Page 112 of Wicked Intention

Griff shrugged. “Sue me.” He looked around, took a swig from his beer bottle, and added, “You couldn’t grab a better table than this? My back is to the room.”

“Do you see another open table?” Finn tried to keep his voice even. Griff was the one who flashed attitude, but his own mood was snarly as fuck this evening.

“Why the hell is this place so damn busy at 1700 anyway? Did they start a happy hour?”

“1720,” he corrected.

Griff scowled at him. “Happy hour was a joke.”

“Aren’t jokes supposed to be funny?” Finn’s mood started to lighten. Giving Griff shit was always a good time.

“Asshole,” Griff said amiably. “Anything happening?”

“No. My phone calls are not being returned, and I haven’t seen him anywhere this week. My guess he’s busy setting up an auction.”

“Fuck.”

“The assassination made things a thousand times harder.” Finn took a swig from his beer. “What do you know?”

Griff leaned back. “We got five of six,” he said, referring to the high-tech weapons Ramos had bought earlier. “Don’t know how long we’ll be able to stick in there to recover the last one, though. Things are intense. We’re reaching the point of the risk being too high for the reward.”

Finn nodded. He wasn’t surprised. “If I had to bet on who plugs the power vacuum in the cartel, my money is on Vargas.”

“Safe bet. He’s showing a ruthlessness that makes Ramos look like a humanitarian. You know anything about that dude?”

“Not much. I’d lay odds that he’s done more than a few hits in his time, but Ramos trusted him more than the rest of his lieutenants. That’s not saying a lot since he didn’t have faith in any of his men.”

Pushing his dark hair out of his eyes, Griff said, “Word is that someone tipped off Bianchi about where the exchange was taking place. It’s how he was able to get a sniper and the rest of his men in position. Maybe our dude, Vargas, was looking for a promotion.”

“Or any of Ramos’ other top men or someone outside his org that he managed to piss off. He almost blew my deal for the merchandise by being an asshole to our supplier.”

Griff’s sigh was audible. “So, basically, our list of potentials is everyone.”

“You got it.” Finn had a feeling this information might help them take down Torres, and he trusted his instincts. He wanted the intel. He wanted to know if the setup had solely been to take out Ramos or if the action was intended to get the weapons back on the market. It might be a convoluted way to go about it, but Silva and Torres didn’t break deals once they were agreed upon—reputation was everything in the illegal arms world.

The only way someone else was getting the shipment of precision-guided rifles was if Ramos dropped out of the sale. And the drug lord wouldn’t have done that. No fucking way. He’d wanted those weapons badly enough to set his own tangled plot in motion. One that had ensnared Tia Izel and Zo.

Zo. He took a deep breath. Damn, he wanted to be home with her. He wanted to have the overdue discussion about their future. For someone who was trained to be observant, he’d sure dropped the ball here. Finn had met her parents, he’d watched her interactions with them, and he’d seen her fucking cry every time they visited, for God’s sake. And yet he’d thought she was more whole than he was. More able to express emotion.

He’d told Ski once that the biggest problem he and Zo had was how much alike they were. Even he hadn’t realized how true the statement was. Finn wanted to hold her and tell her she was perfect, that she didn’t need to contort who she was to please anyone else, especially not him. He wanted—

“Stony, would you pay attention and not let your thoughts wander to your firecracker? My back is exposed.”

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I lost focus.” His loquita had done that to him from the instant he’d laid eyes on her.

Shaking his head, Griff asked, “She’s not flying in soon, right? You did get her to promise to stay out of this?”

“Yes, she gave me her word.” Griff relaxed. “You’re just relieved she won’t be down here to bust your ass. Zo doesn’tlet you get away with shit.” Finn’s lips quirked up. A lot of people were intimidated by JT’s surliness, but not his loquita.

“It’s because you lied to her and said I’m sweet. She told me.”

“I never said sweet.”

Griff waved off his comment. “Words to that effect, then.”

“I don’t know how to break this to you, but Zo’s never been wary of you. I only confirmed what she already knew.”

JT frowned.

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