Rocco and Roman had arrived thirty minutes before Callum and Gage planned to walk in.They couldn’t use comm pieces, and that was just as well.Callum didn’t need chatter in his head.He was working too hard to follow Vivian’s order.
They arrived at the swank hotel.The lobby was too trendy.The decor matched the people who milled about.Stationed somewhere in the lobby and bar were Delta team members.Callum eyed a guy with dark hair and tattoos, haphazardly scrolling on his phone.That guy looked like he could take everyone in the lobby out in a fistfight.
Callum checked his watch and caught sight of a blond surfer type assessing the lobby.He had his back to the wall, a suitcase by his side, and a deadly glare.
Across the lobby, Rocco waited by the entrance to the hotel bar, scrolling on a phone, eyes darting around the open space.
Where was Roman?There he was, kicked back on a sectional near the elevators.
“See anyone you know?”Callum asked Gage.“Think I’ve pinpointed a few.”
“Not Marino, and he’s all I care about.”
Callum made eye contact with the street fighter but went about his business with Gage to the rendezvous point.All of Titan had his back.He didn’t know who they were, might never see them again, but he sensed their unquestioning support.The feeling of camaraderie surged.
Damn, he’d been missing it.
He and Gage posted at the designated spot in the lobby.Callum checked the time again.Gage eyed his phone.They both received a message:
Marino arrived.Entering lobby.
Callum casually pivoted.His teammates covertly moved positions.All of them versus Dominic Marino, who wasn’t an idiot.Marino likely had his own people in the lobby scouting for them.
He spotted Marino approaching across the lobby.“There he is.”
“I see him,” Gage confirmed.
It had been many years since Callum had sat across from Marino on the Willoughbys’ deck.Marino had aged in the way wealthy people did: possibly a nip-tuck, a face full of filler, maybe even a hair implant.Expensive clothes, a smarmy smile.Callum expected nothing less.
Marino walked over and greeted them with his pearly white veneers.“Nice to see you again, Callum.”
He shook the man’s hand when he would rather have slugged him for all that he had put Grace through.
Gage’s greeting leaned friendlier.They would play good cop, bad cop, though Vivian had reminded Callum not to take it too far.He needed to employ a solid dose of diplomacy if this meeting was going to be worth their time.
Callum turned toward the bar where they could grab a table near their backup team and still have privacy.
“I reserved a conference room,” Marino offered.“I thought more privacy would be better.”
He and Gage shrugged in agreement.The move wasn’t entirely unexpected.Marino would have power players up his sleeve to assert dominance in a conversation he probably did not want to have.
They followed him toward the escalator that led to the second level.The conference room was nearby, and they settled around a large table.
What was Gage’s first impression of Marino?He’d been up to speed on the basics: who Marino was to Grace and in business, what the Bureau of Prisons had to say on his time in the system, and before that, what was in the prosecutor’s presentencing report.
In theory, Gage knew more about Marino than Callum.But Callum knew what mattered most: his obsession with Grace.
Callum cut to the chase.“Where’s Grace?”
He held up his hands.“If I knew, I would have told your colleagues and saved us this time.”Marino inclined his head toward Callum.“No one mentioned you would be here.I didn’t know you had retired from the Army.”
“I’ve been here since you pulled that stunt at the grocery store.”
His lips pulled down as if trying to hide a smile.“I’m not sure stunt is the right word.”He shrugged.“The interaction between a man and his wife is complicated—”
“You’re not married anymore.”
“What’s a little paperwork to complicate a lifelong commitment?”His sleazy smile exposed too many teeth.“Why act like that?I thought you wanted my help.”
