“Marco, I have a job for you.”
His body straightened more. “Okay Boss. Whatever you need.”
“Have you heard about the plan of the Fire Dragons MC kidnapping my wife?”
His whole posture went rigid. “I heard. Does that mean it's legit?”
“Yes. Yes it does.”
Marco’s voice took on a more serious tone. “Okay. What do you want me to do, Boss?”
I hesitated because I wasn’t sure how Marco would take this.
“I got word that it’s planned for two days from now.”
“Okay. Should I get a bigger security detail on her?”
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
We maintained eye contact. I noticed a twitch of his eyebrow before it was gone. I knew his tells, and he knew mine.
“I want you to suddenly have to fill in for Gregor that day. And I’ll have you wearing a wire.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “Why?”
“I want to find out what my little wife is really up to. Put her in a life or death situation, I’m sure I’ll find out the truth.”
Marco looked agitated now. “What truth, Dom?”
Dom. Not Boss. That was my friend speaking to me now. Not my Second in Command. And I didn’t like it one bit.
“Do the job, Marco,” I gritted out. “They know you’re my second and won’t kill you because they’ll know you're a better bargaining chip than she is.”
Now he really looked pissed. “And what if they try to harm her?”
Marco didn’t approve of violence against women. Normally I don’t either. I hesitated. They wouldn’t hurt her. They know she’s just an arrangement.
“They won’t.”
“Then why would they bother grabbing her to begin with?”
“I would be forced to do something if her father found out about the kidnapping. He would expect me to save face so he could save face.” I paused. “Besides, of all my men, you are the best at getting out of sticky situations.”
He glared at me. Marco had been quite vocal, at least with me, of my treatment of Sophie. He had tried to persuade me to try to get to know her, even if only as friends. What Marco didn’t know is that I had been trying for weeks and I can’t get past her damned walls. I still didn’t know if she was a traitor for her father, or if she had her own agenda tied into our arrangement. I needed to find out.
“Just do it!”
He stared at me hard for a long moment, then responded. “Yes Don.”
That’s when I knew I did not have his full backing on my decision.
??????????
Two days later, I ensured Marco had a wired device sewn into his boxer briefs. I was in an SUV with a team following me around as we ensured we were constantly on the move and ready to get in place for when the time was needed. I was listening to Marco and Sophie as they headed to the dress gallery to pick up her dress for another upcoming event. I began insisting she go and find her own dresses if she didn’t like the ones that were picked for her. Probably not the smartest move on my part because then she would likely find the most boring and dark colors to wear.
We could hear their conversation surrounding us in the car. I had it coming out of my cell phone on speaker.
“How did you get suckered into coming with me today, Marco? Don’t you have more important things to do than being my babysitter?”
