Liar.
He takes my hand again, rubbing his slobbery lips all over my knuckles. The guy is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but he just creeps me out. If I manage to pull this off, it will be the greatest test of my willpower.
“I can’t stay late. I have a project to work on tomorrow.”
“I’ll ensure you’re home at a reasonable hour. I promise.”
I pretend to think about it.
“Say yes, gorgeous. You won’t regret it.”
“Okay.” I drill him with a look. “One drink, and no touching.”
He offers me his arm and a smug grin. “Whatever you say.”
Chapter Ten
Joshua
“At least we’ve stopped the hijacking of our vans,” I remind Fiero as he paces the length of my office, almost wearing a line in the carpet. “Using the security staff from Mazzone’s firm to accompany all deliveries is working. We foiled another attempted robbery last night.”
“It helps, but it’s not enough.”
I located an airline company willing to do business with us two weeks ago when our entire cargo was stolen. Fiero and Massimo’s manager at their Colombia plant procured two-thirds of what we needed, and we had it on the streets three days later. But it was already too late. McDermott had used our supplies to undercut us.
The average joe on the street doesn’t give a shit about loyalty when he’s offered the same quality drugs for less. Now a large chunk of our street trade is being supplied by someone other than us, and it’s a big issue. We can’t concede and save face, and we don’t want other outfits returning to the city. We drove the Triad, the Colombians, the Russians, and the Paraguayans away five years ago, and I’m fucked if they’re gaining new footing on my watch.
“More foreign supply has come in through Canada,” Fiero confirms, “and we’re losing customers every day. We need to catch McDermott in the act, and we need to do it the fuck now.”
“We have men following him every time he goes out, but they are getting jack shit. Either McDermott has made the guys, or he’s getting someone else to do his dirty work for him.” I drum my fingers on top of my desk, puzzled as to how he’s evading us so effectively. It doesn’t make sense.
“I’m guessing it’s the latter. He doesn’t want his hands anywhere near this so O’Hara can’t pin anything on him.”
“He’s got help.” I lean back in my chair as I smooth a hand down my tie. “There’s no way he could be avoiding detection unless he has a big backer.”
We have a lot of manpower on this. Both online and on foot, and it’s yielding no leads so far. The chip-tracking reports didn’t give us much to go on either. Apart from a list of men who weren’t in the vicinity during the time of the robbery. But there are still hundreds not accounted for ’cause they don’t have a tracker. It’s pretty much a dead end unless we can identify some criteria to narrow down the list. In the meantime, we have all agreed to manually peruse the chip-tracking lists and reports in case anything stands out. But it’s a “needle in a haystack” task that is unlikely to deliver results.
“Or backers.” Fiero drops into the seat in front of my desk with a weary sigh. “Is Gia gaining any traction yet?”
“It’s still early days, but Liam is definitely on the hook. He’s calling her twice daily, sending her regular flower and chocolate deliveries, and constantly asking her out on dates.” He’s so predictably cliché. The guy irritates me to no end.
“She needs to say yes.” Fiero stabs me with a solemn look. “We need to move this along before we have no business left to protect.”
“Any updates?” I ask one of the team working out of the basement of my building. Ben sent his tech specialists here so they were readily available to me. I decided to stop by before I head home early. There’s a good chance my twin has forgotten our family dinner date, and I’m planning to swing by our apartment building to grab him before heading to Greenwich.
“Gia has agreed to a date with Liam tomorrow night.”
“Good. Send the details to my secure cell and tell whicheversoldatois shadowing McDermott to ensure he isn’t spotted. I want regular updates throughout the night.” Gia would bust my balls for keeping such a close watch over her, but I can’t let anything happen to her. Liam is not trustworthy. He could pull any kind of shit.
“I’m heading home early today. Call if there is anything significant to relay,” I add.
“Will do, boss.”
I’ve just reached my car when my temp PA, Lavinia, comes rushing toward me. “Sorry to bother you, Joshua, but I need your signature on this paperwork.”
“It’s Mr. Accardi,” I correct her,again, wishing my normal personal assistant would hurry up and return from maternity leave. Ruthie hired Lavinia through an agency, and she underwent thorough vetting by HR and our IT security team. Apparently, she has good credentials. I’ve yet to notice becauseshe seems to spend most of her time attempting to flirt with me, and I’m low on patience.
She bats her eyelashes as she hands the paper folder over. “Sorry, Mr. Accardi. It’s just we’re so close in age it seems silly to stand on such formality.”
