“Sure. Better safe than sorry, right?”
“Exactly.” She has herself mostly turned away from me, but there’s a slight concerning tremble in her fingers as she buttons up the waistcoat.
Should I be worried?
“I have the drugs for the food. It won’t kill anyone but it’ll make people sick enough to seek out a bathroom and thin out the crowd. We need to identify Hawk and as soon as we do, you start the fire and in the chaos, we’ll kidnap him.”
“And you need to make him eat some of the laced food before I hit the alarm.” While I initially disagreed with the plan, Faina is a lot stronger than me, as much as I hate to admit it. With the tension in my leg, she has the greatest chance of subduing Hawk and that’s more important than any of my masculine ego. Later, I’ll make up for it by fucking her brains out.
“Identifying him will be the hardest part of this.” She smooths her hands down her waistcoat and turns to me with a smile. “With any luck, he’ll stand out and this will take an hour, tops. Ready?”
Faina plants a sweet, brief kiss on my cheek then slips from the closet and disappears into the party. In the silence she leaves in her wake, doubt creeps up in my mind and my hands shake.
This could be it. I might finally be getting my hands around the neck of the bastard who carved this dark pit of grief inside me. I want to kill Hawk but Faina says no. For all we know, he’s just another in a long line to reach the top, but if it turns out he is the one who gave the order and rigged Cormac’s house to explode, nothing will stop me from tearing him apart.
I reach for the door handle, but something makes me hesitate.
How did it come to this? Rushing through Europe chasing money, wire transfers, and poor men and women sold as sex slaves, all to track down the criminal responsible for destroying my family.
I never got to bury them.
I never got to say goodbye. My last memories of them are from that night when everyone was happy and smiling, and then there was so much heat and blood. The hope I clung to that somehow they were still out there has diminished over the months, and now I’m here in the middle of Greece, poised to take down the head of an international Mafia who saw my family as nothing more than an inconvenience.
So why can’t I open the door?
The brass warms under my palm, and pleasant noises rise from the other side of the door as the party gets into full swing. Faina is out there all alone, so why am I stuck here, frozen and staring at a blank door?
Am I about to fail her too?
No… but it ties back to her and then it hits me. This strange feeling that if I don’t step out that door, then our plan can’t happen and the party will go without a hitch. No one will be put in danger and Faina won’t get hurt. As long as I stay here, the risk stays zero.
Right?
Then again, after Anastasia’s call, I could be wrong. Maybe Hawk already knows what Faina and I look like and this entire party is a net to catch the two of us. Right this second, Faina could be in their clutches while I hide in here like a coward.
Come on, Cian. You’re better than this. What would Saoirse think?
My twin’s probably tearing her hair out from heaven right now.
I can do this.
Imustdo this.
Finally, the door opens and I step out into the party, immediately getting caught up in the swell of things. After a few minutes of moving through the crowd, I spot Faina on the other side of the room, handing hors d’oeuvres to an older man. Our eyes meet and she gives me a brief frown of concern, hitting me with a thousand questions in half a second. I answer her with a reassuring smile and melt into the crowd.
The party is much like all the other fancy events I’ve seen this organization throw. Everyone is dressed to the nines in rich clothing and jewels that likely cost more than all the properties I’ve ever owned. Alcohol flows and food is passed around without much thought. No one looks at me, which is exactly what Faina and I have been counting on. Waitstaff are invisible half the time and tonight, it’s the perfect cover.
But which of these guests is the Hawk we’re looking for? Is it a man? A woman? A group whose initials spell out the word?
I make three full loops of the guests and return to the bar to pick up the next tray of food. Every so often, I glimpse someone delicately clutching their abdomen and slipping away from the party while Faina follows them. Each time, she returns with a subtle shake of her head and the game resumes again.
Another hour into the party and Faina appears at my elbow, speaking in a low voice. “Check out the guy in the purple smoking jacket, corner of the room with a cigar in hand.” She moves on as swiftly as she spoke, and after allowing a giddy woman to take three glasses of champagne from my tray, I seek out the man Faina pinpointed.
He sits in the far corner loudly talking while waving around a small glass of brandy. I can’t make out what he’s saying through the noise of everyone else so I move closer.
Then I see it. While he appears to be sitting alone, several men and women are strategically positioned around him. They shift and move with the flow of the crowd and all tense every time someone moves close to the man, including the waitstaff. Faina approaches slowly from a different angle, but it’s clear she’s catching onto the same signs I am.
Is this Hawk?
