Page 40 of Mob Bride

“Do you think that’s wise? Do you think you can get out of it?” God bless this woman and her curiosity.

“I don’t know. Part of me definitely thinks I shouldn’t. I don’t want to be in some small, enclosed spot with him while we’re in a rocky place in this relationship. But the other part of me knows not going would only make it far, far worse. I’m torn between the two, but I think I’m going to have to concede and go.”

The fuck she is.

“What about the other syndicates? Are there any major players involved?”

She doesn’t hesitate, at least not outwardly, but there’s a moment where her left hand flexes in the dark. I don’t know if this woman sees, but I can because of the streetlights behind them.

“No, not yet. Only the bratva when they showed up at the lumberyard. Besides that, it’s been quiet. I really think Bartlomiej is on everybody’s shit list. I’m sure the other syndicates heard about what happened at the lumberyard and are keeping their distance.”

“Well, we need him to be in the same place at the same time as the bratva, or we need to get a new wiretap on him. Can you slide that in for us?”

“I can try, but the man brings his phone and practically sleeps with it instead of me.”

Practically sleeps with it instead of me? They share a bed. Does that mean they’re not having sex? Just the thought of him touching her—and worse, her touching him—makes me want to hurl. But there’s nothing I can do right now. There’s no point in wasting energy on things I can’t change immediately.

I force myself to focus on Carrie describing being in bed with the piece of shite.

“I’ll see if I can get to his phone tonight once he falls asleep. He’s a pretty deep sleeper. He often lets it fall next to him since he works on it after I pretend to fall asleep. I’ll try to change out the SIM card and put the tap on it.”

“Alright, we have to move this forward, Carrie. This is taking too long. They’re going to pull you out if we don’t make some headway.”

“I know, but I’ve been in this too long to give up at this point. I haven’t put my life in danger for this many months to just be told, ‘Nope, sorry, we’re done.’”

“I know that, but you also know that’s not how the agency works. You can’t have an indefinite amount of time.”

“I do, but if we can score this and not only bring down the Polish but the Russians as well, then it’s just steppingstones until we can move on.”

Does she really mean that, or is this just playing her partner to buy more time? Would she go after my family next?

“Who do you have your sights set for the next family to target? I think it should be the O’Rourkes.”

“No, definitely not them. I don’t think they have enough going on right now to make a difference if we bust them.” She’s quick to reject us as her next target.

“They always have something going on.”

“Yeah, I know, but I really think the Diazes or the Mancinellis would be a better use of our resources. You know I’m not able to go in again, so we need somebody who’s a fluent Spanish speaker or somebody who’s got Italian. Nobody has Gaelic. At least not yet. All these families switch back to their native languages whenever they want to speak in private. That’s why I had to learn Polish.”

“True, but I still think the O’Rourkes would be our next best target.”

“That might be what you believe, Angela, but I’m the one who picked the Poles, and so far it’s been a good play. It’s only been the last few weeks that things have gotten complicated.”

“Yeah, ever since you got beaten up.”

It hangs in the air, and it almost sounds like an accusation. But Carrie doesn’t flinch. I can see her face now that she’s moved to have more of the light from the buildings beyond her shining on her face.

Does she know I’m here? Can she tell I’m listening? Did she do that so I can see her?

I don’t think so. I don’t think she has any clue I’m listening, but I think she wants to see her handler better to get an easier read on what’s happening.

“That was a mild setback, but it’s not left me the worse for wear. Bartlomiej has been more attentive to me and more forgiving. He’s been glued to me whenever I’m over there. If I can get him even more on the hook, he won’t think I’m a threat. I think he’ll propose soon. He asked me to move in with him the other day.”

What the ever-loving fuck?

There’s no way that’s happening.

Again, that jealousy that leads to anger boils in me, clawing to rise to the surface. I’m not accustomed to feeling jealousy like this. My entire life there’s been five other guys I’ve shared everything with, and I never hesitated to do it.

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