lean on?
But those were not things he could ask them.
Not only because it was the wrong time, but also because he had been warned off Espen by Xander from the jump, and he didn't need that drama right then.
They had all just shuffled in, Xander's once stray employee slash sort of adoptive adult kid, now Gabe's protege, Brian, moved right to the coffee pot, seeming to understand the need to have it brewing.
And it was all of one minute later when the door flew open, and in walked a woman.
Well, no, walked wouldn't be correct.
This woman carried herself with the same purposeful confidence as Espen, her near-black hair flowing around her shoulders. She was dressed simply in black jeans, a dark gray wifebeater, and black combat boots, somehow making the entire casual outfit undeniably sexy thanks to ample roundness to her hips, thighs, ass, and breasts. Her face was soft, yet angular, with a slightly pointed chin, high cheekbones, and almond-shaped dark eyes.
"Really?" she asked, looking at the lot of them with raised brows. "Did you really think you would get away with doing some kind of job without me?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "After having nothing exciting happen for months? So, you're new," she observed, looking over Enzo in a way that said she could appreciate a good male specimen, but wasn't interested in the least.
"Faith, Enzo. Enzo, Faith."
He had done enough digging around, even asking Kenzi's new man Tig for details on the NYC crew so he could feel like part of the team, to know who Faith was.
On the surface, she was a bartender at Lam, which was a known mafia front. But there were many deeper layers than that. For one, she was some badass Krav Maga instructor who volunteered her time at shelters for women and even after school programs for at-risk youths - mainly young women, or even gay or transgendered kids who were frequently targets of attacks.
On top of all of that, however, there was also the other shit she did. The illegal shit. The shit that involved bones breaking and blood. See, Faith had a real problem with men who hurt women. And Faith was in the unique position where she had the abilities to do something about it. It wasn't often, but in select cases, she took justice into her own hands.
It was, all said and done, a ragtag group of do-gooders who maybe had to bend and break the law to get justice for those who needed it.
And this time, who needed it was unwittingly laying asleep on her couch while they plotted it for her.
"Well, where is she?" Faith asked, chin lifting. Like she knew. Like she was aware that they weren't involving her. And, what's more, she wasn't happy about it.
"Asleep, nursing her bruised ribs, bruised throat, and swollen eye," Enzo supplied, not bothering to try to hide the truth. He had a feeling she was the kind of woman who would find it out anyway. And then throw that truth in his face.
"Let me guess, she doesn't know you're assembling a makeshift superhero squad to solve her problems."
"When you go bust some fucker's kneecaps in with a tire iron, sweetheart," Xander started, lips curving up when she small-eyed him at the endearment, "do you bring the women he battered along as well?"
"Fair point," she conceded, shrugging. "So I heard this was in that new skyscraper monstrosity they are building."
"Yeah," Xander agreed. "I punted a seemingly petty vandalism case happening there to E and Espen to cut their teeth on."
"I had to head out of town for a family emergency," Enzo went on. "And Espen got a call from the CEO bitching about threats he got. She refused backup, and went in alone. She thought there was only one guy, so was caught off-guard from behind by another. She said she got a good look at the one who attacked her, but not the one she originally followed in. She's expecting to come in to have someone do a sketch tomorrow."
"Alright," K said, dropping down at Espen's desk. "What have you guys dug up so far on this case?"
"Honestly, not much," Enzo explained, shrugging. "I don't know if she has found out more since I was out of town, but so far, it seems like an environmental group has it out for the company building this monstrosity. Why, I don't know, since the city is already full of them. But I haven't gotten a chance to dig yet. Maybe they use shit that isn't sustainably sourced or some crap like that. Or they have the chance to use solar and don't. Or who the fuck knows what."
"So we need to look into them to see if they have a violent history or not," Xander said as he sat down at his desk. "Plenty of environmental groups threaten shit, but couldn't kill a fruit fly in case of the impact on the world."
"Has she told Atien yet?" Gabe asked, looking at Enzo.
"I doubt that," he replied, shaking his head. "I think they aren't on speaking terms right now over her quitting and working here."
"Big step down for daddy's girl," Xander agreed, voice matter of fact, devoid of any malice whatsoever at being seen as less than other agencies. He figured it was easy not to be offended when you had spent the majority of your career working out of a half-dilapidated building as your only employee, doing illegal shit left and right in the name of getting the job done.
"Anyone know her password on this thing?" K asked, motioning to her computer.
And he would swear that every set of eyes went to him right that second. Expectant.
Like they figured he knew her better than anyone. Which was, well, an overestimation. If he were to choose someone in the office who likely knew her best, he would likely say Kane, who she was much more easy and open around. But Kane wasn't around, and he had been the one, after all, to drag them all out of bed because of her getting hurt, which meant he was with her at an indecent hour of the morning. Which meant they figured shit was going down. Even though he did explain in the call to Xander that he had just shown up because it was when he got in, and he wanted to see about the case.
A lie?
Yes.
A necessary one?
He thought so.
"Fuck if I know."
"Not her or her father's name. Any other close relatives?"
"Biyen?" Enzo suggested, that being the extent of his knowledge of her life, something he realized he needed to remedy as soon as possible.
"Nope," K said, shrugging. "Glad she's too smart for that shit. Pets? Mother's maiden name? Interests? Anything?"
"Dunno. She's got all this Native shit at her place. Rain dance pictures, headdresses, dreamcatchers..."
"Hah," K said a minute later after his tapping stopped. A small smile pulled at his lips. "Interesting."
"What is?" Gabe asked, flipping through the papers in a folder on her desk.
"Her password. Very telling. And no," he said, giving the room a raised brow look, "I am not telling you fucks what it is. Though, I suspect you'll find out on your own eventually," he went on, looking at Enzo with a glance that seemed to relay a lot of depth, seemed to cover a lot of ground. He had an odd feeling that he and K were going to have words about it eventually, though whether that was pure paranoia or something else entirely was up for debate.
"Alright, well what was she looking at all day yesterday?" Xander asked. "She barely got up from that desk."
K clicked around for a second, brows somewhat knitted in concentration, and maybe a little confusion. "Construction materials?" he asked, looking between Enzo and Xander for an explanation.
And Xander, in turn, looked at Enzo.
"Fuck if I know. She didn't say shit to me about construction materials. Maybe she was just curious."
She seemed like someone who did that kinda thing, got her interest piqued, then looked into shit. She struck him as someone who liked to know things, who liked being ahead of the game. Because, quite frankly, one of her biggest driving forces seemed to be the desire to come up on top, to win, to prove herself.
Why? He wasn't sure.
But it was yet another thing he planned to figure out about her.
You know, as soon as they figured out who almost killed her.
"Alright, this PAED," Xander said, looking up at us. "Which is pronounced like pay-ad, not paid, which would have been kind of ironic. But yeah, that's short for People Against Environmental Destruction. These are the people supposedly threatening the CEO."
"Are they violent?" Faith asked from where she was standing making everyone coffee. "Don't look at me like that, New Guy," she said, giving Enzo a brow raise. "I'm a bartender. It's a knee-jerk reaction. I'm assuming black, like the rest of them?" she asked, obviously already knowing how the rest took their coffee.
"Historically, no," Xander said, accepting the cup when she handed it to him. "In general, they seem to roll out their yoga mats in front of wrecking balls and shit. Get hauled into jail a lot, but not for violent offenses."
"But," Faith asked, handing Enzo his coffee.
"But, there have been a few incidents with offshoots of the main organization who have taken it upon themselves to attack equipment at pipeline builds."
Brian snorted, drawing Enzo's attention. "Can't blame them for doing that," he explained. "No sane person wants those fuckers built. I'm assuming the only clashes are with CEOs or the police who drag them in?"
"Mostly the CEOs and reps and foremen. They drop their weapons when the cops come to break it up. They seem pretty on-message most of the time, even if violence isn't usually a part of PAED."
"Are threats a thing?" Enzo asked, confused more so than he had been an hour before. It had just fit so perfectly. Threats, followed by an attack. That made sense logistically.
That being said, maybe that should have been the red flag. Maybe that was where his street brain should have clicked off, and his detective brain should have clicked on. Because when things were too perfect, wasn't that a reason to rethink them, to examine further, to dig deeper? Rarely in life did everything just line up. Not one fucking thing in his life had ever come to him on anything other than a winding, uphill path covered in hot coals, rabid dogs, booby traps, and people intent on doing him harm.
And, from what he could tell, that was true of most peoples' lives.
Nothing just worked out with no muss or fuss.
Shit was always slightly confusing or fucked up.
"Shit," K said, voice muffled, eyes focused on Espen's computer screen, but the exclamation drew everyone else's attention.
This was likely why none of them saw the shadow move across the windows, why no one heard anything until the door flew open.
He didn't need to look to know.
She had figured him out.
"Shoulda told her," Faith said under her breath.
"Oh, fuck," Xander hissed as she stepped inside, showing everyone the extent of her beating.
Somehow it looked even worse in the more harsh lighting at the office. Or maybe time was just doing its thing and setting the bruises in deeper. Whatever it was, her eye and throat were vivid purple and blue with a healthy dose of yellow as well. The eye was more swollen underneath. The cut looked bright red against her paler-than-usual skin, the butterfly bandages with a hint of red, like maybe she had opened the cut up in her sleep without realizing. Her body was curled half to the side, taking some of her confident swagger away in the name of easing the screaming bruises to her ribs.
But even battered and mildly broken, she seemed fierce and capable. Her dark eyes were spitting fire. Her jaw was set to stone. And her voice when she spoke, though it croaked like she was a lifetime fan of gargling jagged stones, was strong, threatening.
"Seriously?" she asked, looking right at Enzo.
"Honey..."
"Don't honey me, honey," she snapped, making him have to work to keep his lips from quirking up, realizing she had spat the same thing at him the day he met her. "You assembled a makeshift superhero squad to take on my case?"
"I believe it is our case," he defended, going for logical, knowing she would run out of steam fast trying to fight him on something fact-based. "I made a decision to bring in reinforcements."
"And instead of bringing in, say, Ra or Kane, you brought in not only our boss - who we are trying to impress with our investigative skills, if you remember - but all his friends as well."
"Espen, you seen a mirror yet?" Xander asked, lips tipped inappropriately up. He had a sort of dark sense of humor most of the time, finding amusement in things most normal, well-adjusted people wouldn't. Which likely came from a lifetime splashing around in the gutters.
"Sorry I'm not pretty enough for you today, Xander. I had a rough night."
"That you should have told me about."
"I figured when I showed up in the morning looking like this, I would fill you in. There was no need to drag you or your friends out of bed at five in the morning to talk about it." The last part was said directly at Enzo.
If he wasn't mistaken, he saw a hint of betrayal there. And, to be honest, he had earned that. He knew she wouldn't want him to do what he did, but he went ahead and did it anyway. He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting soft and sweet from Espen again anytime soon.
But if it meant they got the bastard who roughed her up, he was willing to take the setback. He had a feeling he might need to use his long game with her.
"Look, Espen," K said in that deep, rich voice of his, drawing everyone's attention. "I don't know you. You don't know me. But I know a fuckuva lot about proud women. One thing that seems always to follow when a proud woman gets herself into a sticky situation, is she tends to get herself killed. Now, the problem here being, when I tell proud women such as yourself this fact - and it is a fact - they usually ignore me, tell me I am being an alarmist, or that I wouldn't say the same thing to a man, what-the-fuck-ever they need to say so they don't have to let go of that hubris and accept help that they desperately need."
"I have a lot of respect for what you do, K, but you don't know me."
"I know all about you, babe. Rokudan belt is a great fucking accomplishment, but it don't mean dick if you're too hurt to fight back. You and I both know that. Even a Judan belt holder can get his ass handed to him if he's favoring his ribs. Martial arts are important, but so is knowing your limits."
"Listen," Faith said when Espen's chin stayed lifted. "I get it. These guys go all growly and slip into alpha 'protect the woman' mode. It's obnoxious. You and I both know that on a good day, you can more than take care of yourself. But you're not having a good day. And they, if you know anything about any of them, are not going to give in. They're on this now. It will just sap your already spent energy to keep sniping at them. Just kick back, ice those ribs, pitch in when they're being stupid - which they will be. That's partly why I'm here too. Gotta even out all that damn testosterone occasionally. And otherwise, just let them find the guy."
"Why? So they can kick his ass? That's my right."
It happened so fast that you would have missed it if you weren't watching the two women so closely.
Faith planted her feet, cocked back an arm, and swung.
Espen, even with only one good eye, saw it coming, swung out across her body to grab Faith's wrist, and shove the arm away. But with her arm only half-extended, she let out a cry of pain that dropped her to her knees.
He got that she was making a point - maybe even a much-needed one - but as he passed her to reach down to Espen who couldn't get back to her feet from that position, he sent Faith a hard look.
"I can..." Espen objected when he moved to wrap an arm around her lower back, determined to save face.
"No, you can't," he said, tone soft, eyes even softer, as he sank his fingers into the hollow of her hip to start pulling her up slowly.
Despite her objections, by the time her feet planted, her hands were sinking into his biceps, her fingernails pressing crescents into his skin, trying desperately to hold on as her ribs screamed.
He lowered his mouth down by her ear so no one else would overhear. "Take a breath, baby," he told her, trying to ignore the way her body shivered slightly when his breath hit her ear. He was close enough to feel her chest expand then release. "There you go."
"E, why don't you help her back..."
"I'm not handicapped!" Espen nearly shrieked, showing perhaps for the first time just how frazzled, worn-out, she was. A well-rested, not in pain Espen never would show her weaknesses like that to others, especially not her boss and his friends.
"No," Enzo agreed. "But you can't hobble it all the way back to the subway like this, and I got a car. So, he's just being logical here."
Her gaze went to him, sending him a mix of relief and resentment. The latter, he was choosing to ignore, focusing instead on the former, knowing that she was not in good shape, that she needed more sleep, some ice, time to heal.
"Fine," she snapped. "But I want you guys to keep me updated as you find things out."
"I got your number," Xander agreed as Enzo led her toward the door, opening it for her with a big grin as she small-eyed him for doing so.
"Go on, let it out," he encouraged as they rounded the bend toward Gabe's lot where his car was stashed.
"Let what out?" she asked as he bleeped the locks to his car, going to her side to open the door.
"The string of curses I know you've been holding in since you woke up."
"That was really shitty, Enzo. You shouldn't have gone behind my fucking back like that. On this case, you and I were supposed to be partners. And you go running off on your own without consulting me. That was not cool."
His stomach dropped slightly at the rawness in her tone, something she never showed him before. His hand rose, his fingers snagging her chin gently. "Bad move, huh?"
"Really bad move," she agreed, voice firm, but she didn't try to pull her chin away, something he was going to go right ahead and read into.
"I wasn't trying to fuck you over. I just wanted to get a handle on this before it went any more sideways than it already was. You need to take care of yourself, Espen. Especially since you won't let anyone else do it for you."
"I don't want anyone thinking that I can't take care of myself," she admitted, perhaps giving him more than she ever had willingly before.
"Honey, anyone who has known you for two minutes knows you don't need anyone. But that doesn't mean you can't let others help you when you're down for the count. We all lean on others sometimes."
"I shouldn't be leaning on my boss."
"I'm not talking about Xander, Espen. I'm talking about me."
"My competition."
"Someone who gives a shit about you," he shot back.
"You shouldn't."
"Yet, I do," he said, with a shrug, moving his finger out to stroke over her cheek. "So, if your stubborn ass will let me, I am going to get you back to your apartment that you should never have left in the first place."
"Fine," she said, feigning anger, but they both knew it was false as she grabbed his arm so she could lower herself down into the seat.
As he drove her home, he wondered if maybe it hadn't been a mistake after all. Because in dragging her out, and having her be forced to acknowledge her weaknesses, she had let her guards down a bit. She had opened up.
And he, well, he was going to go ahead and take advantage of that for as long as it lasted. He figured if he could get in, prove he wasn't going to hurt her, then maybe, just maybe, he could stay in.
Maybe they could truly start something.
"Oh, just take it," he said when they pulled up to her building and she gave a raised brow look to his outstretched hand when he opened her car door. "You know you can't get out of that low seat without it," he added, making her let out a grumble as she slid her fingers into his waiting hand, and let herself be helped.
"So do you think you can manage to..." he started as they stepped off the elevator, but trailed off at what was in front of him.
An open door.
Her open door.
"Can't imagine you were in such a rush to chop off my balls that you forgot to close, let alone lock, your doors. Slow up," he said, grabbing her hand when she went to rush past him toward the door in question, always seeming to forget that she wasn't in tip-top shape right then. "It's not a 'I'm a man' thing," he added, pressing her back against the wall. "It's an 'I'm an able-bodied person' thing. Just hold up, and let me look around for a second. I promise if the fuck is still here, I'll hold him down so you can beat the shit out of him," he added with a smirk as he moved toward the door and slipped inside.
It wasn't ransacked.
There was just the same clutter that was there when he left. But there were signs of scratches around the keyhole - telltale signs of a lock pick kit. And there were a couple footprints on the floor that were slightly muddy. True, they could have been his from earlier, but, well, let's face it, Enzo was too much of a neat freak in general to leave muddy footprints in his own house, let alone someone else's.
He moved through the bedroom, to the bath, seeing no one, seeing no signs of anything being off.
Whoever was there, they were long gone.
And whatever they were after, it wasn't Espen's expensive TV, stereo system, or the jewelry on her nightstand that looked real.
No, he realized as he made his way back out of the bathroom, what they were after... was likely Espen herself.
Maybe they wanted payback for her hurting them.
Or maybe they were worried she was a loose end that needed some tying.
Whatever the reason, whatever the motive, one thing was clear - she wasn't safe to be in her apartment until they all figured out who the fucker was.
So, on that thought, he went into her closet, grabbing a bag, and stuffing random pieces of her wardrobe into it. Thankfully, she seemed to dress in blacks, gray, and white, so it didn't matter what he picked, it would all match. He reached into her intimates drawer, grabbing a handful of whatever was in it, and stuffing it in on top before closing it, then moving back out to the hall.
"Damn," she said, sounding genuinely disappointed that they hadn't caught someone in the act. She probably was. She was just that kind of woman. And he was more than happy about that fact. "Why do you have my bag?"
"Because you can't stay here. Don't," he said when she went to open her mouth to object. "Apparently, this asshole has a grudge and wants even more blood than he already got from you. Like it or fucking lump it, honey, I'm not letting that shit happen on my watch."
There was what might have been considered a sigh, but it lost its effect because she ended up coughing because of the deep breath, then letting out a whimper when the cough sent off shockwaves of pain. "I guess I can stay with Biyen. I know, I just fucking know his ass is going to call my dad, but... what?" she asked when he shook his head at her.
"You're not going to stay with your cousin. I don't know him from Adam, and he might be perfectly capable of taking care of you, but I'm not sure about that. And I need to be pretty fucking sure."
Her eyes went a little small at that. "Why do I get the feeling that you aren't saying I should go stay at a very safe, very anonymous hotel?"
"Because you're going to be crashing with me until you are in fighting shape again."
"Um... no, I'm not."
He knew this was shaky ground. If he indulged her in the seemingly wanted argument, he knew he would likely lose. She was just too damn stubborn. But that stubbornness did work in his favor in one way, didn't it? She always wanted to win.
And he had one last card up his sleeve.
"Aw, what's the matter, baby?" he asked, smile going a little wicked. "Don't think you can control yourself around me for that long?"
Her eyes sparked.
She didn't even need to speak for him to know he won.
She just had no idea she had lost.
She thought the actual game was being able to stay away from him.
And while, yes, he knew he would be dealing with that, and while he absolutely was still interested in more than protective or work relations with her, he knew that was going to have to wait.
He didn't want it if it came from exhaustion, pain, a need for a little comfort and kindness after a really shitty situation.
He wanted it for real, or he didn't want it at fucking all.
"Oh, please," she said, attempting an eye roll that would have been more effective had she had two eyes to do it with, as it was, it was actually kinda funny, but he pressed his lips together to keep from getting in a fight. "Get over yourself, Enzo. You're good looking, but you're not that good looking."
At that, he couldn't help the smile that broke free.
Because they both knew she was lying.
She wanted on, case closed.
But he appreciated having to work for it.
She had no idea that she had just created a challenge for him as well.
And he could be every goddamn bit as stubborn as she was.
"Then we don't have a problem, right?" he asked, already halfway, he knew, to victory.
"Nope. Not at all," she agreed.