“Hey, stranger.” Mellissa smiles as I get close, handing me a cup of coffee that I take then walk four steps to the garbage can on the corner of the street and dump it in.

“That was rude.” She frowns, watching me as I step up to the building and open the door.

“I told you to call me, Mellissa. I didn’t tell you to stop by and bring me coffee.” I know I’m being an asshole, but this chick only understands asshole. If I try to go about this playing the roll of the good guy, she will read that signal wrong and think I want back in there, which I don’t.

“I figured we could talk over coffee,” she pouts.

“We don’t need to have a sit-down, Mellissa. All I want is for you to understand that we fucked once five months ago. You’re not my girl. You haven’t been my girl since we were kids. I don’t want to be with you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop giving my mom messages to give to me. She’s too nice to tell you that she thinks you’re a snob, and will kick my ass if I even thought about getting back with you.”

“Is this about that bitch with the kid?” she asks angrily, throwing her cup of coffee on the ground at my feet, causing the hot liquid to come up, soaking the bottom of my jeans.

Taking a step closer to her, I growl, “That’s my woman, so tread very lightly, Mellissa. I don’t give a fuck who your dad is.”

“She’s trash, Jax.”

“I suggest you leave,” Sage says, coming from across the street. “You don’t, and I’m calling my dad, Mellissa, and let’s just say if he searches your car, you’re going to jail, and I don’t think your daddy would be very happy with you if that happened.”

“I don’t have anything in my car,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at my younger cousin.

“You don’t?” he asks then looks over her shoulder toward her car. “Saw your car parked outside of a house on fifth last night, the same house that got raided this morning. The house was clean, but I doubt your car is,” he says, and I watch her face pale. Then, without another word, she moves to her car, hops in, and speeds off down the street.

“What was that about?” I ask him, and he shrugs.

“Lucky guess. I know she’s been hooking up with a guy named Benji. He’s a low rank drug dealer, but this week, a large supply of meth came through, and the rumor is he was going to begin selling it. The cops raided his house this morning, but found nothing, not even a joint,” he says as I open the office door, and then he asks, “Why was she here?”

“She’s heard about Ellie, and has been spreading rumors that we’re getting back together to anyone who will listen. I told her to call me so I could tell her to cut the shit, but she showed up here instead.”

“You got the magic stick, Cuz.” He grins, following me down the hall.

“You’re an idiot,” I say, shaking my head. I head across the hall to my office, leaving him in the kitchen area to put on a pot of coffee.

Tossing my keys on the desk, I pull out my cell and pick up my desk phone, calling back the number that was texted to me this morning while I was making the girls’ breakfast.

“Jax?” my friend since high school, Mav, answers, picking up on the second ring.

“How’s it going, man?” I ask, picking up the mail and sifting through it.

“It’s going. Alexa is getting ready to pop at any minute. I’m hoping to close down this case in time to get home, so I can be there to watch my daughter take her first breath.”

I can’t imagine doing what he does. Living with the scum, working undercover, having to be away from my family for weeks on end, missing important events and life moments. I don’t think I could do it, but I respect Mav, because he does. All I know is that because of him, there are families that sleep easier at night.

“So, what new info do you have for me?” I prompt.

“Yesterday, Deborah Anthony was taken into custody on drug charges. There should be a call going through sometime this afternoon regarding the case of Ellie Anthony, and the roll Deborah played in her kidnapping.”

“That’s good, but I don’t understand why you’re calling me. You know my uncle would have gotten this information to me.”

“You’re right, but before she was taken into custody, she had a conversation with one of my informants about a way to make twenty grand easy,” he says, and I take a seat, feeling my brows draw together.

“How is that?’” I ask, not really sure if I’m ready to hear what he’s going to tell me, especially if this information has anything to do with Ellie.

“She told him all he had to do was find a virgin, and then tell Deborah who the girl was. The girl would be abducted, and they would get the money and could split it fifty/fifty.”

“She’s selling virgins?” I ask in disbelief.

“She’s selling virgins, and when my informant told her she was full of shit, she explained to him that she knows it’s legit, ’cause the first one she sold was her daughter.”

“You know Ellie has a kid, right?” It’s something he knows; he’s read the police report. He knew I was taking Ellie up to Kentucky to pick up Hope.

“She doesn’t have a kid, Jax. I’m not saying she doesn’t think of Hope as hers, but Hope is her brother’s daughter. He, his longtime girlfriend, and Hope were in a car accident. Ellie’s brother and his girlfriend died on impact. Hope survived with minor injuries, and Ellie was granted custody of her shortly after she was released from the hospital.”