Page 67 of The Prizes We Win
“I got a notification while you guys were,getting ready for bed, that Frank Miller was trying to get into the building.”
“The janitor?” Enzo asks.
Joe’s face lights up. “Oh, I love Frank. He always said hi to me when I walked into the lobby in the morning.”
Enz remains completely lost. Not that I blame him. “Why did that get you to check the cameras?”
“Because I got a notification on my system that he was pronounced dead this morning. I get one any time any of our employees’ names are listed in police logs or news stories. Police found him hanging from a bridge.”
Joe brings her hand to her mouth. “Did he have a family?”
“No, but I just looked into his finances.” I pull up his bank statements on my screens. “What he did have was a shit ton of gambling debt apparently. He took out a loan with the Russians and never paid it back. Looks like the Novikovs came to collect.”
“How convenient for them,” Enzo mumbles.
I spin my chair and cross my hands over my chest. “You’re telling me.”
“How many are there?” Dante asks, looking behind me.
“Andrei, Maxim, and looks like eight more.”
A regretful sigh leaves his mouth before he asks, “How many did they get?”
I turn around, hit a couple of keys on my computer, and bring up a variety of feeds. Joe gasps at the images of our dead security guards. “One in the security office, two in the lobby, and one on our floor.”
“Is there a reason we’re not running out the door?” Enzo’s eyes are wide. Dante, already understanding, scrubs his hand over his face as Luca and I stare at Enzo. Suddenly, it dawns on him. “They want us to go there?”
“Yeah,” Luca answers.
“Looks like they have had enough waiting it out, too,” I add.
Enzo leans in to take a closer look at the damage on my screen.“What if they leave before we get there?”
“They won’t,” I say. “They wouldn’t have done something so bold if they didn’t want us to show up. And even if they wantedto leave, they couldn’t.” Joe, Dante, and Enzo look at me in confusion and I pull up more security camera feeds.
“You have them locked on our floor?” Joe asks as she narrows her eyes at the screen. “Is he sitting on my couch? Ugh, and he used my coffee machine!” Dante side-eyes her, and she curls her lips in. “Right. Sorry. Not important.”
Looking entirely too eager, Enzo asks, “So, what’s the plan?”
Luca looks down at me, then back to the three of them, before a devious grin takes over his face, one that’s usually reserved for Enzo. “Looks like we’re going to work.”
44
Josephine
“Are you sure you’re okay enough to do this?” I ask Enzo quietly, despite the five of us being in an elevator and knowing full well that Luca, Dante, and Sebastian can hear me.
His eyes darken with hunger, and I know the answer before he even says it. “Sweetheart, nothing could stop me from doing this.” But then he grins, and the mischievous light is back in his eye. “Plus, I’m feeling… rejuvenated.”
I roll my eyes playfully but take him at his word. Because, as much as I wanted to lock him in the apartment, I know he has every right to be here. More so than the rest of us. And if the guys are willing to trust me and my abilities enough to be here, then I need to trust that Enzo knows what he’s doing.
“I would tell you to be careful,” Luca murmurs as he looks at Enzo. “But I know I’d just be wasting my breath.”
Reaching up, Enzo runs his hand down the back of Luca’s head. “Now you’re catching on, Amico.”
“But you.” Luca points his finger at me. “You be careful.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I dramatically roll my eyes before shooting him a wink.
