Page 47 of Scarlett Thief (Criminal Underground 2)

"Yeah," Hadrian agreed. "Whoever this Mr. Black is, he knew exactly how to get the three of us to dance to his fucking tune." His expression and tone both grew darker.

"Everyone has weaknesses to exploit." Wolf grabbed the bottle from the table. The movements of his throat as he drank transfixed me, only releasing me when he stopped.

Hadrian groaned, his eyes seeming to flicker until they were mere slits. He didn't reach for the bottle again. "They got me through my clients," he admitted, shocking me. "I should've known better. I should've had a better system set up. I didn't think any of it would lead back to me. At least, now I've learned a lesson. They won't be able to track me like that again." No one spoke for the longest time and then Hadrian twisted his head in Wolf's direction. “What about you?”

I watched Wolf's face tense. His fingers hovered over the top of the bottle as it rested on the corner of the table. Without thinking, I reached out and snatched it away from his reach, lifting it to my lips and letting some of the fire touch my tongue once more. Cool, hazy eyes met mine and held them. “It’s complicated,” he said.

I shrugged. “Isn’t all of this bullshit?” I asked. “Our fucking lives are on the line and we have to trust each other, it’s…” What could I say? It was different for sure, but it was more than that, it was scary. Terrifying. At the same time, there was something about these two men—something that made me almost grateful. Anyone else would have tossed me to the wolves the second I became a problem, and tonight, I’d been more than a problem; I’d been a liability. I downed another mouthful of alcohol and blinked back tears.

Wolf seemed to contemplate it, his eyes roving over my face before sliding to where Hadrian sat. “Have you ever had something that you would give your life to protect?” he asked quietly.

Maybe for some people, it was an easy question, but not so much for me. I thought about it, pressing my lips together to keep from forcing more alcohol in my mouth. The answer to his question was painful. It made me remember things like stale motel rooms, blood on old carpet, and a young boy barely growing out of his adolescence—one who would never know what it was to be a man. It made my eyes burn for a completely different reason.

“Freedom,” I said quietly. “That would’ve been my initial answer.” I could feel their eyes on me—both Wolf’s and Hadrian’s. “But honestly, I don’t know. I don’t have any connections, and after tonight … well, let’s just say I think the reality of our jobs just hit me.” Being a criminal in the seedy underbelly of humanity was difficult. As much as it was rewarding—the challenge, the excitement, the money—it was also dangerous. I didn’t want to die leaving nothing behind. No connections. No one who would miss me, no piece of myself. My lips trembled as I forced those words out. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the intimacy of the flat and the fact that without these two, I would’ve been sent straight back into the hell I’d escaped years before. I knew if Jaxson got his hands on me, there would be more than a few bruises to deal with. I was grateful and weak. I wasn’t either of those things very often, but tonight, right now, I was incredibly vulnerable to those feelings.

I couldn't say for how long Wolf stared at me, but after what felt like an eternity, he dropped his head and reached into his back pocket. "Connections…” he said as he withdrew his wallet. “I understand exactly what you mean. I was the same way until a few years ago.”

“What happened a few years ago?” Hadrian inquired, taking the booze from my grasp and tipping it back against his lips. The room felt hazy and I had a feeling that it was the same for all of us. We were all in this well of vulnerability and it was normally dangerous, but I supposed when you spent years protecting yourself and being on guard when it came down even just a smidge, somehow, it just came crashing down.

“Her name's Miranda..." Wolf said. The feminine name made me stiffen until he kept going. "She likes the color yellow, and Christmas is her favorite holiday." He pulled out a picture and held it up, flipping it between Hadrian and me. Hadrian's eyes blew open and he sat forward.

"You have a daughter?" he demanded as I set the bottle down and wiped the back of my mouth.

Holy shit, I hadn't expected that at all.

Wolf snorted. "As if the great Diablo didn't know?"

Hadrian worked a moment more to keep a straight face, but it didn't hold. He laughed and sat back. "Yeah, okay, you're right," he said. "I knew."

"Then why the shock?" Wolf growled. "If you knew."

Hadrian shrugged. "Didn't want to give out my hand, man," he said. "Besides, I thought it'd make Scarlett feel better."

Because I hadn't known. "I never..." My voice trailed off as I reached for the picture. Wolf let it go without a fight. "A daughter..."

Holy fucking shit.I couldn't seem to think beyond that.

The picture wasn't old. In fact, from what I could make out from the paper and the timestamp on the back right hand corner, it was only a few months old, but already, the small image was well worn. Folded, with a harder line in the middle, there were wear marks in the upper right hand front, as if Wolf had spent time just looking at it and rubbing his thumb along the corner. The girl in the picture was young—couldn't have been more than three or four years old—but she was beautiful. Wide smile. Small teeth, a lollipop stick sticking out of her mouth—it made me smile. Big childish eyes and cherub round cheeks. It almost hurt to look at her. I swallowed around a lump in my throat and handed the image back to him.

"Her mom?" I asked hesitantly.

Wolf took the photo and folded it back up, sticking it in his wallet and then back in his pocket before answering. "Not around," he said. "And also not up for discussion." He looked pointedly at Hadrian, who lifted his hands in defense.

"Hey, man," Hadrian said, "bro code. I don't know anything."

"Yeah, sure, asshole." Wolf's tone made it obvious he didn't trust our hacker friend.

My chest clenched. Silence descended between the three of us and for a long moment, I thought about leaving it alone. I'd called Hadrian a friend—sure it'd only been in my mind, but I didn't call anyone a friend. I didn’t have friends. I had allies. I had contacts. The three of us were virtually strangers. All this sharing and caring bullshit was getting to me, though.Nothing good could come from confiding in them,I told myself. I had to be careful what I said, what I revealed, and yet … Wolf had just shown us his biggest weakness.A child? In our world?It was practically impossible. And far too dangerous to tell people he hardly knew.Unless there’s a reason he’s comfortable with it?I couldn't figure out what reason that would be, though.

I licked my lips, debating. Before I'd even finished my decision, however, the words were already falling out of my lips, moving as if they were owed to these two men before me.

"My dad was a criminal," I said, staring at the floor even as I sensed their sudden attention. "A thief. A con man. He wasn't much of a dad, but he was a good teacher. That's how I got into this business." My fingers found the hem of my dress and started to mess with it, pulling on the ends until they frayed and then picking those strings apart. "My whole childhood was a series of small towns and big cities. We'd move maybe once a month."

"What about school?" Hadrian sounded far less drunk than he should have.

"I tried for a while," I answered, "but just as I'd get settled, we'd move so I ended up doing tutors and online school mostly. Sometimes—on rare occasions when we'd be in a place for a little longer, I'd go back to a physical school, but that rarely lasted more than four to six weeks. We stopped attempting altogether after I entered high school." I lifted my head and met first Hadrian’s gaze and then Wolf's. I gave them both a small smile. "I wasn't bored, though, and I'm not dumb. I finished my high school curriculum before I turned seventeen. By then, I was running cons on my own without his help."

"That's where you got all your skills," Wolf guessed. "The reading people and the stealing."

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