Arrow to the Heart: A Dark Cupid Romance

Chapter 8

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"Explain this to me," Eli says, narrowing his eyes and inspecting the photo of Bree. "Why would the cartels be after this cute little thing?"

I give him a look that tells him I'm quickly losing patience for his shit, and he seems to get the message.

"What does she do for a living?" he asks.

"She does social media marketing for the Natural History Museum. She's a bit of a nerd—spends a lot of her free time checking out the rocks in the museum's mineral hall. Once she gets started on rocks, she really can't stop. She once spent 20 minutes explaining volcanic glass."

He raises an eyebrow and smirks.

"Okay, so we can probably rule out her being the primary focus. What about family members? Maybe she's related to a politician or a drug kingpin or something."

"She's got a sister who lives in town; can't remember what she does for a living. Her dad lives in Florida with his wife and their son. Her mom lives a couple of hours away, not sure exactly where. I think she's a lawyer or something. They don't seem particularly close."

"You already did recon on her?"

"No, I didn't do 'recon' on her. I just talked to her."

"You got all that from hanging out in the laundry room a few times? How long have you been spending time with this girl, Dec?"

"I dunno. Half a year, give or take."

He lets out a puff of breath and his eyes widen.

"Okay wow. So you actually know her, this..." He looks at the photo again and flips it over. "...Brianna Logan."

"Bree. Yeah."

He rubs his forehead and pinches his eyes shut.

"Well fuck."

Fuck is right. The cartels use Cupids for all sorts of reasons: manipulating officials, swinging elections, establishing blackmail material, distracting their rivals. But Cupids are hardly the only tool in their arsenal. And if the cartels get impatient, they won't hesitate to resort to messier methods.

If Bree is a threat to them, they'll eventually find another way to take her off the board.

"How much are they paying?" I ask.

"Six figures."

"Fuck."

Not the kind of price you put on just any job. That means she's important to them.

"Maybe I can call up the client, get some more details from him."

"No. We've gotta treat this like any other job. If you're asking more questions than normal, it's gonna draw attention."

"Okay. I have other sources. I can ask around in a way that won't arouse suspicion. And you can do your usual research."

I nod.

"What have you read off her so far?" he asks.

"She's not involved but she's open to something."

"Likes men?"

"And women."

"Does she like you?"

"I uh... she's attracted to me." I can't quite tell beyond that. My powers get a bit hazy around her sometimes.