Page 89

It was his lifelong dream to take him down one day, but he never got to that.

That’s why he’s so mad.

“Noa.” Fucking hell. My friend isn’t mad; he’s raging. “If you let me kill him, I would be forever in your debt.”

“So you really think we should attack the restaurant? Without any preparation? Without staking it out?” I’m being sarcastic; my team isn’t.

“I’m down!” Oliver is the first one to agree, who’d have guessed, and the rest of my team is giddy as well. That murderous gleam in their eyes couldn’t be masked even if they really tried. Without asking, Hana pulls up the camera footage from today and the last couple of days, and shares them with the group. Her facial recognition software goes through the footage quickly, and then we get two pings.

Evan and Lucas.

They have been seen going into the restaurant two days ago and today, a lot. Along with a couple of other guards, but my father is nowhere to be seen on the screen. That doesn’t mean he isn’t involved in whatever they are scheming.

“Is this live right now?” I ask Hana, and she confirms it.

“Yes, it is. They are not in the restaurant right now; two lowlife guards are. Give me a couple of minutes, and I’ll try to figure out when they will be there.”

I get up and go to my kitchen. The reason is twofold: to grab a glass of water and to get away for a bit. Being alone doesn’t last for long—Lana follows me. She perches herself up against the counter by letting her elbows rest on the tiles.

“What do you want?” I’m already irritated, which she can hear in my flat tone. When I look at her, she feigns concern. Her lower lip juts out in an exaggerated pout. Not sincere—almost theatrical.

Fucking hell.

“Who’s Emma? You reacted to that name like someone conjured up a ghost.” The worst thing is, she’s right. That doesn’t mean I have to give her the satisfaction of getting angry, that’s what she wants—getting a reaction out of me.

“I won’t tell you. You’d have to tie me up and force that answer out of me.” My eye contact is piercing through her, and now I’m daring her to say something.

“Is that an invitation? Because you know I find that hot.” Her voice is sugary sweet, and she’s dragging every word. Like she wants to prolong the banter between us. This is probably another manipulation tactic of hers, so I don’t take the bait.

“What has possessed you to flirt with me?” I brace myself against the counter behind me, while she stays where she is. The distance is doing us good; otherwise I’d have jumped her. Either to fuck her on this counter while everyone watches, or to slash her throat.

“Oh honey, if you think this is flirting, you haven’t seen nothing yet. I remember all the times you tried to flirt with me.” She twists a lock of her hair in her fingers. “It was laughable.”

So that’s what we’re doing.

I walk over to her and stand next to her, while she hasn’t moved an inch. She perks up and looks far in the distance. I come down to her level and whisper in her ear.

“It worked on you though. You might’ve lied about everything, but your body always…” I trail one finger from her neck down to the lower part of her back. “…trembled underneath my touch.”

My finger is drawing circles, waiting for her response. Her body betrays her with a slight shiver. A barely perceptible tremor runs through her before she locks every muscle back into place. Lana refuses to acknowledge the tension between us, staring ahead.

"You're confusing instinct with desire." She tells me through gritted teeth.

“And you’re confusing truth with delusion.” I stand up and return to my cup of water. The liquid travels down my throat all the way down. She watches my every move, anticipating what I’ll do next. I can’t do anything as Hana saunters over and joins Lana and me in the kitchen.

Hana sets her laptop down next to me, and she’s showing a bunch of tech mumbo-jumbo.

“I don’t understand any of this,” I say to her as I keep looking at numbers, lines, and other shit I can’t decipher.

“Fine.” She points to some more numbers. I look at her and lower my eyebrows.

“Please tell me what I’m looking at.” I plead with her.

She closes her laptop and crosses her arms. “I thought you went to MIT?”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.” She flashes me a blinding smile. “I hacked into everything I could find on the property, and found out that Evan and Lucas are coming to the restaurant tomorrow night.”