“You heard her the other day! She said she couldn’t help falling for him.”
“That doesn’t mean she wasn’t manipulated.” I stand and face him, knowing it’s risky to push him like this, but he’s not facing up to it, and it will continuously hold him back in life until he does. “Are you hurting because she left you for him or because you think you failed to protect her from him?”
“I hate her for discarding everything we shared like it meant nothing. I hate her for throwing my love back in my face like it didn’t matter. I hate her for all the lies and the deceit, for how foolish she made me look. But most of all, I hate her for changingme. There isn’t a single part of me that feels even a tiny shred of guilt. She made her bed; now she can rot in it.”
“That’s not what I meant. I?—”
“Drop it. I’m done talking about that cunt.” His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat, and he grabs fistfuls of his hair. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this with you. Tonight was a mistake. Forget it happened.” Before I can reply, he’s walked off, looking like he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Chapter Nineteen
Joshua
“I’m coming with you,” I tell my brother three nights later when I can’t stand the voices in my head any longer.
“Okay.” Caleb scans my black top, cargo pants, boots, and the Smith & Wesson strapped to my hip.
“She was my assistant. I fucked up letting her into the company. She’s my problem to fix.” Ben’s specialist tech team found evidence Lavinia’s file was a complete fake. Whoever put her up to this is good. They left no clues. The intel online matched perfectly, and her fake IDs were flawless. The team had to dig deep to find the truth. She’s the sister of a two-bit gangster from New Jersey. We have no clue how to connect her to everything else, but it can’t be a coincidence.
The Commission discussed how to handle it, and we chose to let her stay, under constant surveillance, in the hope she might lead us to vital intel. The hunch paid off, and something is going down tonight in Atlantic City. The irony isn’t lost on us. A.C. was the birthplace of organized crime and the Italian Americanmafioso back in the day. Now, it’s known for its casinos and the legendary boardwalk.
“I said okay. You don’t have to convince me.” Caleb thrusts a bulletproof vest at me. “You want any other weapons?”
I shake my head. “I’m good.”
“Let’s hit the road then.”
We park several blocks from the construction site where the meeting is going down at midnight and make the rest of the way on foot. The development is at the northernmost point, a couple miles past the boardwalk, facing the water. This is an industrial part of town, and there are little signs of life. A perfect location if you’re up to no good.
Caleb and I lead our group of tensoldatitoward the meeting point, sticking to the shadows along other buildings as we quietly advance forward. A bunch of dusty cars and mud-splattered trucks are parked out front. Scaffolding scales the front elevation of the high-rise building. Raised voices greet our ears, and we split into two groups after we enter the building at the lower level. One group goes up the stairs while Caleb and I take four men and move toward the sound of voices.
Heavy-duty plastic sheets sway softly in the light ocean breeze where they cover what will be windows. Caleb gestures with his hand, and thesoldaticrouch down under the window with their backs to the wall. My twin deposits the duffel bag with the rifles and extra ammunition on the ground beside a large pillar. We take up position on either side, and it offers us a good vantage point.
A small gap in the sheet allows us to see outside. Three portable lights shine brightly on a group of armed men as they form a circle around a short stocky man with long hair tied back in a ponytail and my assistant. All the men are wearing custom suits and expensive watches, and some have chest straps with rifles on their back. Others have guns holstered to theirhips. Lavinia is dressed in yoga pants, sneakers, and a hoodie underneath a denim jacket, and she’s shifting from foot to foot as she wraps her arms around herself in a protective gesture.
Caleb and I exchange glances. These men are no two-bit gangsters.
What the fuck is going on?
“Should we call for backup?” I mouth to my twin.
“No time,” he mouths back.
“It’s not good enough, Liv,” the dude with the tail says.
“His office is like Fort Knox,” she says in a shrill voice. “And even when I got inside, everything is locked up. I’m guessing anything of importance is in the side room, and it’s got a retinal scanner on the door. I don’t know how you expect me to penetrate that.”
“I’ll give you something that can penetrate,” some douche says, cupping his cock through his pants, and a burst of laughter rings out.
“Enough,” the guy in charge snaps. “This is not a laughing matter.” He eyeballs every man surrounding him with a deathly look. “Do I need to remind you of what’s at stake? We’ve only come this far thanks to our allies. If we fail to deliver the intel, they become our enemies, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what a shit show that’d be.”
The air sobers, and there’s no more joking. The dick with the long hair returns his attention to Lavinia. She’s visibly trembling now.
“It’s not her fault,” a man on her left says. “I shouldn’t have involved her.”
I’m guessing he’s the brother though they look nothing alike.
“She’s involved now, and that means she’s accountable.” The man pulls a gun on her. “You have had ample time to do this, and you’re a shit informant.”
