Page 26 of Ice

“And therefore confirm their existence,” Nic finished.

“Exactly. And if needed, we’ll have our guys on the force lead the investigation in another direction.”

“Why would I do this for you?”

I hesitated, unsure of what angle I wanted to play. “I’ll owe you.”

“You’ll owe me,” he confirmed.

“Yes.” I tried not to let my irritation seep into my tone, but I knew I’d failed when he laughed.

“That’s your play here?”

Again, I hesitated, thinking about Maverick’s plan…but I didn’t want to go there unless it was my last resort. “Yes. That’s my pitch.”

“Hmm, to be honest, you’re not asking much. And if it were Kye, I would do it without the quid pro quo. But there is something I want from you.”

“Already?” I hadn’t expected him to call in his chips immediately.

“Si.”

“What is it?”

“Your brother.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your brother is Nathan Gallagher, corretto?”

“Yes. What could you possibly want with Nathan?”

“As it happens, my son is obsessed with hockey, and he is a huge fan of your brother. I have connections, but they only get me perks at the stadium unless I’m willing to use…let’s call it underhanded techniques. I try not to resort to that outside of my business.”

“I understand.”

“If you’ll ask your brother to come to dinner and spend a couple of hours with my son, I’ll make sure your problem is handled.”

“You want my brother to come to dinner?” I asked incredulously, not trusting that it could be this simple.

“That’s it. I’ll be my son’s hero. When you have kids, you’ll understand the magnitude of that.”

“I can imagine,” I murmured, thinking about a dark-haired, green-eyed little baby and hoping that Marnie was already carrying our son or daughter.

“Do we have a deal?”

“I’ll have Nathan call you.”

“Bene. Oh, I have one more condition. Mi dispiace, I should have mentioned it earlier.”

My brow furrowed at the serious note in his voice.

“In order for this to work, you’ll have to let my man take out your target.”

“What the fuck?” I growled. “You’re asking me to step back and let someone else dispose of the man threatening my woman?”

“I understand your need for vengeance and to be the one to cause this asshole pain, but in order for this to work, you need a trail that doesn’t lead back to you. One that my man knows how to leave to ensure it also disappears at the right moment.”

“Nic—”

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