Page 30 of Coerced Queen

“It’s not as much the supply as the kickbacks we need,” I point out.

“Don’t I know that.”He gives me a dark look.“One more week, and then I tell Sav myself.”

“Don’t worry.”I put on a bright smile.“I’ll talk to him.”

He studies me from under his lashes.“Promise?”

I cross my fingers under the desk.“Promise.”

“Okay,” he says, not sounding convinced.

“How’s the informant situation going?”

“Not fast enough.”He grabs an apple from the corner of my desk and throws it in the air before catching it.“We need more intel.”He continues with loathing.“Raphael is up to something.”

My back goes rigid at the mention of that name.“Up to what exactly?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

He’s keeping something from me.“Tell me, Dante.I have a right to know if we’re in danger.”I glance at my sweet baby girl who sleeps like an angel.Tersia’s words come back to me when I say, “I need the facts to assess the risks.”

Dante is quiet for a moment.He looks at Claire, and then he says, “I’ll tell you if it’s dangerous to come to work.”

“Tell me,” I say, my voice carrying stronger.

He brushes the hair back from his forehead and stalks a few steps away before abruptly facing me again.“One of my guys said Raphael received a shipment of arms, but we don’t know what or how many he got.”

I go cold.“He’s getting ready for war.”

The glint in Dante’s brown eyes is calculated.“He already started it.”

And now he’s preparing to finish it.

“Sav’s got a handle on it,” he says, biting into the apple, but under his casual demeanor, I sense his concern.

“Why is it so important that we know what’s in the shipment?”

“To know what we’re up against.”

To know if we stand a chance.“What if we’re outnumbered and out-weaponed?”

Dante’s grin is downright scary.“Then we buy more weapons.”

With money we don’t have.As it is, I downscaled and cut costs to the point of shooting ourselves in the foot.The business needs money to make money.And I have a back payment to a lethal loan shark coming up.

No matter from what angle I look at it, it seems we’re very probably, most likely fucked.

ChapterThirteen

Saverio

Ineed to change.

It’s almost time for Anya to come home.

I showered in the downstairs bathroom after my physiotherapy session, but I’m still wearing the same sweaty T-shirt and tracksuit pants.

Admitting defeat, I hoist myself into the wheelchair that the therapist purposefully left in the study and wheel my ass to the elevator.

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