“You’re bringinga novice onto your undercover team?” I asked my cousin, Dante, as we sat in his small office at the state’s headquarters. “She’s green as hell, Dante. She can’t go out in the field and make people believe she’s a part of their drug operation.”
“Why not? She’s young and looks the part.”
“She’s right out of fucking juvie. Of course she’s young. And she was thrown in there for larceny and drug possession, wasn’t she?”
He glanced away. “Attempted larceny, and she was with the wrong crowd. Izzy didn’t have any weapons on her. She was high and didn’t know what was going on. I’ve known her family a long time. They’re my family too. I grew up with them. She needs this. Everyone’s treating her like a baby who can’t handle herself when she’s always been the little engine that could. She just needs someone to believe in her.”
“So we’re putting Albanian drug trafficking in her hands?”
My cousin shoved away from his metal desk and got up to pace. “It’s that or we don’t get shit. They know how we operate on our soil. We need someone green. I swear she’s good. She’s on her way over. You’ll see she’s got enough experience.”
“Yeah, being a drug addict. What if she relapses?” I threw my hands up, concerned that he’d lose someone he considered family by putting her in this position. She could be killed with one wrong step. “Her brain isn’t even fully developed, and we’re going to throw her into the lion’s den where she’s got no tools or experience other than taking a hit when she’s down.”
Dante’s door swung open, and that was the first time I saw her. A small little thing with eyes that popped with gold and green flecks, burning bright with emotion and swimming with anger. Dark waves of hair fell wildly around her face, and she didn’t brush them aside to stare me down. She didn’t fidget in her black boots and baggy ripped jeans, nor did she try to straighten the wrinkles in her brightly tie-dyed, oversized T-shirt with N’SYNC across it as she popped some gum and followed it up with, “I’m good at taking hits, Mr. Armanelli, but I won’t relapse.” She shrugged and brushed past me to give my cousin a hug. Then she turned my way, determination in her stance. “Addicts are what the Albanians are looking for. I’m already in their crowd. I’m already vetted. I don’t need you to believe in me. I only need you to do your job—which is protecting our data security. Right, Dante?”
“Right.” He sighed and grabbed his coat off his chair. “Say what you need to each other now. I’m going out to make a call. By the time I get back, let’s all be on the same page.”
My cousin didn’t give me any time to argue. He beelined it out of there and left me with the girl I knew wasn’t ready for the job. “You’re making a mistake being here,” I told her. “This environment needs stability and people with drive.”
“Oh, good. Because I have both.” She popped her hip out and placed her hand on it. It drew my attention to her body, so small but filled with curves she’d hidden under the oversized clothes. She even looked a mess.
“Look—Ms. Hardy, right?” She nodded as I confirmed her last name. “I can get you a good job outside of undercover work at a great company—”
“I want this one. Dante says it’s for me.”
“It’s not for an addict.”
Something changed in her demeanor. As if I’d hit her across the face by calling her that. She stepped back in what looked like literal pain. Maybe she’d thought I wouldn’t say it. Maybe nobody around her did.
I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it, though. She had to listen and understand so that she would quit.
“You’ll be surrounded by drugs, you realize that, right? You’ll be tempted all the time. People will be OD’ing around you, getting themselves killed around you, and you’ll have to take it in stride without falling into that world. It’s a pressure cooker that you don’t want to be in.”
She took a deep breath, and her plump lips parted as she did. Jesus, the men would accept her into that lion’s den with open arms, I realized, just from the way she looked.
All the more reason for her to get out now.
Yet she squared her shoulders and lowered her eyebrows in determination. “Iwillbe tempted all the time. And I’ll prove over and over again that I’m not going back. What better person to be on the team than one who’s already seen an OD, who’s already witnessed death, and is still standing here alive. I’m an addict, but I have a lot of reasons to never become one again.”
Determination looked beautiful on that girl. And as Dante walked back into the room, I saw her hate for me in her eyes.
I wouldn’t deny that hate looked good on her too.
Izzy was a force.
And she was one I didn’t want to reckon with.
9
Izzy
I’d been working through IT problemsandthrough the holes of JUNIPER the whole week, trying my best to ignore the man who caused my body to heat up with desire. I was exhausted. And Cade lurking around the office, putting everyone on edge had been even more draining.
No one dressed casually anymore, and everyone sat like they had rods up their asses, typing away with purpose even if they had nothing to do—which was absolutely not the case for me. I’d had numerous calls from various companies umbrellaed under Stonewood Enterprises. Troubleshooting IT issues was the worst position in the office because Stonewood Enterprises was a parent company for hundreds of others, and some of them didn’t have their own IT teams, so we took the calls.
Just that morning, I’d helped a Mr. Rogers turn on his computer. I’m not joking. He’d headed into his office after months off and called to tell us he didn’t know why it wasn’t functioning. I’d actually told Lucas that I felt like my ears were bleeding after that call. He’d patted my shoulder.
Add to that, I had Cade standing over me, announcing we all had to go together to a remote location. Now he had the audacity to question whether or not my duties were too difficult for me. Why did everything he say have to be an insult?