Hector watched with some degree of surprise as Seth showed a reaction. Before he could control it, pain sliced across his face. The one thing Seth had given Sadie was the ability to put up an impenetrable defense. This was a first.

Still, Seth didn’t respond.

Hector kept at him. “Vance can share with Sadie what he knows or we can let her go on thinkin’ you did it.”

That’s when Seth Townsend’s magnetic, menacing, invulnerable aura cracked. His body jerked and his face went pale.

“She thinks I did it?” he whispered.

Hector nodded and Seth’s hand came out of his pocket and up slightly as if it was going to tear through his hair. He realized quickly what this would expose, dropped his hand and he looked out the window.

Hector opened his mouth to speak when his cell went. He decided to give Seth a moment to reflect, dug it out of his back pocket and looked at the display which said “Sadie Calling’. His eyes cut to Vance, he flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“Sadie,” he answered and he felt the air in the room grow dense.

She was whispering, voice panicked, “I got up. You weren’t here. I was going down to the kitchen to find you. I was on the landing, looked downstairs and I saw a man’s legs on the couch. They weren’t yours. Hector, where are you? Someone’s in the house.”

Fuck, he thought, anger gripping him at the fear in her voice.

Without hesitating and without giving a thought to his audience, he bent his head, stepped away and turned so his side was to the room.

“Calm down, mamita, that’s Bobby. He’s lookin’ after you today. Didn’t you see the note I put on the pillow?”

He heard her take a deep breath and then he heard her move. Finally, she sighed.

“Blooming heck, I’m sorry, it’s right here. I didn’t see it.”

“You okay?” he asked immediately.

“Yes,” she replied and she sounded okay, in an instant totally over her panic. Will of f**king steel. “Where are you?” she asked.

“Doin’ some business.”

She hesitated and he knew she was bracing before exposing herself. She did that a lot and, he figured, didn’t know she was doing it. He wondered vaguely when it would stop when he heard her ask, “Am I going to see you today?”

He fought a smile, his head came up and he looked sightlessly out the window.

“Yeah, this won’t take long but I got other shit after this. No matter what, I’ll be home tonight, take you to dinner.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go out. We’re not really good with going out. Maybe we should cook something here.”

“Whatever you want, mi corazón.”

“After we eat, you can take me for another bike ride,” she told him and he bit his lip and shook his head.

“Gotta say, mujer, it’s good you like the bike.”

“Will you take me for a ride?” she pressed.

“I’ll take you for a ride.”

She didn’t respond to this but he heard the pleasure in her voice when she went onto a different subject like they had all day to talk. “I have to go with Jet to get fitted for a bridesmaid’s dress today. Do you think Bobby would take me?”

The thought of Bobby taking Sadie to get fitted for a bridesmaid’s dress made Hector lose the battle with his smile.

“Yeah.”

She carried on, “I know you want to do your floors but if I have time, can I goo your fireplace?”

He couldn’t help it, he gave a short laugh. She made “gooing” his fireplace sound like it was the height of entertainment. He didn’t know a single woman who thought “gooing” a fireplace was a thrill a minute.

“Yeah,” he repeated, still smiling.

“Where’s the goo?”

“Back room,” he answered. “Listen, mamita, I’m in the middle of something.”

“Oh! Sorry. You should have said.”

“I just did.”

When she spoke again, he heard the smile in her voice. “Okay, I’ll let you go.”

“You leave the house, you’re never outside of touching distance from Bobby, got me?”

“Got you,” she replied readily.

The tension left his body. “Later.”

Then he heard her voice going soft and breathy like it always did when she said it, “Bye, babe.”

And like it always did, he felt that soft, breathy word in his gut before he flipped the phone shut, turned back to the room and found Seth Townsend staring at him.

Something had changed. Hector couldn’t put his finger on it but he knew, before Seth spoke and confirmed it, that whatever it was, it was big.

“I was like you,” Seth told him, voice hard, eyes active, body taut. “Just like you.”

Hector’s eyes narrowed.

“I doubt that,” he replied scathingly.

“You’re wrong,” Seth returned then, voice still hard but his words were soft, “Just like you.” And then he went on, “You f**k her over, I’ll kill you.”

Vance moved, it was almost imperceptible but the threat was not. Hector put his hand up toward Vance because he knew Seth had just given in.

Seth crossed his arms on his chest.

“You know about Mickey, what else do you know?” he asked Hector.

“That you avenged your wife by bringin’ down Luther, who ordered the hit, and taken’ Mickey out altogether. The Balducci boys didn’t forget and have been tryin’ to chip away at you for a long time. With you out of commission, they went after Sadie.”

Seth’s only reaction to this was lifting his chin then he said, “Tell me your deal.”

Hector glanced at Vance then back at Seth. “Jerry isn’t your soldier anymore. He’s pissed about me, he’s pissed about Sadie and he’s pissed about your instructions to look after her. In doin’ so, forcin’ him to put himself at risk with Lee, somethin’ no one does of their own free will. Somehow he knows about the Caymans accounts and that Sadie’s the only one who can get to the money. He’s struck a deal. He’s workin’ with Donny now. You’re playin’ right into their hands. He’s obeyin’ your orders until Sadie gets the account information. She knows about the accounts, she’s f**ked. They got options, they could roofie her, they could threaten her, whatever. They take her to the Caymans, sedated or under duress, she hands them the money. They don’t have use for her anymore and they either play with her, take her out or both. In the meantime, whatever power you got left takes another hit without that cash. You’re weak, the Balduccis avenge their father’s murder and you’re as f**ked as Sadie.”