Page 69 of Fractured Allegiance
And walk toward the back exit like I didn’t just rewrite the outcome of tonight.
By the time I circle around the back of the warehouse and cut through the alley, Drazen’s already lighting a cigarette with fingers that don’t shake nearly enough.
He stands outside the black SUV we arrived in, blood spattered on one sleeve of his coat. Renzo is slumped in the back seat, pale, cradling his shoulder, swearing under his breath. Bishop’s nowhere in sight, so I assume he’s either being patched up or has been dumped somewhere to bleed in peace.
Dom is already back there, he leans against the hood, phone pressed to one ear, but his eyes track me the second I approach.
Drazen doesn’t look up.
I wait until the lighter clicks shut before speaking.
“Two buyers down. One ran. One neutralized before he could get a shot off.”
Drazen exhales. “You sure it was a buyer?”
“Wasn’t ours.”
He nods, still staring at the glowing end of the cigarette like it’s talking to him. Then he turns and finally faces me.
There’s a question in his eyes he doesn’t ask out loud.
The kind that doesn’t have a right answer.
“Lydia?” he says instead.
“She’s fine.”
“Of course she is.” He smiles. Tight. Performed. “Would’ve been a shame to lose her.”
That’s not a compliment. That’s inventory assessment.
He ashes the cigarette on the curb and lets it drop.
“I didn’t think they’d panic so easily,” he says.
Bullshit. He expected panic. He counted on it. He wanted to see who moved first. Who broke formation. Who revealed their tells.
And I didn’t.
Not in front of him.
Dom ends his call. Slides his phone into his coat pocket.
“Cleanup crew’s inbound,” he says. “No cops. No headlines. Just a burned deal and a few dead idiots.”
Drazen doesn’t respond. He just walks to the SUV and leans in, murmurs something to Renzo, then shuts the door and turns back.
“You hungry?” he asks me.
I shake my head.
He watches me a second longer than necessary, then shrugs and starts walking down the block like he’s decided I passed whatever exam he built into tonight.
But I know better.
There’s no passing.
Only delays.
