One weakness… shielding another.
“You’re well?” Martinez asked warily.
“Se.”
He waited a few moments then drawled, “Your credit card waslinked to the upgrade on their flights. We came to realize the Frasier women were friends of yours too.”
“How did you know I was coming? I didn’t know until early yesterday morning.”
“Fate again. A mutual friend shared the same flights as you. She told us you were on board.” He prodded the cigar, which lazily wafted smoke toward the open French doors. “Her work.”
The perp had been a woman, then.
So much for keeping women out of it.
“You hired her to do…” I motioned to the world outside this office. “…that?”
“Disapproval, really? You think you’ve hurt fewer people with your creations than I have with my actions?”
My mouth tightened.
He smirked, aware the dig had hit home. “Some people need to die. Don’t you agree, Stan?”
“I do.”
The smirk faded and a disenchanted twist replaced it. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure everyone who died tonight deserved it.”
“By the size of the blast sites, I’d agree.”
“Only the guilty were supposed to die. That’s why the hotel was cleared.”
“Feeling remorse, Martinez?”
“I have a lot of blood on my hands, but I saved my country tonight. I have to find peace in that.”
He saved his country?
“If you targeted a single group, why were there so many blasts?”
Again, he looked troubled. As if he wasn’t sure of his answer. “You’re not the only one experiencing problems with the Albanians.”
"Fucking pigs," Eva spat.
My brain whirred. “You didn’t go to war withLos Nuevos,did you?”
“Shrewd.” Martinez’s lips pursed. “The Albanians have become a problem, one that only a faction of my size can quash.”
“They’ve tried to take over?”
“Irrelevant. By tomorrow, they’ll be crushed.”
I didn’t think I was the only one who heard his uncertainty about that feat. Eva stepped around the desk and settled herself on Martinez’s lap.
The act was that of a queen.
I recognized it well—Jen would have reacted similarly.
Respect deepening for the woman who had none of Martinez’s charm and was 100% venom, I flicked my attention between the pair of them.
