Fatally Yours

Chapter 7

•INDIANA•

Lee's next location was as predictable as we had expected. The cops assigned to tail him after I got away with his car informed us that Lee had called in his guys, and they were on their way to the port.

He thinks a car thief stole his car, and as expected of every car thief in Los Angeles, they would take every stolen vehicle to the port, where shipping containers are waiting to smuggle the stolen cars out of the country by ship.

One of the officers reported back a couple of minutes ago that Lee and his men were scrambling all over the city, especially at every port, looking for his precious car.

I drove through the main entrance of the port and took the main route to the back, where Lee and his men were. I revved the engine a little to announce my arrival, and they all turned around to see me pulling up.

I quickly noticed they were all armed, but it didn't scare me one bit. The door slid up, and I slowly stepped out of the car. I stood there, facing them, as Lee moved to the front of the group, his eyes glaring straight at me.

All his men immediately raised their guns and pointed them at me. I put on a mask of nonchalance and pulled the car keys from my back pocket.

Lee slowly walked toward me, his steps calculated, as if approaching prey that had accidentally wandered into the predator's den. His eyes briefly scanned me from top to bottom before locking on my face again.

I held up the keys toward him, and he stared at them.

"I had one made for reasons I've yet to explain, but since I've returned your car, you can have it too."

His cold, calculating eyes searched my face before he slowly took the keys from my hand. Then, he slightly turned his head to the side, signaling to his men to lower their weapons, and they did.

Reluctantly, of course. I was still an open threat.

"What's your name?" Lee asked, his voice tough and cold but with a hint of softness around the edge.

"Nova." He raised his brows. "Nova West," I continued.

"What were you planning to do with my car, Nova?" he asked while slowly circling me.

"I was planning to trade it for a good price. I have connections to a guy who sells and distributes car parts in Tokyo. Yours immediately caught my eye, so I thought, why not?"

All his men glared at me after hearing my response, and I wanted to roll my eyes at them. But then Lee finally stopped circling me and paused by my side. A cold chill ran down my spine due to his close proximity.

"And yet, here you are. Why'd you bring it back to me?"

I put on a show of nervousness before proceeding to explain.

"We ran the plates and found out the vehicle belonged to you." I slowly turned to face him and briefly bowed my head. "My apologies."

He stared at me for a while, and then his lips curled into a smirk.

"You've got a lot of nerve stealing my car and thinking an apology will let you off the hook."

I swallowed the tight knot in my throat, my expression growing serious.

"I know, but that's beside the reason I'm here."

"Then why are you really here, Nova West?"

"I want in."

"Excuse me?" he asked, his tone flaring with anger.

"Your crew seems more interesting than the illegal car parts operation, and I want in."

He started to laugh, and his goons joined in.

"You think we'd let a petty thief like you be part of us?"

"Why not?" I challenged. "I steal cars for a living, I'm good with street operations, plus..."

I stepped a little closer, meeting his eyes.

"I can be useful for other things. You name it."

His eyes slightly narrowed, and I didn't miss the way they briefly dropped to my lips.

"You need intel from any competitive operator in the black market? Then I'm your girl. I don't just have connections with illegal car dealers."

"Is that right?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. "Then we'll have to find out if that's true, huh?"

He slowly hooked his hand around my elbow and guided me back to his car, toward the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked aloud.

"Somewhere you and I can have a real talk while my guys figure out how accurate you are, since you're so confident about wanting to join my crew."

I slipped back inside the car, and he stopped just outside, looking down at me with a smile that immediately set off alarms in my head.

"You don't have a problem with that, do you?" he asked.

I quickly plastered a smile on my face and shook my head once.

"Nope."

"Good," he said before closing the door in my face.

I watched through the windshield as he walked back to his guys, and they all huddled together. Lee started explaining something to them that was too far for me to hear.

He briefly glanced over his shoulder at me before gesturing toward the car. After that, they immediately dispersed and went off in different directions while Lee jumped into the driver's seat.

He started the car, and we left the port, heading toward God only knows where. That's when my heart started to race as the realization sank in.

The mission had finally begun.