Carina runs to me, and I catch her in my arms.

“Did he hurt you?” I ask.

“No.” She shakes her head against me.

Butcher closes the doors behind us, then calmly strides over to the dead man. He drops to his haunches, then looks up at me.

“Fuck,” he grunts.

“I know.” I botched the whole damn plan, but I don’t regret it. I can’t, not when Carina could’ve been hurt. “This is going to start a war.”

“Hang on.” She pulls her phone out and gives me a wicked smirk. “I think I might have a solution.”

22

CARINA

“What are you doing?” Gilly growls at me as I search Falco’s pocket.

“I’m copping a feel,” I deadpan, earning me a glare that I know I’ll be paying for later.

If I didn’t have my hand in a dead man’s pocket, I’d be getting excited about what was to come later with Gilly. This probably isn’t the right time to be thinking about that, but I can’t bring myself to be the least bit sad that Falco is dead. “Got it.” I pull out Falco’s phone.

“It’s locked.” Butcher states the obvious. Not a second after he says it, the lock screen magically disappears, granting me full access.

“Thank you, Magic,” I whisper to myself as I go through Falco’s texts.

“Blood Badgers.” I say the code words, knowing my phone will respond to my voice and bring Magic and Ocean online. I hit the button so that they’ll be on speaker.

“We’re here,” Ocean says. The expression on Butcher’s face is almost comical. He really shouldn’t be too surprised. I was the one to hack into the Larones’ home and find his Bianca. Whom he kidnapped not long after.

“There’s a guy named Kent, right? That's Carson Falco’s right-hand?” I know Falco has a man waiting outside in an SUV near his car. He wouldn’t have come alone. We need that man gone.

“Yeah,” Gilly answers.

“Magic, I need you to scan Falco’s texts. I need to know how he’d word a text to Kent to tell him to leave and meet him at the warehouse on Benton.”

“Warehouse on Benton?” Gilly gives me another glare.

“I was going to tell you after tonight, but this should work too.”

“Give me a second,” Magic says. I hear her clicking away as the computer scans through Falco’s texts. “Got it. Text him Meet at Benton. I’m going to play with Carina. He spells your name with a K.”

I immediately send off the text.

Kent: Playing with goods before you buy them? Be careful. She's a Palermo.

“Oh gross,” Magic mutters.

“What?” It must be bad if she won’t say it, but she can be shy when it comes to being crude or talk of sex.