Just as I finish reading it all, the messages vanish from the screen. “Oh, for sure.” I nod vigorously. “But if you’re right and these generals were in the dark, then they’ll all turn up. The ones still alive, that is.”
“Do we go?” Cian straightens up, and I step away from the computer, stroking his arm as I pass.
“We have to.”
“But it might be a trap.”
“Yeah. So we’ll scout the place out and we’ll lay the trap instead.”
“For Hawk?” He turns to face me, following me with his eyes as I sheath my knife and adjust my hair.
“For Hawk.” Gently grasping his wrist, I pull him closer and press a sweet, light kiss to his lips. “If we’re lucky, this will all be over by the end of next week. We just gotta work out how to get inside undetected.”
14
CIAN
Watching Faina change from the catering uniforms we used to sneak into this hotel into the sleek black and blue uniforms of the hotel waitstaff reminds me of everything I fell in love with about her.
I love how even as she wriggles out of that suffocating white shirt and into the blue one, she constantly glances at me to check that I’m okay. I love that when her hair gets in the way, she always tucks it behind her left ear, never her right. I love how her brow furls while she’s concentrating on doing up the black silk tie, how her lower lip pouts out slightly as she adjusts it in the mirror, and how her biceps bulge as she scoops all of her dark hair away from her face and into a ponytail.
“You’re staring,” she says around the hair tie caught between her teeth.
“You’re worth staring at.”
“Don’t get distracted.”
“Why not?” Adjusting my own tie, I shuffle back and forth to force the stiff clothing to settle against my body. “The only other thing that’s ever on my mind is how we’re about to face the asshole who ordered the death of my entire family. So what if I get distracted by something more beautiful?”
Faina turns toward me and takes the hair tie out of her mouth with one hand, snapping it around her hair while frowning at me.
“What?” I grimace slightly. “Too dark?”
“No.” She sighs. “But when you say sweet things like that, it makes me wonder what we really are. And there’s never time to talk about it.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what we are. Why put pressure on anything else?”
Faina’s head tilts to the side once she secures her hair, and her hands drop to her waist. “Sometimes, I think you’re going into this without any desire to survive.”
“You think I’m suicidal?” My gut twists slightly with how close to the truth she is.
“Not exactly.” Walking forward, she places one hand on my chest and smooths down my tie. “I just worry you won’t fight it if death comes.”
She has me by the balls. How do I tell her that my entire will to live died with my family? That my only goal is to make Hawk suffer, and then I’ll drift in the wind afterward until the Gifford name is nothing more than a whisper in the mouths of anyone discussing the worst Mafia war to break out across the world? The only light in my heart exists with Faina, but as soon as she’sout of sight, as soon as she’s gone, that dark shroud comes back and suffocates me.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” she says softly. “Tell me we’re not doing all of this just so you can end it in a bloody shootout with some fake glory.”
“I’m not doing this for that reason,” I assure her and cover her hand with mine. “That I can promise you.”
Her eyes narrow and her mouth twists to the side. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re naturally suspicious of everyone.”
“Maybe.” Sighing deeply, she glances over her shoulder at the door we’ve sealed between us and the party that Hawk is throwing to cover up his meeting. Assuming he’s even here.
This is the address given to the general we killed and we’re here at the right time. After spending the past two days poring over the blueprints to this place, it took every skill and ounce of luck we had left over to sneak in with catering and swipe uniforms for the waitstaff. Now, we have to find the Hexagon leader in a sea of strange faces.
“Do you want to go over the plan one more time?” Faina steps away from me and picks up the black waistcoat to complete her uniform.
