Page 37 of Unexpected Temptation

He grunts. “Don’t push your luck.”

I stare at him. After a long pause, he waves a hand. “I’ll check with the bosses, asshole.”

That’s fine. He can call me anything he wants just as long as he doesn’t say anything about Maya.

Once he’s gone, I sit at my desk. Tank calls a minute later.

“That was a hell of a lot, T,” he says. “He gave alotaway. We need to get that shed mic’d and camera’d up to the eyeballs for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“What was that stuff about Maya at the end? I know you want to help her, but?—”

“Just leave it,” I snap. “I don’t know why. She doesn’t deserve this crap. All this shit life’s throwing at her. I’ve known her for a few days, but the first time I saw

her …”

Damn, when she was standing at that window, a silhouette in the night, her shape drew me in as Loki yapped and ran toward her. Loki’s a good dog. He found his way to a woman with love in her heart and some fierce passion in her soul.

“She’s a good person, Tank.”

“I’m sure she is, but maybe cool off him some. We need him to relax around you, or we won’t get shit on the shipments.”

“And your office is willing to fund all this?” I say.

“Fund what? A few cameras. A few mics. We can handle this ourselves.”

“So we won’t have backup?”

“We don’t need it,” he says, hanging up. “Trust me …” The door opens, and he walks in, his phone in one hand and holding an electronic tablet in the other. “We can get everything we need. I’ll take it to the chief if I have to. We can get these pricks.”

I run my hand through my hair, walk to the office window, and look down at Winston lying on his back, the bulldog lounging as Max, the retriever, eagerly licks at his face folds. Usually, Loki would be down there, barking and causing a ruckus.

“Are we getting them, though?” I say, turning back to Tank. “If we manage to get some frontline troop like Carlo shifting a few kilos of cocaine, is that a win? These bastards will burn everything I have once they find out I’m moving against them.”

“They won’t find?—”

“The second we take this to your boss, the Mob knows. That’s just the way it is. There will be a leak somewhere. Somebody will see a memo they shouldn’t have or overhear a conversation. It’s that easy.”

“What’re you saying, eh, T?”

“Why do you think I shaved half my hair off at five a.m.? Why do you think I’m wearing a suit? I’m going to launch an operation on these lowlifes.”

“Oh, T.” Tank buries his face in his hands for a second, groaning. “Don’t say this to me, please. Remember who I am andwhatI am now. Goddamn it.”

“It’s the only way to make them stop.”

“So you kill them all?”

“Every Trentini who matters dies. Yeah, that’s the plan. Look me in the eye and tell me it won’t work.”

“You think that’s why I’m pissed?” he snaps, walking right up to me. “Itwillwork, and it’ll be a bloodbath. For what? For the street thugs to go on believing that violence is the way it’s done in this city.”

“I don’t think they need me to tell them that.”

“We need these men to fear thelaw,” Tank snaps. “They need to see us and think twice. Otherwise, it’s just a cycle.”

“We’ve both dished out our fair share of violence,” I growl.

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