Desiree went straight to Tatiana, gave the lady a peck and asked, "How are you feeling? How's the baby?"

Her friend smiled. Funny how she now considered Tatiana a friend after everything that had happened to her—forced into this crazy world underground and nearly killed by her own father twice thought Tatiana would never know about that—and felt right about it. Tatiana just smiled and said, "My stupid husband did not come home last night. That means I am far more than alright, right?"

"If he doesn't come home at all, now that would be far more than alright." She didn't know when she started to voice her dislike to her husband but Tatiana seemed to agree with her as well. What she never asked was why the lady wouldn't leave the bastard. Theo had told her a lot of times that Tatiana was stronger than she thought and Desiree hang on to that. So far, Tatiana's husband hadn't been physical. As a matter of fact, he was just...absent.

"What do want to do today?" Tatiana asked.

She scrunched up her face. "I don't know." Actually, she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to find Richard and have a proper talk about Jamaica. But that had to wait. For now, she really had nothing much to do.

"Why don't we go up?" By up she meant out on the streets.

"You know I can't go out there as often as I'd like," she pointed out.

Tatiana's shoulders sagged. "We can't get sunlight here. You know I need that."

Desiree sighed. "Fine. But no public places this time. I can't risk being...detected."

Her friend beamed at her. "Great."

Before they finished their coffee and leave, Desiree sent Richard a message.

Where are you? I have to talk to you about Jam. Theo and I found something from the files.

"I think we need to go to that restaurant I talked to you about. They offer the best lunch," Tatiana was saying and Desiree only smiled.

*****

Khaye knew that someone was watching her. She didn't see, but she could feel it.

She made a lot of mistakes at work because of it.

"What's wrong with you?" asked her boss.

"It's...it's nothing. I don't feel so good. Headache," she lied.

The man just nodded and motioned with his head, "Better sleep it off. I can't have more shattered plates around here."

She nearly said no. She didn't want to go. She'd rather stay here where it was safe.

"Well?" her boss urged.

"Okay. Thanks." Slowly, she made her way to the back, taking off her apron. She grabbed her bag and nearly sprinted out of the diner, eager to go back in the safety of her small apartment.

Having walked one block, she sensed it again. Her heart started beating against her chest as she picked up her pace. The muscles in her legs started to ache but she kept the brisk walk. She didn't want to start running because that would give her away.

Just a few more blocks, she chanted in her mind.

*****

Tatiana and Desiree were just finishing her lunch when a familiar voice spoke behind them. "It's so nice to bump into such beautiful ladies," Richard said, taking the seat beside Desiree.

Tatiana smiled and Desiree forced one as well. She should have known he'd find her as soon as he could.

Ten minutes later, Tatiana was off to go home, leaving Desiree with Richard who promised to take her back to Theo after he was done with his coffee.

"Tell me," he said to Desiree the moment Tatiana was out of the restaurant. His eyes were eager, anxious.

She looked at him pointedly. "I am not even sure I should tell you about this myself."

He looked at her incredulously. "Then why the hell did you send me the text?"

"I was hoping Theo would tell you and he's not around."

Richard's jaw tightened. "I did not come here just to get a fucking coffee and nothing from you."

"Can't we discuss this somewhere else? Someone can—"

"Just tell me."

The finality in his voice told her she better tell him now. "Okay, fine. We saw some files hidden among the other files. Well, Theo found them—"

"I don't fucking care where he found them. Tell me about them."

"It's Jamaica. Vernier had files of Jamaica doing transactions with other people who were not your clients. Competitions, even."

He frowned. "Elaborate."

"I'd rather give you an example," she shot back. "Remember Berkeley?" When he nodded his head, she continued, "Well, she was spotted talking to him months before the cruise. And there were other photos of Berkeley meeting the Chinese guys from the cruise moments after his meeting with Jam."

"That can mean anything but it can't mean—"

"She was also seen fucking him days after."

Desiree saw his face grow hotter as he ground his teeth to contain his anger.

"And they had the exchange right after," she finished in a lower voice.

Richard smashed his fists against the table and stood up in one fluid motion that Desiree almost jumped off her seat. The next thing she knew, Richard was out the door.

*****

"What the fuck were you thinking?!" Theo demanded moments after he picked her up from the restaurant.

"I never thought he'd react that way—"

"What the fuck, Des! He loved her! Of course he's furious! Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know—"

"Not a good answer."

"Well, I don't know!" she shot back. And in a much calmer voice, she added, "I just thought he should know. I don't know, maybe I also wanted to see his reaction. I wanted to confirm that he didn't kill her and it was obvious that he didn't know about her betrayal and—"

"You still shouldn't have done it alone. Now we don't know what he might do. For all I know, he's out in the streets looking for Berkeley! That will ruin everything!"

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "Did you try calling him?"

Theo took a deep breath and let it go very slowly. "I'll do that later. Let's go home for now."

*****

Khaye almost stumbled inside her apartment door in her haste to get inside. She scrambled with the locks and it was too late when she realized that something was wrong. The lock from the outside wasn't working anymore.

"Don't panic," the familiar voice said from deep within the apartment.

Khaye jumped in surprise but didn't run. "Marco," she whispered.

"Hi, Khaye," his voice said and this time it was getting near.

She pressed herself against the door, her hand blindly reaching out for the lights. She didn't care if he was pointing a gun at her. She didn't care if he was about to hurt her. Whatever it was he intended to do, she wanted to see. And so she switched on the lights.

Her eyes grew wider when she finally saw him standing in front of her.

*****

Richard wouldn't answer his phone. The only thing Theo got from him that assured their plans were not compromised was his brother's text saying, "Don't worry, I am not killing anyone."

Much later, Desiree was lying in bed with Theo, both of them sated and calm. Make up sex didn't always work for the two of them in the months they had been together, but sometimes it was worth it.

His finger was making circular motions on the tip of her shoulder, absently staring into space. She lifted her head from his chest to look at him and said, "Where were you last Saturday afternoon?"

The groan that escaped from his throat was not out of anger but something along the lines of here-we-go-again. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious as hell, Theo. And don't tell me you were with a client. You rarely meet a client outside the underground. And when you do, you don't lie about it."

His eyes momentarily closed before he lifted them to look at her. "I was with my assistant."

"You don't have an assistant."

"I do. It's just that it is a secret."

"And why is it a secret?"

"Because I do something not related to the underground and they need someone to manage them."

"You're not—"

"No, I'm not doing what Jamaica did," he cut in before she even finished. "I do business."

"I don't get it."

"Real businesses." And when he realized she was still as lost as she was at his last statement, he added, "Legal businesses."

It took a while for her brain to wrap around the meaning of his words. "Oh. Oh..." she finally uttered and a smile slowly crept up her face.

He snorted. "You look pleased."

"Well, I just never thought you have it in you." When he looked offended, she quickly added, "I mean...I just never thought you'd think of doing something harder than what you do underground."

He laughed. "Trust me, Des, what we do underground is way harder than anything."

"Still, it's something."

"No one knows about this other than you."

"I'm not telling, don't worry. It's not like I can go knock on your father's door and announce that his younger son is doing something...well, legal."

"It's some sort of insurance."

She nodded. "In case things crumble underground."

There was a long gap of silence between them. They often had that moment and Desiree found it relaxing. To just lie there and think of nothing. She didn't know about Theo, but she was usually just not thinking about anything when they were like that.

"Petroff is missing."

She raised higher, bracing her hand on the bed. "Missing? Are you serious? Is it your father?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. He wasn't at the meeting yesterday. He wasn't there earlier. He never answered any calls."

"What are the possibilities?"

"There are a lot. Dead is on the top of the list."

Her mouth hung open. "You can't be serious. He's practically your father's right hand after Vernier—"

"And the old man is very angry right now because of it. Both of his big hands are gone. Vernier's dead. A replacement is still on the way. Petroff is missing. Those are reasons enough to get really paranoid."

"I can't imagine what he must be thinking—"

"And I can't imagine what Kane must be feeling right now," he cut in.

"Kane? What about her?"

"She and Petroff have this thing, you know."

"Not her. No, I don't think so." But her mind was already thinking otherwise. If Kane was having an affair with Petroff, she would have been pissed enough to kill Jamaica when she found out he was sleeping with her as well.

"Did I tell you he was the one who bought her at an auction?"

"What the fuck did you just say?" she asked, now fully seated on the bed, staring down at Theo like he had just announced he was the son of Zeus.

"I thought you knew. You've been around her long enough to know her history," he said nonchalantly.

"And you thought it was not your business to tell me? You know I had been pinning for her killing Jamaica! This kind of information is crucial!"

"Hey, calm down," he said, pulling her back down against him. "Kane had been Petroff's partner for a long time before she became independent underground. There had always been other women and she was never blind to them. Some are still even close friends of hers. They had that kind of open relationship. And it is one of the reasons why our father kept her even after she and Petroff called it off, by then both had other partners. They worked really well together. There was never any grudge or resentment." He locked his gaze into hers. "So, no, I still don't have the same strong feeling as you that she did it." She didn't agree but kept it to herself. If Theo didn't believe Kane did it, she'd make it a point to prove to him that he was either right or wrong.

"You don't know how women deal with resentment. Most of the time, we show them. But if it is too strong, nearly evil, we can keep them a secret."

His brows arched. "Should I be alarmed?"

Desiree let out a frustrated breath. "You're frustrating." Her lips started to trail kisses up his neck and she whispered, "And no, you shouldn't be alarmed." Crawling over him and straddling his hips, she brought her mouth over his and added with a smile, "For now."

A8