He studies me for a long moment. Then he waves at the guard and whispers something into his ear. The guard leaves. For what seems like an eternity, there’s complete silence. What now? Amalia just stares back at him.
Finally, the door opens, and a group of men enters.
“Point him out,” Dominic says.
I get up and look at the men. Half of them I recognize from the gala, and the rest I don’t. But the potential mole is right there.
“Him,” I say.
The man’s face goes pale, and he opens his mouth. “Boss, I don’t... I was just—”
“Save it.” Dominic nods to the two nearest guards, and they grab the guy by the arms. “Take him to the basement. I’ll be there soon.”
They drag him out, and the guy’s heels scrape the floor the whole way as he screams and begs. Amalia watches the door close behind them, her face giving nothing away, but her fingers curl against her thigh. I lower myself back into the chair next to her.
Dominic sighs. “I had a feeling something was off about him. You just confirmed my fears. You could’ve kept this to yourselves, but you came to me.”
“We figured it might be important,” I say.
He folds his hands on the desk. “So, what do you want? No one does me a favor without expecting one back. Don’t insult me by pretending otherwise.”
“There’s a shipment coming through the port at the end of the month,” Amalia says. “We’ve got buyers who’d pay well, but we don’t have the route or the timing locked down. We were hoping you’d help us out.”
Dominic eyes her carefully. What the hell is she doing? We haven’t exactly discussed this, but I trust her anyway.
“That’s a lot to ask,” Dominic says.
“Well, you’re the one who asked what we wanted,” she says, giving him a small smile. “I figured you’d respect a straight answer over a polite one.”
He laughs, and his shoulders relax. “All right. I can put you on the schedule. Talk to my man on your way out and he’ll get you the details.” He gets to his feet, which means we’re done here. “It’s good doing business with people who understand how this works.”
We shake his hand, and his grip is firm and friendly, and I hate him a little more for how easy he makes this whole thing look.
“DO YOU WANT TO TELLme what that was about?” I ask once we get home. “Why ask him for a shipment? To confirm what we already know? How is that going to help us?”
She glances at me. “Because now we know exactly when and where.”
I furrow my brow. “You want to attack our own shipment?”
“Well, his and ours too. Hopefully, he’ll be there, and we’ll know exactly when to hit.”
“And you came up with that idea in his office?”
She nods, a smile creeping up her face.
I place my hand on the back of her neck and kiss her. “That’s a damn good plan.”
She stares at me, her lips parted. I just kissed her as if it’s a thing I get to do, and I didn’t even have to think about it.
Oh fuck.
Now what?
Chapter 22
MATTEO
“I NEED TO TALK TO MYmen,” Amalia says. “Everything’s ready for the attack.”
