“Luc, what’s that mean for the rest of your plans?” Mia asked, following after me.
“They’ve bought themselves a little time,” I called over my shoulder.
==
Angelo looked like a cat who got the cream when I handed the phone over to him. The look on Dante’s face was a little less satisfactory and a little more suspicious.
“Finally, something that I can work with,” Angelo said. He turned the phone over in his hands and pressed at the buttons. When he had no response from the device, his face fell. “I did expect something that would work.”
“Charge it,” I told him gruffly. “Or do I need to hold your hand through the entire process? Because for the amount we’re paying you, I assumed you’d be able to use some initiative and get on with the job.”
He turned tomato-red and replied, “You paid me to do a job. If you wanted magic, you should have hired a magician.”
“We went ahead and hired a fucking clown,” Dante muttered under his breath, but I caught it.
I’d told Mia that Angelo and Gabe had bought themselves some time but that didn’t mean that I’d forgotten about their indiscretions. “If you get my wife involved in this business again, I promise you it’ll be the last thing you do. Hacker, magician, clown. I don’t give a fuck what title you want to give yourself. I gave you simple instructions and I expect you to follow them. You need anything, you go to Dante or you get in touch with me. Mia stays out of this.”
“Oh, fuck me. Please say you weren’t that stupid,” Dante said, looking at his cousin with distaste.
“Neither of you were here and she was around,” Angelo argued. “I thought she’d pass on the message. No harm, no foul. She got me what I needed.”
“No harm, no foul?” I spat, stepping towards him. “You’ve got no fucking idea.” All the rage from yesterday began to work its way back through me at his flippant comment. “She could have got herself killed doing what you asked of her. And if that ever becomes a reality and I find out it’s down to you, I will make your life a living hell that would make death seem like a comfort. Don’t you ever disobey an order from me again.”
His knuckles were white around the phone. The problem with people is that they never thought that you’d make good on a threat, but Angelo had two strikes and if he was unlucky enough to get a third, he’d learn first-hand that my threats were never empty.
“I want answers by the end of the week,” I said, straightening out my cuffs.
“End of the week?” he spluttered. “I don’t even know what I have here yet.”
“You’ll have something for me by the end of the week or we’ll be slashing your fees. This was meant to be a rush job.”
There was a wild look in Angelo’s eyes. He couldn’t afford to lose the money and I couldn’t afford to waste any more time, not when Mia was taking things into her own hands. “I’ll send you what I have on Friday,” Angelo said eventually, and I gave him a twisted smile.
We left the house and slipped into the car when Dante turned to me and asked, “Where did you get the phone from?” I was grateful that he hadn’t tried to pry in front of his cousin.
“Gabe,” I told him shortly.
“Gabe? Since when were you two pals?” Dante almost sounded offended by the possibility.
“We’re not. Mia.”
“Mia’s pals with Gabe? What the fuck happened yesterday?” Dante was silenced when I put my foot down and the car shot out of his drive, slamming him back against his seat.
“She’s been doing some digging of her own with Chas and Vittoria. It got back to Gabe, which was why he stopped in on her yesterday. She told him about Silas, and I guess one good turn deserved another.” I wasn’t impressed.
“She’s like a cat with nine lives.”
“She needs to stop.”
“Are you going to tell her that?” Dante asked.
“I already have.”
He let out a laugh. “And you think she’ll listen?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
Chapter Sixteen
