Page 108 of Whisper

“Whisper tells me you have an interesting side hustle.”

“Well, it’s not a hustle since I don’t get paid. I’d call it a special interest.”

He almost smiles, which makes me happy. “Tell me more about that.”

“I never planned to do it, you know? I was just frustrated and angry. I took out a cousin who assaulted another cousin when my family didn’t do anything about it. After that, I just got triggered. At Segreto, you meet a lot of regular people, just guys out having a good time, but you meet some creeps too. I get a vibe and then I track them down to verify if I’m right or I’m wrong. Sometimes they make it easy.”

“You have no qualms about it?”

“No. They’re bad people and they can’t be fixed. Besides, the system is fucked. If the authorities believe victims—and that’s a big if—the abuser often gets a light sentence or barely anything at all. The victims have to live in fear of that person for the rest of their lives, so I just speed up the process.”

Shadow nods, studying me. “Whisper told you what it’s like full time?”

“A little. He said I couldn’t tell my family, obviously, and I might have to move out to keep them safe and unaware of my activities.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“My brothers are important to me, so I wouldn’t want to go no contact, but I’d do anything to make sure they have the lives they deserve. Our parents put us out for being queer, but I make sure they go to college, and someday they’ll get good jobs.”

“And what do you want for yourself?”

The truth bubbles up and I take a second to compose myself before I answer. “Honestly, until I met Whisper I didn’t think about it. I’ve been in survival mode for a long time.”

“Have you thought about it now?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here talking to you. I want freedom, security, and to take care of my family until they can take care of themselves.”

“What does freedom and security look like to you?”

Shaking my head, I chuckle. “Whisper. I’ve never felt so safe since my parents kicked me out. He lets me be myself, for better or worse, and he sees something in me. Something more than what I show people.”

“You have feelings for him?”

I nod. “Big ones.”

Shadow nods, folding his hands on his desk. “We have more jobs than we can take most weeks. I’m connected to a lot of people, from the most powerful in the state to abused women and kids. We have an extensive vetting process to ensure that any job we take is valid and that innocent life is protected as best we can. Most of the jobs we get are because the justice system failed or the target eluded it, or the client wants to circumvent the process. Our typical targets fall into categories like rapists, abusers, and traffickers, but sometimes we get your run-of-the-mill assholes. Embezzlement, gambling, shit like that. What we don’t do is knock off a spouse for insurance money or that kind of shit. We’re very expensive and known for our precision and timeliness. You could have several jobs a week at times. You’re free to set up your schedule as you please as long as your deadlines are met. We mostly work at night for obvious reasons.”

I nod. “I understand.”

“You can’t take side projects on anymore without approval from me, and I’d expect you to tighten up your process.”

I scrunch my nose. “Yeah, Whisper told me I’m too reckless. I’ll work on it.”

“You’d spend time with each of the guys to get a solid view of what we do.”

“That would be good.”

“I’ll run a background check on you, so I’ll need your legal name and social security number. Arrests and other things like that don’t matter; it’s simply a precaution.”

“That makes sense.”

Shadow studies me with his dark, intense eyes. “Going off my intuition, I think you’d be a good fit.”

Excitement spreads through me. “I got the job?”

“On a trial basis until I’ve done my research. Go out on a job with Whisper and see what you think.”

“We did one together last night.”