Page 85 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 2

Maia coughed. “My best friend is calling you now instead of me. Great. Just great. I’ve lost all control of my life,” she said dryly with a cute little snarl.

Rhodes wove his fingers through her hair as he answered. “Talk to me, Sam. Give me some good news, buddy.”

“Buddy,” Maia mouthed, clearly disgruntled about her fiancé and best friend becoming close.

“Okay, let me put you on speaker,” Rhodes said, then tapped a button on his phone. “Go ahead.”

“My club hunted down the individuals that broke into your studio.” Sam’s voice was a low, dark rumble.

“Did you deliver them to the authorities?” Rhodes asked.

Maia snort-laughed and spilled some of her coffee. “Honey, that’s not how a motorcycle club works.”

“My sister’s correct,” Sam stated flatly. His confirmation carried a hint about what he and his motorcycle club were willing to do, and calling Maia his sister showed how much our Maia meant to the man. This could be good or bad, depending on how Rhodes responded.

“Whatever man, I don’t care. Who did this shit?”

“A team of three low-level street rats. They take on gigs from bigger fish and get paid when the job is done. Only this time, they said it was a woman who’d made the deal. One of the big wigs got a call for a job, accepted payment, then sent out three members of his crew. The only reason they even knew it was a woman is because one of them happened to be there when their boss received the request.”

“Well, can we talk to their boss?” Rhodes asked.

Sam chuckled. “You want to call the Latin Mafia? Do you have a death wish, Davenport?”

“Wait, the Latin Mafia…” Christophe snapped his fingers a few times. “Diego Salazar?” he asked out loud to the room.

“You people know the head of the West Coast Latin Mafia?” Sam asked, very clearly shocked.

“Actually, Mr. Salazar is a lovely man when you get to know him,” I added, reaching for my phone and scrolling to my contacts. “We’ll handle it from here, Sam.”

“Wait, what happened to the three little shits that messed up Maia’s place?” Rhodes growled, still fired up from the news.

“The club handles people who mess with our own. You no longer have to worry about them,” Sam stated.

“But…” Maia reached out and took Rhodes’ hand. She shook her head, sending the message not to dig further into it.

“Thank you, Sam. Tell everyone I’m grateful for the help,” Maia shared.

“You okay, Maia, all the way out there in France? Because if you need me, I’ll store the bike and hitch a ride on a plane, yeah?”

Maia smiled so wide it lit up her entire face. “I’m great. We’re going shopping today, with three shiny new security guards.”

“Excellent. Like hearing you got more protection than you need. Keep me posted.”

“Will do, Sam. And thank you.” Rhodes said.

“I’ll call in a few days,” Maia promised, and they ended the call.

I pressed the button on my phone to make a call of my own to someone I hadn’t anticipated every needing to contact.

He answered on the first ring. “¡Hola!Mrs. Toussiant, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” Diego Salazar asked, with a smooth Spanish accent. The man was terrifying in person but also quite the charmer.

“Bonjour,SeñorSalazar. I do believe I need your help.”

Episode 57

Emotional Blackmail

SUMMER

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