Page 30 of Seeds of Sorrow

Three simple words, and she was fucking undone. For days, her mind had been a jumbled mess, a constant switch between worrying about work and worrying about Peyton. She wanted to make the girl promises she knew she couldn’t keep, tell her that the thing between them could actually work. But every time Hadina allowed herself to get caught up in her fantasy, a message or call would come through and break the trance.

Like right now, as Harris swore down the phone in frustration. “We can’t find a fucking thing, boss. This Regina bitch is a ghost, and all our leads keep coming up dead. A few of the workers down at the docks said there are some special shipments due in, but a whole new staff has been hired to take care of it.”

“This fucking broad,” Hadina groaned, throwing one of her knives into her apartment wall. She thought that coming here would help her focus, but all it did was remind her how empty she felt on her own. “Keep digging, Harris. There has to be something that leads us to her before she gets that shipment. Whether it’s drugs or girls, wehaveto end her before she gets her hands on it. Do you understand me?”

Hadina heard the sound of scuffling before a gunshot echoed through the speaker. “I got it, boss, loud and clear. We’ll find this bitch.”

The line cut off and Hadina threw her phone onto the sofa, rubbing her temples. She could sense a tension headache forming, though she wasn’t sure that the dull ache had fully disappeared. Every day, more stress was added to her plate and it was becoming harder to pretend she didn’t feel the pressure.

It didn’t help that she had a barrage of texts from Piper, harassing her to go to the gallery event tomorrow. It wasn’t even that she didn’t want to go—she’d do anything to support her little sister—but there was a seed of fear planted in her gut, threatening to take root if she didn’t find and stop Regina.

Hadina had ended many operations during her years at Adis & Co.but there was something increasingly worrying about the anonymity that Regina had around her. It shouldn’t have been possible for her to be a ghost, not with the resources that Hadina had at her disposal. And yet, nobody could find anything out about this woman. It made Hadina uneasy and she detested that.

“No se que hacer,” she mumbled to herself with a sigh. She didn’t know what she was going to do.

She couldn’t remember feeling so out of control since Zellie had tried to undermine their father and take over the company. Zelina had believed their father to be weak, too unwilling to get his hands dirty to get what they wanted. Hadina found it humorous, considering they murdered people regularly, and if that wasn’t considered getting your hands dirty, then she didn’t know what was.

The rule was no criminal activity that wasn’t absolutely necessary. That meant no drugs, trafficking of any kind, murder of the innocent; it was all off-limits. Adis representatives were supposed to tip the balance in favor of the good, help those who couldn’t help themselves. They only went after the worst of the worst, and they had a ton of people working for them onbothsides of the law. None of the employees were good people, not after what they did for a career, but they tried to atone for it where they could.

Zellie had wanted to blur the line that they had promised never to cross. Meeting with dealers and suppliers, she had convinced herself that workingwiththem would build bridges within criminal networks and allow Adis & Co. access to worse targets than those in their sights.

Hadina had been furious when she learned of her sister’s plans, disbelief filling her system as she tried to understand why Zellie would be okay with slinging hardcore drugs and creating more harm in the process. But then her fury had turned to despair. The betrayal and secrecy of Zellie’s actions had caused an irreparable rift, and while their father had forgiven her and moved on, Hadina would never be able to get past it.

Now, as she slumped on the sofa with her head on the wall, Hadina couldn’t help but remember the sting of her sister’s betrayal. She hoped desperately that the nagging feeling in her gut was nothing more than misplaced anxiety. She didn’t think she could cope with another betrayal.

* * *

“Your girl is a hottie,”Kaira said as she stormed into the apartment, dumping a bag of Chinese takeaway on the coffee table in front of them.

Hadina rolled her eyes. “I should never have given you the code to get in here. And also—she’s notmygirl.”

Kaira ignored the comment and grabbed plates from the kitchen, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. “Bitch, we’ve been friends for years. I know you like her.”

Hadina shrugged and tore into a spring roll. She bit down on the pastry and spoke around her mouthful of food. “That’s beside the point. I don’t do relationships.”

Scooping some chow mein on her plate, Kaira snorted. “You don’t do anything but work. It’s unhealthy and the lack of pussy is probably why you’re such an asshole all the time.”

Mouth agape, Hadina stared at her friend. “You did not just say that. You realize I literally kill people for a living, right? You can’t talk to me like that.”

Kaira looked up, her lip trembling momentarily before she burst into a fit of laughter. “I fucking dare you. You’d be distraught without my wit brightening up your life.”

Hadina shook her head, lifting her plate so she could rest comfortably on the sofa while she ate. It had been a while since she’d actually hung out with Kaira, so she felt like she had to say yes when Kaira asked her if they could have dinner together. Hadina wasn’t a good friend, her inattentiveness borderline rude, but Kaira had stuck around for years and knew her well enough to not expect anything more.

Hadina did occasionally feel guilty about it though.

“Anyway,” she said after she swallowed her piece of salt and chili chicken. “How do you know she’s ahottie?”

“Piper brought her to the store today. They needed dresses for the event tomorrow.”

Hadina’s brows furrowed. Neither Piper nor Peyton had said that they were hanging out, and Piper certainly hadn’t mentioned that she’d invited Peyton to the gallery event.

“Oh. I hadn’t realized they were friends. “

Kaira’s grin was devious. “Are we jealous, darling? Worried that sweet little PeyPey will like Piper better than you?”

“Zorra,” Hadina growled. “I’m not jealous.”

“Tell that to the green monster on your shoulder.” Kaira laughed. “Speaking of green, I made Pip her dream dress and she looks like a vision.”

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