“Not yet,” I said. “If they did, Diego wouldn’t be sitting here with us. But they’ve got enough to watch, which means every move we make from now on is under a microscope.”
“I didn’t know!” Diego blurted again. “I didn’t think?—”
“That’s the problem,” I interrupted, tired of how he looped our conversations. “Youdidn’t think.You’re out here making calls to someone youthoughtyou could trust, and now you’ve painted a target on everyone in this room.”
Diego’s face paled further.
Max looked at me. “And now what?”
“Any loose ends—people, paper trails, anything they could follow—we cut them off now. No more communication outside encrypted channels. No more reckless moves.”
Diego’s shoulders hunched even further. “I-I won’t be reckless anymore,” he begged.
I glanced at Max, arching an eyebrow. “Does he know anything other than the laundering?”
Max shook his head. “No. He’s small-time. I kept him on a short leash for a reason.”
I nodded slowly, my focus drifting back to Diego. “That makes this easier. If he doesn’t know anything, we have options.”
Diego’s eyes darted between us. “Options? What does that mean? I can keep quiet—I will! I swear!”
I ignored him, my focus still on Max. “I could leave him in here. Not posting bail would make it look like we have no connections to him.
“Or?” Max asked.
“Or,” I continued before Diego could cut me off with another plea, “if you wanted to risk things, I could get him out. And then you could kill him.”
The room went silent.
Diego’s breath hitched, his chest rising and falling as his panic deepened. “Wait—wait, no! You don’t have to do that. I won’t talk. I’ll disappear. You won’t even know I’m here!”
Max didn’t look at Diego. He was still watching me. He wasn’t sure if I was serious.
Why would I joke about something like that?
Before he could give me an answer, another one of his men stepped inside holding a phone. He handed it to Max.
Max answered with an agitated growl. “What do you want, Sasha? I’m kind of busy.” He stayed silent and frustrated, letting Sasha talk. But then he snapped. “Are you serious? Then deal with her.”
Sasha said something else. There was another pause, and for whatever reason, this one felt longer.
“What do you mean? Where is she? Why won’t she move?”
I straightened slightly, tilting my head as I watched Max’s frustration grow.
“She’s still sitting there?” Max asked. “Well, how long has it been?”
Sasha’s response made his jaw tighten.
“Seven?” Max echoed. “Seven fucking hours? I thought you were good at this.”
My mouth twitched into something that felt like a smile, though I tried to keep it down.
Max gave me a sideways look as he pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment. “Unbelievable,” he muttered before bringing it back to his ear. “Fine. Leave her there. I’ll handle it.”
When he ended the call, he slipped his phone into the pocket of his jacket and stood there for a moment looking confused. Finally, he turned to look at me fully and said, “She’s sitting on a bench.”
“A bench,” I repeated, arching an eyebrow.
