Page 67 of Knights Game

“No, it’s okay. I’ve been doing some work on the will. Turns out there was some left-over money,” I lie quickly. It’s amazing what the right motivation will do.

“Oh! That’s brilliant, Layla. You must feel like the weight of the world has just been lifted from your shoulders.”

More like the weight of the world added to it.

“Thanks for calling, Sylvia. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“Yes, take care of yourself.”

I hang up the phone and nausea overwhelms me; I lean forward and groan, breathing deeply.

How can I get out of this?

He can’t exactly retract that money, and the bastard knows it.

This is what Luca was waiting for, his move, what his incentive would be. I can’t say no to this. Not when the debts are paid.

But can I do what Luca needs me to do?

Feed Levi information, pretending to be Luca’s doting new woman? As soon as my usefulness ends, who knows what Luca will do with me.

Whichever way I look at it, I’m trapped.

24

Luca

It’s 2.30 p.m., andexhaustion creeps into my body. I’m running on fumes, and I need to crash before the dinner tonight. I need to be on my A-game.

I’ve not seen Layla since I sent her off with Rome to get what she needs from her apartment and a dress for the dinner, but I’ve been kept updated with their movements via Roman's moaning.

One more meeting, then I can go home and sleep for a few hours.

Henry Bishop, my IT guy, walks into my office as I spark up a smoke.

“Hi, Luca.” He closes the door. He looks relaxed, in jeans and a long sleeve Henley. His hair is a mess, no doubt from tugging the roots while he deals with whatever IT problem is in front of him.

He flops into the chair opposite my desk and opens the laptop, pushing his glasses up his nose, his bright green eyes alert and intelligent.

“I wanted to run something past you,” I say, not bothering with small talk.

I fill Henry in on Layla’s idea, using a Deliveroo type model to distribute the drugs. He listens intently and thinks it through.

“It’s doable,” he says finally, shifting forward. “It will need to be hosted on the dark web, with no fixed IP address. Could have it set up like our current network. IP will refresh every 60 seconds. People will have to have a VPN to access the app, to protect themselves and us.”

“Deliveries?”

“Could be through one of our more trusted distributers. Would need to be a café that already has good traction through the app.”

“Risk?”

“Medium. Doing a pilot first will allow us to see how the model works and streamline if we want to scale. It’s a brilliant idea! Piggybacking onto a well-known business model.”

“Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ones.” I rub my lips. “What about the drivers?”

“Could be standard Deliveroo drivers. The product will be packed in food containers and sealed. They deliver the product thinking it’s food.”

I grin. Fucking brilliant. Why hadn’t we thought of it sooner? So simple. We have just extended the number of our drug dealers to completely oblivious delivery employees.

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