Queen of Clubs Redone Pt. 01

"No..." I let out a sigh. "Wait. What's the next day James works?"

She looks at her tablet for a second. "Tomorrow it looks like. Anything else?"

"Thank you, and that's all. I appreciate your help," I say with a smile.

"Okay, well, I'm going to start where I left off converting the paper files to digital," she says, returning the smile. I wave my hand as she practically skips out.

"What's prissy's deal?" Erica asks as she walks in and takes a seat across from me. For whatever reason, Erica does not like Aliya. I have no idea why.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," I say.

She only shrugs. "I don't know how you stand that girl. She's so fake."

"Not now, Erica."

"What's your problem?" she asks as she crosses her leg over the other. She's another one who's very attractive. A black woman with a nice thick butt and a pair of legs to match. But straight as a linear equation. And she would always be off limits, even if she wasn't. She's been working for me since nearly the beginning.

"Nothing. Just a lot on my mind."

"When don't you have a shit ton of problems? So, who's the new guy? He is fine as hell. Tall, muscular, and handsome," she says. I give her a look that could cut diamonds. She tilts her head at me. "Don't tell me you're fucking him."

"What? No!" I say in a huff.

"Not yet, anyway. It's about time you got over Sarah. She left, and that's her loss. You deserve better."

"Don't talk about Sarah," I say, practically growling. No one knows the truth. Sarah didn't leave of her own free will. She was taken.

She sighs. "Still, you should move on. Hell, just get laid. That'll help because you need it. You've been so tense lately, it's like you have a stick up your ass. I can tell it's still bothering you."

"Well, you might as well know that I am having dinner with him tonight," I say. She'll find out anyway, might as well hear it from me.

She snorts a laugh. "Of course. Please tell me that's not why you hired him."

"No! And for your information. It's not even a date. We're just talking about security issues," I say.

"Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself to justify it," she says with a smirk as she crosses her arms against her chest.

I glare at her. "Besides, he's just not my type."

That gets a laugh from her. However, my attention is snagged by a news update from my phone. "Raul Saavedra was just found murdered."

"The same Raul Saavedra who owns the Rum Distillery we order from?" she asks with a wide-eyed look.

"Do you know any other? I was literally on the phone with him the other day," I say. I've always found the man a bit too friendly and a huge pervert, but this will certainly complicate things. We were about to make a great deal for the club. Without him, that deal is as good as dead.

"Did they catch whoever killed him?" she asks.

"No..." I pull up the article and what little details they have made it seem like it wasn't pretty. Sounds like someone tortured him for information. What for?

Chapter 8: Jonathan Hall

A black woman named Erika Cox escorts me down the hall. I know what I can from her background check. I've run background checks on all of Raquel's employees and she has nothing to hide from what I've found.

"You know, I don't know if you're here for a date or if this is actually business, but Raquel is a good person. Definitely a good boss," she says as we stop at a door down a dark hallway. "She deserves a good man. I don't know you, but if you're trying to manipulate her or something, she's already been through enough. Her last partner just up and left her. Okay? Besides, she's too smart to fall for manipulation."

"I'm not out to hurt anyone," I say.

"Good, because if you do hurt her, I'll rip your balls off," she says, then she opens the door and there Raquel is waiting at a single table in the center of the room, underneath a chandelier.

I walk in as she gets up, walks over, and holds out her hand. I tilt my head at the suggestion. "A handshake?"

"I told you this isn't a date," she says with a smirk.

"So you say." I take a look at the candles on the table and the fireplace, along with the decoration.

"This was the only open private room available," she says.

I wrap my hand in with her warm, soft hand. "Sure. Whatever you say."

Her eyes narrow at me, but I can see the smile she's fighting back. I beat her to her chair and hold it out for her. Her narrow eyes only become sharper, but the corner of her lips curl regardless of how hard she's trying to hold it back. She accepts my aid and sits down, letting me scoot her in. I take my chair and meet her eyes with a smile.

"You're such a gentleman." The sarcasm drops from her words.

"I try," I say with a smile.

"How does a gentleman like you end up working in the government?" she asks.

"Family affair. My father was in the military before working for the government, along with my sister," I say. She bites her lip as she stares deeply into my eyes.

"And you? How does a smart, beautiful, and hard-working woman like yourself get caught up in the business you're in?"

She bites her lip. "Family affair."

"Fair enough," I say with a smirk.

"My parents, along with several others, ran the cartel before... before they were killed."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I say, even though I already knew. I reach over and put my hand on top of hers. "Want to talk about it?"

She leaves her hand in mine. "What's there to say? My parents and the other leaders got snared by the competitor and were all killed, as I and the other children had to watch."

"That's... That's truly horrible," he says. "I lost my father at a young age as well. How did you manage?"

She shrugs as she traces the rim of her finger with her glass. "Do you have a big family?"

She clearly doesn't want to talk about it. So I move on. "Yeah, I grew up with lots of brothers and sisters. We lived on a farm, so we worked a lot of the time."

"I had a brother once... I don't know what happened to him. Now I have my adopted sisters and people I considered as close as siblings," she says, pulling her eyes away from mine.

"What happened to him?" I ask.

"I don't know. He vanished. I haven't seen him since." She digs her teeth into her bottom lip. "I'm sorry. I rarely ever talk about him."

"It's okay, I understand. I lost siblings as well. I know a little of how you feel."

"What happened?" she asks.

"It's really not something I enjoy talking about, either."

A long silence captures the moment as our eyes drift apart before falling back onto each other. For a moment, I feel the pain in her eyes and it feels like she can feel mine.

She bites her lip again, and that drives me crazy. I want to bite it myself. A decision wars across her face and it seems like one side wins. "Look, Jonathan, I don't know what your game is, but it seems like you're genuine for the most part, and I don't know if I can deal with this right now. I'm still committed to someone else, not that we're exclusively monogamous. It's just... I don't know what your true intentions are and I don't want to get hurt. You don't even know me at all either, and once you find out who I am, you won't look at me like you are now."

This time I find myself biting my lip. I take her hand in mine and trace down her soft skin. The mission should be the only thing on my mind, but this woman finds her own place in my thoughts. I know I can't get attached, but I like this woman. I'm just afraid to know the truth of the matter and I'm scared to find out. If I let my heart get in the way and find out she's responsible, even though I doubt it, I don't know if I have it in me to do what needs to be done. But I have to press on. I need this woman to tell me what she knows about what happened to Sarah. "I don't know what your arrangement is with this other person, but clearly they must not mind the fact that you're here unless they don't know."

"Well, I did say this wasn't a date," she says.

"Is that still true?"

"I don't know." She runs her hands up her face and rubs her temples. "I'm just... Lost at the moment."

"I know the feeling," I say.

She looks me directly into my eyes. I can see she's seeking something. "Look... I want to trust you, but in this game, trust usually ends with a knife in the back. How do I know you will not be the one to put it there?"

"You don't. To be honest with you, I'm the type of person to do whatever it takes to complete a mission," I admit.

"And what's the mission?" she says.

"To either discover the truth from all the lies and if the truth is what I fear, then I'll get my revenge," I say.

"And what do you think the truth is? Am I at the heart of it? Who are you trying to get revenge on? Don't play with me," she says.

"I don't know. I hope not... I don't believe so."

"Why can't you just tell me what you're looking for?" she asks, her eyes showing her desperation.

I take in a deep breath. Should I just tell her the truth? And what if she murdered Sarah? I'd give away my hand and leave myself vulnerable to a knife in my own back. Maybe I should take a different approach. I don't think she's involved in this drug Sarah was looking for. The drug that killed our sister. But maybe she knows who is and maybe she is in bed with them. Maybe that's who she committed to and Sarah found out and got killed for it. Do I trust her? I can't afford to trust.

"I need to tell you something," she says as she looks up at me. "I can't expect you to be honest with me if I'm not going to be open with you."

I stop dead in my thoughts and really look into her eyes. Is she about to tell me what I want to know? No... How could she tell me what I want to know if she doesn't know what I'm after? "Go ahead, you can tell me anything."

She takes a deep breath. "I'm... I'm trans."

It takes me a few seconds to register what she just said, and it wasn't at all what I expected. She said she's... trans? No... That. That couldn't be right. She... She doesn't look like a man. What the fuck? Is she? Does she... does she have a cock? It is so hard to keep a neutral expression when I feel conflicted about this. I've grown up to believe the alphabet community is wrong as a whole. That they're a bunch of deranged heathens who enjoy sinning, but the woman I need to get close to just told me she's really a man. Now, I just have to put aside how I feel and my beliefs to continue with my plan and get this woman in bed to make her feel attached, so she feels like she can tell me what I want to know. The shit I get myself into.

"Oh... That is a bit of a surprise. I'm not going to lie... I wasn't expecting that. You..." I shake my head at what I was about to say. "Honestly, I don't think it makes a difference."

This time, she's the one surprised. "Really? You don't mind?"

"Why should I?" I have to focus on maintaining my deep calm breaths so I don't let my disgust get in the way.

"Normally, most men aren't very open to dating a trans, especially American men," she says.

"I thought this wasn't a date," I say with a wry smile.

She blushes. "It isn't. Not yet anyway. But... It could be. I've just met you and I know I shouldn't trust you, but I feel like I can. I have this intuition about people. You are not telling me something, but I can understand your position. We are both in a dangerous field where trusting the wrong person can result in a knife in the back. I want you to know that whatever the truth is, I will never kill you for it. I do not punish honesty. But if you are planning on double-crossing me, I'll cut your balls off and shove them up your ass."

"Duly noted. For the record, I do not plan on double-crossing you. You're not the one I'm after." I hope that's true. Even though she just told me she's trans, I still find that I like her. How is that? It has made me look at her differently. I feel like I'm actively trying to see manly traits in her, but I can't find any. Even her voice is as feminine as it gets and sounds natural. "As I said, I'm after Clay Holden."

"You want to know what I think? I think that's just a convenient answer. You've probably known Clay Holden is corrupt, and it's easy to figure out the DEA wants to take down one of the largest Coke Cartels. You're using them to get close to me. Why?"

"You're smart, I'll give you that. Yes, Clay Holden isn't my only agenda, but he's my number one agenda. There are a few others on my list, but you're not on it. At least as far as I know." I wrack my mind around what I know about Cancun and find something else I can use to put her suspicions at ease. The human trafficking organization. I don't believe she'd ever taken part in such a vile act. I can use that. What was the organization's name?

"What is on your list?" she asks.

"Fine, you want to know what I'm after? I'm after human traffickers. There's an organization here. They're what I'm after. I'm getting close to you because I need allies and let's be real. I'd rather have coke on the street than women getting taken off them and sold to some sicko," I spit out.

She leans back in her seat, wide-eyed. Is that fear I see in them? Is she seriously involved with the human trafficking industry?

"I can't help you," she says as she tears her eyes away from me.

I stand up. "Are you involved with them?"

She looks at me with fire in her eyes. "Absolutely not. The Exchange owns everything here. They hold everyone hostage. The police are in their pocket along with every government official with any ounce of power. Going against them is suicide. They have all the power and control. If we even sniff in their direction, it'll start a war that we'll for sure lose."

So that's what their name was. The Exchange. I remember now. "So you're just going to do nothing while they kidnap innocent women... And children?"

"You think I enjoy allowing innocent children and women to get hurt? Why do you think we make sure our coke doesn't end up in the hands of children? We may be drug dealers, but we have a moral code. I hate the Exchange with all that I am. I want to kill every last one of them and it sickens me to stand by and do nothing, but there is nothing I can do. I'd die before I could even kill a fraction of their henchmen. And a lot of the innocent people I care about would die too. As much as I want to stop them, I'm not willing to sacrifice the people I care about to do it."

Damn it, I have gotten myself in between a rock and a hard spot. Maybe it would've been better just to go with the truth, but I still think that's risky. She was the last person I knew who was with Sarah right before she died. Maybe Sarah figured out it was her. Sarah might have told her about the drug. Maybe she found out Sarah was an undercover cop. There are just too many possibilities. If I tell her the truth and one of the possibilities, I already listed is true, then I'm a deadman.

"Look, I like you. A lot. I respect you even more now. But if you value your loved ones, you'll walk away from this. Because when they find out you are after them, they will go straight after your family and the people you care about."

Shit... I fucked up. "So now what?"

"As I said, I won't punish honesty, but if you continue to go after the Exchange, you can no longer work for me and we definitely cannot date. Look, if you want my advice. Forget about them. Just work for me and we can still take down Clay Holden. And maybe we can still date if you want to. It's up to you."

If I decide to give up my false hunt for the sex trafficking organization, she'll know I was full of shit. If I go after the Exchange, she'll cut all ties off from me. How can I maneuver through this? "Let me think about it."

Chapter 9: Raquel Zorita

I sit here in my office and I can't even work because my thoughts drown in my own guilt, regret, and loneliness. Ever since my dinner last night with Jonathan, I feel so alone and a little depressed. I don't know why because I knew things wouldn't work anyway and I'm in love with Sarah, even though I don't even know if she is still alive. But if she is, I know I will always return to her. So why do I feel so bad about last night?

I know Jonathan won't pick me over his mission and as much as I want him to pick me, I also want him to go after the Exchange. He needs to do what he feels is right, which is the right thing. I feel guilty for not being able to help him. The Exchange are monsters and deserve to die, but I'm afraid of them. I'm afraid of what they'll do to the people I love and care about if I try to move against them. I've already lost so much. My parents are dead and Sarah is missing and unfortunately, I fear the worst has happened to her. I don't even want to say it out loud because I'm afraid it'll make it true.

Life is just not fair. Why do we suffer so much while people who prey on others live life without fear? I know I sound hypocritical seeing how I am a part of a Cartel that sells coke and I don't think coke makes people's lives better by any means, but I don't force people to take it nor would I ever sell a human being for money. It sickens me to even think about it.

I just wish Jonathan would choose me. Or better yet, I wish I could've been brave enough to do the right thing and stand up to the Exchange by his side.

A knock at my door pulls me out of my thoughts, and my heart leaps into my mouth. None other than Jonathan is standing there in a polo and cargo shorts. He really dresses the part of a tourist. "I didn't expect to see you here after last night."

"I didn't know what else to do. Can I come in?" he asks and I nod. He shuts the door behind him as he walks in and takes a seat down across from me.

"What is it?" I ask with too much hope in my gut.

"I don't know what to do. These people are evil and need to be killed. It's as simple as that, but I want to continue to see you. I want to get to know you and go on a date with you, an official date. I know I shouldn't put my personal feelings ahead of what's right, but I can't deny the way I feel. However, the Exchange can't continue to kidnap innocent people and auction them off like pigs to the slaughter."

"I agree with everything you said," I say, as my eyes are completely caught by his gaze.

"That being said, I could put the Exchange on the back burner and focus on taking Clay Holden down for now. This will give me time to build a foundation here and find other potential allies in taking down the Exchange, while still being able to talk to you and work with you to take Clay down. And that would allow us to go on that date if you're still interested."

This is a bit of a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. I really like the idea of working with him to take down the DEA. I certainly like the idea of going on a date with him. However... "What's stopping the Exchange from connecting the dots when you do go after them?"

"We can make it seem like we had a falling out and have become enemies after we deal with Clay Holden. That way you can wash your hands clean of me," he says.

"That would certainly let me off the hook, even though it seems dishonorable," I say with disdain.

"Well, the only honorable thing at that point would be to join me, but I will not mention it again. I understand where you're coming from. I can't say that I don't admire your loyalty and compassion towards your people. If I had people who depended on me, I'd do exactly what you're doing," he says. For whatever reason, he just has a way of making me feel better about myself.

"Fine. Where can I pick you up?"

"Huh?" he asks.

"Where can I pick you up for our date tonight? I accept your terms. You know what, just be here at six. Okay?" He smiles, and it fills me with warmth.

"Okay. I'll be here. What do you have planned?"

"It's a surprise," I say with a wicked grin.