Page 2 of The Woman with the Handcuffs

“Did he go missing from his home?

“No. His rig was found on the side of a road. No Daniel.”

“Was he hauling product at the time?”

“I don’t know. Just got the word an hour ago. I have to check the routes and talk to our connections.”

“How long ago was this?” If he was long-hauling, there was no reason to assume he was anywhere near us. So the information wouldn’t have hit our local news.

“One of our soldiers got suspicious about not hearing from him yesterday, so he started looking into it. They found the rig two weeks ago.”

Dammit.

Any leads we could have had to go on would be long cold.

“Was the rig impounded?”

“No.”

“No?”

“The owner of the trucking company took it. We are working on all the angles now. Should have boots on the ground in a few hours. We will hopefully have some answers by then.”

“Do we have any leads on other truckers who might be options to replace him?”

“Damn,” Leo said, lips curving up to reveal his dimple that slashed down his cheek. “That was cold, even for you.”

I shrugged at that. “People go missing. People get gunned down in the street. We still have mouths to feed. And kick-ups to pay.”

Leo shook his head. “I’ll have someone look into it. Get some options. Have Zeno run some background checks. We should be able to have a new guy by the end of the month.”

“Maybe we should find two. In case anyone else decides to go missing or drop dead.”

“Jesus Christ, man.”

We were a big family. And we all had our roles.

Lore was at the bottom of the birth order—the only girl, sweet, bookish. Zeno was the next youngest—lived in his computer and filth, had trouble focusing or remembering to do his laundry. There was me, the asshole. Then Cesare, the alternative, always-in-trouble one. Then Nico was at the top—strong, dependable, selfless.

Right below him was where Leo fell. And Leo was a lot of things—built like a brick shithouse, a good worker, solid earner, and as family-oriented as he was goal-oriented. But above all that, he was probably the kindest of all of us. Capable of making hard decisions and doing ugly shit if the job and the Family demanded it, but was a genuinely good person underneath all the muscle. Empathetic. Selfless.

Knowing my brother, he was likely genuinely worried about Daniel, wondering what happened to him, if he was hurt somewhere, dead, if he had family that was searching for him.

Meanwhile, I just wanted shit back on track so I could get back to my life.

“Yeah, I know,” I said, getting to my feet. “I’m a dick.”

Leo watched me for a minute. “How about you come to dinner this weekend?”

“Yeah, I dunno. Maybe.”

“Know you well enough to know that’s a no.”

“You knew it was coming.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“But you asked anyway.”