Page 96 of Loco

I believed him. Not because it was a nice thing to say but because I’d seen what he’d done to make it happen.

“I know,” I murmured, my voice catching a little. I took a breath, about to tell him the one thing that had been sitting on my heart this entire time, the words that had kept me grounded even in the worst of it. “Roque, I?—”

The hallway light flicked on, and Judd’s voice cut in, low but clear. “Sorry to interrupt, but you’re needed in the living room. We’ve got to go over what we know and ask Sayla a few things.”

I turned to follow him, my heart still halfway in my throat, but before I could move, Roque caught my hand. He didn’t say the words exactly, but he looked at me like he saw every unfinished sentence in my eyes.

“I know,” he said softly. “And I feel the same.”

It was enough for now.

We followed Judd through the quiet house, passing by a small dining room and into a cozy but cluttered living room, where Kai and Keir were already seated with Kapono. Papers were spread across the coffee table with maps, photos, and notes scribbled in messy, tired handwriting. The room smelled faintly like coffee and stress.

I sat down on the arm of the couch, folding my arms as the questions began.

I gave them the rundown on how they’d taken us from the house. The way they’d moved—organized like they knew what they were doing. I described the house, the window, and what I knew of the routines. I told them everything I could remember about the men—their voices, their builds, the faint Southern accent one of them had. Every scrap of detail I could dig up from my memory, I gave them.

Kapono leaned forward, arms resting on his knees. “I found Briggs.”

Everyone fell quiet, but I got the feeling that most of them knew this information anyway.

“He’s dead,” Kapono added flatly. “Back on River Road. Someone didn’t want him talking.”

Judd exhaled sharply and rubbed his jaw. “I just got an update on that. The coroner hasn’t finished the autopsy yet, but preliminary’s not pretty. Looks like he was hit across the head—blunt force trauma and then run over.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. I hadn’t liked Briggs, but I didn’t want him dead, not like that.

The room sat in heavy silence for a moment, the weight of it settling over all of us. And I had the sinking feeling this was only the beginning.

“I met Briggs at the house,” I told them, breaking the silence. My voice didn’t shake, but it felt like something cold settled under my skin as I said it. “He came down into the basement with a man who said his name was Vincent Russo.

He was cocky, and you could tell he loved the power of being with them. And then—” I hesitated, the moment still sharp in my mind “—he asked me if I’d ever heard of Titian.”

Every man in the room stilled like I’d dropped a live wire in the middle of the floor.

“That’s what he said. Just— ‘You ever heard of Titian?’” I swallowed. “I told him no. But before I could ask him anything else, Russo turned to him and said, ‘I wish you hadn’t said that.’” I looked around the room at all the sharp glances and unreadable expressions, and the sick feeling twisted tighter in my gut. “That was the moment I knew Briggs wasn’t going to make it out.”

Roque sat forward slowly, elbows resting on his knees, eyes never leaving mine. “You’re sure he said the nameTitian?”

“I’m sure.”

Imogen finally spoke. “We’ve only ever heard whispers of that name. We’ve no confirmed identity, not even a clear alias. Just Titian. Like a ghost story for the people who operate in the dark.”

Judd rubbed a hand down his face. “If someone used the name like that—just dropped it casually—it means they were confident we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Or,” Keir said grimly, “they wanted to make sure weknewwe were in over our heads.”

Roque leaned back again, jaw clenched. “So now we have a dead informant, the mayor, and a possible link to someone supposedly untouchable.”

“Yeah,” I cut in quietly. “And two kids who were nearly pawns in whatever game they’re playing.”

The room went still again. No one argued with that.

Kapono, who’d stayed quiet up to now, finally cleared his throat. “You’re sure this...Titian person wasn’t just a scare tactic?”

“I don’t know what it was,” I replied honestly. “But whatever I saw in Russo’s eyes when Briggs said the name—it wasn’t a bluff. It was a promise.”

None of them said anything, but I could feel something shifting. They all looked at each other like a line had just been crossed, and none of them were sure where it led.

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