Page 74 of They All Own Me

Chapter 38

Dominic

From inside the surveillance van,I watch Thomas hand over the briefcase to our decoy. Too fucking easy. There's no way he doesn't have some kind of brain damage as stupid as he is.

My phone vibrates - Esteban.

"It's done," I say into the phone, keeping my voice low. "The money's been transferred exactly as planned."

"Excellent work." Esteban's satisfaction comes through clearly. "Check the fucking briefcase when you get it. I wouldn't put it past the dumbass to put monopoly money in there."

Connor opens the door and hops in the front seat, the briefcase in hand. "So what now, boss? What about Tatum?"

"Do whatever you want with her," Esteban says dismissively. "Return her, keep her, I don't care. Just make sure there's no trace back to our organization."

I exchange glances with Isaac in the rearview mirror. We both know returning Tatum to that bastard isn't an option we're willing to consider.

"Understood," I tell him. "We'll handle it."

"It's all here boss," Connor says as he closes the briefcase.

"Excellent work gentleman."

I end the call with Esteban and toss my phone onto the dashboard. Isaac shifts forward between the seats.

"So what happens when this is all over?" he asks, running a hand through his beard, "with Tatum, I mean."

I run my fingers through my hair, watching Thomas's Mercedes disappear around the corner. "She's free to do whatever she wants. That was the deal."

"Yeah, but..." Connor hesitates. "What if she wants to stay?"

The question hangs in the air. I think about how different the house feels with her there - the smell of fresh coffee in the morning, actual home-cooked meals instead of takeout, someone to call us out on our bullshit.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" I ask carefully.

"Nah." Connor's lips quirk up. "Place runs better with her around. And she's not afraid of any of this." He gestures vaguely at our surveillance setup. "Most people would've run screaming by now."

"Or tried to turn us in," Isaac adds. "She's different."

"She fits," Connor says simply. "With us. With everything."

I nod slowly. "Then if she wants to stay, she stays. Simple as that."

"So, we gonna talk about it?" Issac says from the backseat.

I shift in the drivers seat. "About what? The fact that we've all been with her?"

"Yeah, that." Connor's piercing glints as he leans forward. "What're we gonna do?"

I grip the steering wheel, considering our options. "We need to give her a choice. It's her life we're playing with here."

"Agreed," Isaac nods. "She deserves to know everything."

"Including that we know about each other?" Connor asks.

"I imagine she's already figured that out, she's not dense." I release the wheel and turn to face them both. "Look, we've got two clear paths here. Either we let her walk - give her thefreedom to start fresh somewhere else, maybe even go back to Thomas if that's what she wants."

"Bullshit," Connor says.

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