Once the two cops started showing back up around Florida after a few months of lying low, Romero had Jaime and I begin the long journey of making them . . . disappear . . . in a way that couldn’t come back on the family. It would have been a perfect time for me to try and get out. But Jaime and Marco had taken over the family and were stricter than the originals had been. A week before we were supposed to do the hit, one of the pigs got a girl, and everything changed. Jaime was sent to watch the cops, and I was to track the girl’s every move.

Over the next four months, that’s exactly what I’d done.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t just tracked her every move. I’d fucking fallen for her. A girl who, at the time, I’d never spoken to. And now . . . a girl who would always hate me.

9

Kash

JUMPING OUT OF MY TRUCK, I put my hood up and kept my head low. I was well known in this part of town, as was Mason, starting back before we’d been made while we were with Juarez’s crew. People knew us for the gangs we had been in, and now people knew us because we were in the gang unit.

For the most part, the residents around here were cool with us. They knew our background, and knew that we tried to help them when shit went bad around here. Which was pretty much all the time. But that didn’t mean they didn’t start alerting the entire damn neighborhood that cops were nearby when they saw us either.

Looking around to make sure activity looked normal, I waited until I spotted the lookouts. When I was sure they were going about business as usual, not noticing me, and people weren’t running into their houses, I took off through an alley behind me. Turning on Second Street, I walked and rounded the corner at Maple before slowing down. Just before I hit Third Street, I ducked my head even lower and looked to the left as I brought my right hand up the back of my head and over. Just as I hit my forehead, I paused and tapped twice with my index finger before dropping my arm and continuing my slow walk.

Not more than four steps later, another pair of feet came up next to me.

“What up?”

I snuck a quick glance and tried not to smile to myself. Shawn. Little, gangly Shawn. Exactly the kid I’d been hoping for. I fucking hated that they were sending him out to confirm their deals, but at least he would scare easy.

“Nice night, yeah? Lots of stars out.” His voice shook as he looked back and forth.

I knew this game, and I knew it well. “If nights are what you’re into.”

Shawn tried to look in my hood at my response, and I dipped my head lower. “Yo, man. I think you’re on the wrong street if you’re looking for something else. The walkers are on Seventh.”

“Street’s right. I’m just not looking for stars, understood?”

“All we got are the stars out here, ya feel? I think you best find your way home.” He started to turn around, so I hurried to make my request.

“No price tonight. I don’t want stars. I want to see the Sun.”

“Sun’s not out, ya know?”

“I’m sure the Sun will make an exception.” Turning my head toward him, I quieted my voice so it wouldn’t carry over the street. “You say my name out loud, or you make me, I put Sunny and his boys away for this operation they got going on. And since you’re out here setting up drug deals, then that means you’d go down too. If you cooperate, then I don’t say a fucking word. Got me, Shawn?” His body started to tense so I spoke quickly. “You alert a lookout, and you’re all in prison, I’m not playing around. I want. To see. The Sun.”

Shawn worked at relaxing his body and turned to face me as he pulled his phone out. I lifted my head enough that he could see my face, but not so much that anyone watching us would be able to. His eyes widened momentarily, but he did a good job at remaining calm and searching through his contact list.

“I help you,” he said so soft I almost didn’t hear him. “I got your word I don’t go down for trying to sell to a jackbooted thug?”

I snorted. “As long as all of you cooperate. I came alone. Sunny’s boys can check me for wires inside. Now make the call.”

“Whatcha coming ’round here for anyway, Kash?” he asked as he lifted the phone to his ear and looked around the street.

“Don’t say my name out here. Just get me in to see him.”

Nodding, he waited until someone answered. “No stars, he wants to see the Sun. That’s what I said, but he said the Sun will make an exception”—he lowered his voice—“and I really think the Sun should, ya feel? Yeah. Yeah.”

“Tell them,” I prompted him, and Shawn looked at me like I was insane. “Tell them, but don’t say my name.”

“It’s K-money. Understood? Came alone, prepared to leave without words to others, but he wants to see the Sun.” He jerked his head in the direction of the house, and we began walking toward it. “Yeah, we comin’.”

As soon as we hit the steps to the house, I unzipped my hoodie and stopped when we reached the door. It opened, Shawn and I stepped in, and as soon as the door shut behind us, I raised my hands in the air and instantly had three of Sunny’s men around me.

“All that’s on me is the duty weapon in the holster on my right hip.”

Taking my hoodie off, lifting my shirt, patting me down, and disarming me. All were routine when coming onto their territory the way I was, and all were what I’d been prepared for. I waited quietly as they went through all their necessary steps of making sure I wasn’t wearing a wire, before they reluctantly handed my gun back to me and stepped away.

After I’d reholstered, I kept my hoodie off, partly because it was hot as shit outside and in the house, and also because I knew it would help keep Sunny’s boys calm if they could see my weapon.

“Shawn said no stars?” one of Sunny’s boys, RJ, asked.

“No stars.”

“Not wearing a wire, and don’t want stars, why you here?”

“What, I can’t come around just to check up on you? See how your night is going?” I sneered and looked away. “I need to talk to Sunny. That’s all you need to know for now.”

Just then the door to the back of the house opened and Sunny walked out. Sunny wasn’t a big guy by any means, he was shorter than me by a good five inches, and didn’t have as much bulk on him. But this motherfucker was terrifying. It wasn’t the tattoos, because, well, honestly, I’m sure I had more than he did. It wasn’t the scar that ran down the left side of his face from his temple to his jaw that he’d received in a deal gone wrong years back. And it wasn’t his near-black eyes, which made him look dark and demonic and completely contradicted his name. It was all of it mixed in with this alpha-male, badass leader vibe he had that made men terrified to fuck with him.

Too bad I kinda thought I was a badass too. So instead of cowering when he walked into the room, I straightened and raised an eyebrow at him. We both eyed each other before cracking smiles and reaching out to shake hands and pull each other in.

“Hoping this is a good visit, Detective. K-money, huh? That was a good one, Shawn, quick. I’m impressed.” Sunny took a step back and crossed his arms. “Why do I have the unfortunate pleasure of having you hide out on my street, Kash?”

I smirked and matched his stance. “As I told Shawn, I won’t say a word about you, your men, your operation, or being here as long as you all cooperate. I just need to speak with you, I need a few favors.”

“And why would I do anything for you? I know your history, as far as I know, you’re back in the game of bringing crews down.”

“You and I both know I didn’t bring crews down. I stopped dealers. If that’s what you’re afraid of, like I said, I’m not here for that. I’ll leave here acting like I don’t know what’s happening in this house and with your crew.”

He laughed and brought his arms out before crossing them again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Stars, Sunny, really?”

Nodding his head to one of his men, they all began laughing as the guy walked over with a plate full of cookies in the shape of stars.

I glanced up at the man holding the plate before turning to level my glare at Sunny. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be playing me right now. You do me this favor, then I’ll turn a blind eye to your operation. But don’t make me out to be a fool, Sunny, you know who I am, you know what I’ve done, and you know what I’ll do to you and all your men.”

“Then talk.”

“Alone.”

He studied me for a few minutes, the tension in the room continuing to grow as everyone waited for him to make a decision. Finally, with a nod, he turned toward the door he’d originally walked out of and called over his shoulder, “Let’s go.”

I followed him through the door, down a hall, and through two more rooms before he finally shut a door behind me and shot me a dark look. “The fuck is wrong with you, Kash? You trying to come in here and screw all this up for me? You don’t just walk into my house . . . into my operation . . . into my assignment. Jesus Christ, you could ruin everything by being here.” He gritted his teeth and ran his hands over his head.

“Are you done?” I asked and went to sit in one of the chairs. “I don’t have time for your dramatic fits, Sunny. I really do need your help. I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t crucial, you know that, man.”

Sunny had been in undercover narcotics for closing in on fourteen years. He was the one that had originally gotten Mase and me in with right crowds so we were able to easily slide in with our first crew. I knew he was right, I knew he had every reason to be pissed at me for showing up here. If I’d still been undercover, me showing up on his street while in another crew could have just been grounds for a fight, but as a known detective, it was suspicious on Sunny.