“It doesn’t matter if he’s a princess from the eastern sea. If you give me the order, I’ll follow. We all will. That’s how it’s always been.” Tobias’ stare is intense, and I realize it’s my first time seeing this much anger on him, “So next time you lose your shit, you send me, Reuben. If you point a gun at me again, I’m out.”
It’s true that Tobias listens to me without a second thought. He’s the opposite of Xavier—quiet, calm, unhesitant. He’s been on the team longer than any of the others… and I’ve never seen him get upset the way he is now.
I must have really messed up to make Tobias mad.
“Fine.” I grind the words out. “Next time, I’ll give the order.”
“Cute, but I don’t need your order now.”
I glare but he’s already turned away from me to watch Christian, the anger ebbing away just barely, transforming into something lighter. “He saved my life too… so you don’t have to worry about whether I’ll have his back anymore. He earned mine.”
Zorro descarado…But hearing the promise in his words and seeing the sincerity in his energy, makes the anxiety just a bit more bearable. I may be the leader, but I was wrong. I don’t have to handle everything.
“Thanks, Tobias.” And I mean it.
Tobias dismisses me with a huff. “You think the Don will pull him?”
The thought of Father pulling Christian from the team makes my teeth gnash together, “I’ll fight it if they try.”
“Camille’s grandfather should be happy at least, that Christian contributed to saving his granddaughter,” Tobias offers. “If we ask Camille, I’m sure she can put in a good word for him. Enough to make the Don hesitate.”
I forget sometimes, that my men are as sharp as I am when it comes to making plays. Camille’s grandfather asked Father specifically for a team to protect his granddaughter. We just might be able to use their good relationship in Christian’s favour.
“I wouldn’t have been able to get you and Camille out of the way fast enough like he did,” Tobias admits quietly. “If your father does manage to pull him—”
His expression is grim as he looks back at me.
“It’ll be our loss.”
Phantom
The bid for the diamond ended in failure.
I rest my glass on the table and the only sound to be heard in my office is that of the ice melting inside it.
Reuben Taiga. To think he would’ve shut down my entire team with a mere four men. They might’ve been retired but they were trained agents, professional ghosts I’d handpicked myself… The Taiga family won’t be able to find anything on them, no matter how deeply they dig.
“A waste,” I mutter. I’d poured so much energy and time into Josei too. Sickeningly so.
And now the Queen’s Diamond is missing.
Missing or taken?
As much as I would’ve liked to have the Diamond for myself, I know better than to poke the Taiga nest to search for it. In fact, they should be thanking me for giving them the opportunity, maybe even call me their benefactor.
But stealing my Diamond is one thing...
Killing my brother is another.
Early sunlight breaks into the room through the heavy curtains, and my finger thrums against the desk as I recall the faces of Reuben Taiga and his team.
Which one of you could’ve possibly put a knife in my brother’s throat?
I can't help but be intrigued by their boldness. I couldn't care less about the idiot brother of mine; if not for me, I'm sure he'd have been dead a long time ago.
But business is business. Blood is blood.
A smile touches my lips.
