Page 205 of Roulette Rodeo
"And you know his?" Luca asks skeptically.
"I know enough," I confirm. "Three years in that place, you learn things. You hear things. Powerful men get careless around omegas they think are just decoration."
I lean forward slightly, despite the pull of my IV.
"Marnay has a shipment coming in next week. Not drugs—too traceable. Not guns—too regulated. Something much more valuable and much more damaging if it were to be... intercepted."
Luca's eyes sharpen with interest despite himself. "What kind of shipment?"
"The kind that involves documentation. Contracts. Proof of which government officials have been taking bribes, which judges have been bought, which cops have been covering up crimes." I smile coldly. "His insurance policy, basically. Keeps everyone in line because mutually assured destruction is a hell of a motivator."
"And you want me to what? Steal it?"
"Oh no," I laugh, but there's no humor in it. "You're going to buy it. Legitimately. Outbid everyone else at his little auction. And then you're going to turn it over to some very interested federal agents who've been trying to nail Marnay for years."
He stares at me. "That's insane. He'd know it was me. He'd?—"
"He'd assume you're trying to take over his territory. Alpha posturing, the usual. By the time he figures out your real plan, it'll be too late. The feds will have everything they need, and Marnay will be too busy trying to stay out of prison to worry about revenge."
"And if he doesn't go to prison?"
"Then he'll be too busy trying to survive all the people he's been blackmailing who suddenly don't have swords hanging over their heads," I point out. "Either way, he won't be our problem anymore."
Luca is quiet for a long moment, processing the plan. I can see him working through the angles, the risks, the potential benefits.
"Why should I trust you?" he finally asks.
"Because I have just as much to lose as you do if this goes wrong," I say simply. "And because despite everything, I think some part of you actually did care about Rafe once. Before Sophia, before the jealousy and competition. You were brothers."
Something flickers in his eyes—regret maybe, or just nostalgia for simpler times.
"This makes us even," he says finally. "You don't reveal the truth about Sophia, I handle Marnay, and then I disappear. We never speak again."
"Deal," I agree immediately. "Though you might want to have a conversation with your omega about maybe not publishing any more books that could be traced back to her supposed death. The prose style is very distinctive."
He stands abruptly, clearly done with this conversation. "The auction is Tuesday. I'll need details."
"You'll get them," I promise. "Poppy will drop off a package at your apartment tomorrow. Everything you need to know, including which federal agent to contact when you have the documents."
He heads for the door but pauses with his hand on the handle.
"How did you figure it out? About Sophia?"
I consider lying, but decide on the truth. "The book in the shrine. It was hollowed out, full of letters. Recent letters, postmarked from Europe. All in her handwriting, all addressed to 'My Savior.'" I shrug. "Plus the photo. Those eyes are distinctive, and I'd seen them recently. Just took me a while to place where—in the mirror of your apartment's lobby when I wasleaving that poker game months ago. A woman with dark hair instead of blonde, different makeup, but the same eyes."
"You saw her once, months ago, in a mirror, and remembered?"
"I survived three years in hell by noticing details that didn't fit," I tell him. "It's a hard habit to break."
He nods slowly, something like respect flickering across his features. "Rafe's lucky to have you."
"They all are," I correct. "Just like Sophia's lucky to have you, even if you're both terrible people who traumatized an entire pack for money and freedom."
"We all do what we have to for survival," he says quietly.
"No," I shake my head. "We all make choices. Some of us just make better ones than others."
He leaves without another word, the door closing with a soft click that sounds like finality.
