“You’re not understanding me. I just pulled up the original contracts again, making sure I got all the details correct, and there are new images attached, replacing the ones from before. I’m sending you those photos now.”
My phone pinged and I tapped on the screen. “Is someone messing with us?” I slid my fingers up and opened the images Sabrina sent me.
“It looks like it. The original photos and names attached to the contracts matched the images of your friends that you sent me earlier. These new photos are now attached to those contracts, but the names remain the same. The men look nothing alike. But the female… she looks almost exact to your Regina.”
I blew out an irritated breath. “The photos are grainy. I can’t decipher the images,” I admitted, trying to enlarge the pictures, but the faces blurred even more. “Who am I looking at?”
“Give me a second. I’m going to try to clear the images up.”
“I’m racking my brain over this. How can anyone change a contract kill that’s been out for over twelve hours? And why would anyone change the headshots—no pun attended—on a contract, but not the names?” I took another deep inhale, wishing for answers.
“Whoever took out the original contracts fucked up royally and tried to correct it, or someone is fucking with us. It looks like—what the hell—wait a second.” Fast clicks over on Sabrina’s end had me grinding my teeth while I impatiently waited for her explanation.
“I don’t have all damn day,” I grated out.
“Two more contracts just came out, and you won’t believe who they are for.”
“Tell me,” I demanded and closed the door. More cars entered the parking lot and parked around my truck. The last one was a white work van, but I paid them no mind. My eyes trailed back to what Sabrina was saying.
“Same exact details, but different names. Same images as the grainy ones I just sent you. And these marks do have connections to Kane Maxwell.”
“Who are they?” I was so pissed that it hadn’t dawned on me until now that there were four contracts on the table.
“The female’s name on the second set of contracts is Maya Darvy?—”
“Fuck me,” I barked. I Hers was the last name I expected to hear.
“Damn it, I’m losing my frickin’ touch,” Sabrina rumbled in frustration. “The new mark has the same address as your girl—shit. And, wait for it… the bitch is dating Jess Duncan. He’s the other new mark. This Jess Duncan is—well, was connected to Kane, and his not-so clean associates. Frickin’ A, I need to fire myself.”
I wanted to throw my phone through the windshield. Instead, I gripped it tight and took another drag on my cigarette to calm my temper. “Where’s Maya and Jess now?” I clipped, as rage tipped into my bloodstream. Never would I have guessed that Regina’s best friend from school was a part of all this. I hadn’t trusted her back then because she was jealous of Regina, but our girl had never seen Maya in the same light as Krew and I had.
Whenever Regina wasn’t around, Maya had offered herself up to me and Krew—especially to Krew. Her desperation to get into my guy’s pant was nearing stalkerish. And every one of Maya’s advances had been rejected with prejudice.
“I’m sending you those new contracts,” Sabrina said, drawing me out of the past. I opened the jpeg, and immediately recognized the guy’s face. He had been standing next to Kane at the fight. And Sabrina was correct when she said that Jess bore no similarity to Krew.
With Maya’s short hair, her height and build, it was uncanny how much she resembled Regina. Right down to the color of her brown hair.
“Give me today and I’ll track her and that Jess guy down, along with who’s after yours,” Sabrina promised before all I heard was dead air. Merrick complained once that she never said goodbye, Sabrina just hung up on him—and I was beginning to see his point of irritation.
I dropped the phone in my lap and took the last drag of the cigarette and tossed it out the window.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that Maya—Regina’s best friend, was involved. The way she and Regina looked alike… “Shit.” Was that done on purpose?
Then I remembered Regina at the fight. The woman next to her…
“Fucking hell.” I threw my head back, banging it on the headrest, pissed at my own lack of focus.
My sole attention had been on my girl, that Maya wasn’t even in the periphery. I had blinders on before I shifted my sights on killing Kane.
Frustration cut through me and my concentration had been off from the moment I’d caught sight of Krew and Regina at the fight. Though, not enough to separate myself from them.
The guy… Jess—he was standing next to Kane in the ring. They must have been partners—and if that was true, then why hadn’t there been a a contract on Jess’s head at the same time as Kane’s? I could have done a two for one.
Where did Maya fit into all of this? And now there were four kill contracts out—one for Maya, one for Jess, one for Regina with Maya’s grainy picture, and one for Krew with a crappy image of Jess.
What. A. Clusterfuck.
It seemed that the contracts on Regina and Krew might have been a case of mistaken identity, or someone had been purposefully messing with the contracts, like Sabrina suggested. Nothing mattered at this point. Because as long as the contracts were out there, some hitman would chase the pot. And I was going to make damn sure not one bullet harmed either Krew or Regina.
