“I don’t expect you to,” he said curtly, and he meant it. “What did the letter say?”
Zaria handed over a folded piece of paper. “Vaughan wants another meeting,” she said as Kane scanned it, gleaning precisely that. “And he expects me not to come empty-handed.”
“Which means he’s telling you to bring the ledger.” Kane lifted his gaze to hers. “I thought you said he gave you until next week.”
“He did. I have no idea why he’s changed his mind.”
“You’re certaindon’t come empty-handedrefers to the ledger? He hasn’t asked you for anything else?”
Zaria shook her head. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Nothing. Vaughan wants you to meet his people—when, tomorrow night?” Kane checked the letter again, confirming. “You simply don’t go. Problem solved. As long as you and Julian stay here, none of the Seven Dials crew are going to come after you. Not unless they’re looking for a suicide mission.”
“You’re forgetting the part where Vaughan threatened to report us to the coppers if I disappoint or double-cross him.” Panic edged Zaria’s voice, but she kept it mostly in check. “Is that not the very thing we’re trying to avoid? I have to show up to that meeting, Kane, or Jules and I are screwed. Which means you and Fletcher are screwed, because there is azeropercent chance I don’t incriminate you both.”
Kane had little doubt she meant it. At the same time, though, he was sure it wouldn’t come to that. “But you have another suggestion,” he said. “Don’t you?”
Zaria’s indignation seemed to falter. “What makes you say that?”
“Give me some credit. It’s one of the most common manipulation tactics: Outline a hypothetical scenario you know the other person would do anything to avoid, then follow up with whatever you’re actually proposing. Works every time. Well,” he amended, tilting his head to one side and then the other, “seventy percent of the time.”
Zaria looked as though she might argue, then evidently thought better of it. “Fine. You’re right. I do have another plan.”
“And as long as it doesn’t involve anyone going to prison, I would love to hear it.”
“You let me go to that meeting. Hear me out,” she added, probably in response to whatever Kane’s face was doing. “You and Fletcher come along. I always meet with the same two crew members—a man and a young woman. They’ll be easy enough to overpower. You two watch from a distance, then do just that. We get them to lead us to wherever Vaughan is, or else tell us where he can be found. Then you can go there and kill him.”
Kane digested this, vaguely bemused. “Just like that?”
Zaria shrugged. “Well, you can decide what to do with the information once you have it.”
“And what if—as I suspect will be the case—this man and young woman aren’t interested in revealing Vaughan’s location? Will you be content to let me coax it out of them?”
Her tone was wry. “I assume bycoax, you meantorture?”
“That depends.”
“I don’t care what you do,” Zaria said. “I want Vaughan out of my life. You want him out of yours.” She was leaning across the desk now, her hands splayed atop it. She never looked away, and all at once, Kane wasn’t certain who had the power in this negotiation.
He did know one thing, though: He liked that she didn’t shy away. Liked that—this time, at least—she hadn’t balked from the reminder of what he was capable of. What did it say about him, that he coveted the sheen of violence in her eyes?
“Okay,” he decided. “It’s not a half-bad plan. We’ll see it through.”
“Really?” Zaria faltered, as if she’d braced for an argument and wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “I mean, good. I think it makes sense.”
“You’re right. It does.”
“What’s the catch?”
He glanced up from where he was rummaging through a drawer. “What?”
“The catch, Kane.” Zaria watched him from beneath dark lashes, rounding the side of the desk. “You never agree with me this easily.”
“This might come as a surprise, Miss Mendoza, but Iamcapable of acknowledging when someone else is right.”
“Are you?”
Kane lifted his chin. They were mere inches apart—Zaria could have reached out and taken him by it. She smelled like gunpowder and something vaguely floral. Even seated, Kane wasn’t much below her eye level, but her presence was suffocating.
