Page 30 of Ten

“Or to keep their families safe,” Nicky remarked. “If Kiki still has friends on the outside, he could have touched a guard’s family.”

“Someone killed Dancing Bear tonight. If that murder is tied to Kiki, he still has contacts out here,” Ten reasoned. “If he has contacts doing his dirty work, this gets complicated very fast.”

“I already talked to Diego. He says that there’s no support for Kiki from the Hermanos or the cartel.”

“Do you believe him?” Ten hadn’t had many chances to get a good feel for the young kid now running all of the cartel’s business through Houston.

“As much as I do any pepper belly.”

Ten winced at the slur but didn’t call him out on it. There was no point with these older guys who were set in their ways.

“What about Adrian?”

Ten suppressed the jolt of panic that name inspired. “What about him?”

“He went missing after you killed Tony,” Nicky reminded him unnecessarily. “Maybe he’s back.”

“No, he’s not.” Ten knew that with absolute certainty.

“How do you know?”

“I just do.” Ten really didn’t want to talk about this with Nicky. He barely liked talking about it with Artyom and Kostya, the other men who had been there the night it all went to hell.

“Uh-huh,” Nicky murmured unconvinced. “Well, you should get rid of her Jeep until Kiki is caught.”

Glad for the change of topic, Ten nodded. “I was thinking about that on the drive over here.”

“Orange!” Nicky clicked his teeth. “I don’t know what possessed that girl to pick that color!”

“It’s a happy color.”

Nicky scowled at him. “It’s obnoxious.” His gaze moved suddenly to the floor near Ten’s feet. “Like that evil beast right there.”

Ten glanced down and found Wilford rubbing against his jeans, leaving white hair on the denim. He frowned but decided this was better than being scratched.

“You best get on out of here before those assholes out front decide to try peeking in the windows.” Nicky eyed Wilford with distrust. “Let my niece know I’m staying the night here at her place.”

“Alone?” Ten didn’t like that idea.

“Yes. Alone.” Nicky acted affronted. “Son, I may be old enough to be your daddy, but I can defend myself and my family.”

“I didn’t mean—.” His phone vibrated, and he retrieved it from his pocket.

“Problem?” Nicky asked as Ten answered the message.

“Kostya. Checking in.”

“Remind him he owes me for the poker seat I gave up for that judge he bought.” Nicky glowered. “And I don’t mean cash.”

Ten did just that. “He responded with a thumbs up.”

“Yeah. He’s been sitting around with his thumb up his ass alright,” Nicky muttered.

Ten smiled and typed that right back. Seconds later, Nicky’s phone rang. He glared at Ten. “Did you—?”

“Come on, Wilford. Time to go.”

Nicky shot him the finger as he answered Kostya’s call. Ten laughed and then took a chance, crouching down and swooping Wilford right up off the floor. The cat stiffened and yowled but didn’t try to escape.

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