Page 15 of Corrupted Sinner

Okay, let’s not think of “dead”. Get back to the car, then get my shit together. That’s the plan.

It was a ten-minute hike back to the car. Ten minutes of keeping my feet moving while trying to convince my stomach to stop moving.

“What the hell, Greta?” Deo snapped the moment we reached the car. I threw my hand onto the hood to keep me steady.

“’Hot and twisted’ drove in with a bunch of body parts in his trunk. They dumped them in drums of acid.”

“’Hot and twisted’?” Deo asked, lips tugging up in amusement.

“Yeah, that’s the important part here.” I rolled my eyes.

But Gabe’s brow was furrowed. “You’ve seen plenty of bad shit, Greta. What’s going on?”

I bet I’d gone three shades paler and probably a little green around the edges.

“It’s stupid,” I said, tentatively taking my hand off the car, “and I’m not sure I can explain it. It wasn’t the bodies—I’m fine with dead bodies. But those fuckers are making it so it’s like their victims never even existed. They’re playing fucking God. Rewriting history. It’s not exactly worse than some of the other stuff we’ve seen, but it’s… different.”

I shook my head, feeling like the words weren’t coming out right—not a problem I had often.

“Wrong on a whole new level?” Deo asked.

I nodded. “It must be what they’re doing to the victims of the families who don’t pay.”

Deo sighed. “I miss the good old days when we sold guns and drugs, and all we had to worry about was the occasional turf war.”

Gabe smiled. “Tommy guns and horse heads?”

I rolled my eyes. “What are you guys, like, eighty?"

Deo threw an arm around my shoulders. “Sometimes, I feel like it.”

“All right, so aside from a little nauseated, where does this leave us?” I asked.

“What you saw means our intel was wrong,” Gabe said, shaking his head. “We were expecting to find the people they’re holding for ransom here, not bodies.”

“We can’t just walk away from this,” I said, hearing the hesitation in his voice. Nauseous or not, no way was I ready to throw in the towel here.

Gabe looked up at Deo. I could feel the silent exchange going on between them.

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “Gabriel Costa, if you do that silent man talk thing one more time, I swear I’m going to shoot you.”

He smiled. “I’m just thinking that if we want to go ahead with this, your role’s going to be bigger than we’d thought.”

I could live with that. “What are you thinking?”

“Thecapo’sgot a girlfriend, right?”

I nodded. “Long-term girlfriend, at least a year… if our information is correct.”

“A year’s a long time. Chances are the girlfriend knows a bit. That could be useful as a way to at least cross-check our intel. And even if she knows nothing, you befriending her gives us a reason to be here beyond a business deal.”

“Getting buddy-buddy with the capo’s princess? It doesn’t sound like my favorite thing to do, but I suppose there’s one perk. At least in this role, I get to keep all my clothes on.”

Deo smiled. “You never know. If Domínguez’s girlfriend is into you, I’m totally okay with the two of you taking your clothes off.”

“No doubt,” I said, letting my voice drip with disdain. Not that I was totally opposed. But still, couldn’t have Deo wandering around with fantasies of naked pillow fights stuck in his head. He’d be even more useless than normal.

Chapter Six

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