Page 48 of Deadly Protector
He had to play this carefully, walk a thin line of truth. “We hadn’t gotten that far in discussions since I turned him down flat. I’m not interested in running any jobs. I’ve been out of the game a long time anyway. I’m out of practice.” He gave a quick, self-deprecating smile. “I like my life the way it is. No complications.”
“Hmm.” She faced forward then, ordered her driver to make another turn, this time into a parking lot. “It’s my understanding that you occasionally work for Red Stone, so you’re not completely out of practice.”
“It’s just contract work, very small jobs.” He glanced down the strip of shops, recognized the area. Irene owned at least a few of the businesses in this strip, maybe all of them.
Her driver pulled up to another SUV.
“Tell me about the job,” she ordered Ryba.
Ryba shot him a nervous glance, then dove into his plan to rob someone in Fort Lauderdale. Someone he knew had seen something interesting on social media—on an influencer’s channel. Some woman had been at a house party and taking videos, and in one of the videos a very valuable painting that had gone missing a few years ago was in it. Could be a fake, but Ryba didn’t think so since the video had recently been deleted.
Irene tapped her fingernail against her leg as she listened. Once Ryba was done, she said, “Very interesting.” Then she knocked on the window twice. “Thank you for bringing this job to me. Well done.” Her tone was too icy to be sincere. Clearly she had no respect for her nephew.
Ryba’s door opened and one of her men nodded at him to get out.
“You stay,” she said to Dimitri. “We have more to discuss.”
Damn it.
Once her nephew was gone—shoved into the back of another SUV—she let out a sigh. “He’s such an idiot,” she muttered, making her driver laugh, the first sound he’d made. “It’s a shame we’re related.” She turned back to Dimitri, her expression speculative now. “How on earth did you get on my nephew’s radar?”
He just shrugged.
She watched him closely, her eyes narrowing slightly. So maybe she didn’t know about Zamira—and Dimitri wanted to keep it that way.
Then she huffed out a breath, leaned back in her seat and looked out the windshield. “It’s actually a good idea. A really good job. I’ll need to do some more research but you will be part of the crew.”
He gritted his teeth, knowing that if he said no right here in the SUV, he risked his life. He could take Irene on, but there was no guarantee her driver wouldn’t simply turn and shoot him. And he couldn’t see the guy well enough from this angle. “I’m out of the game.”
“Even so, you will do it. I’ll be bringing in outsiders for this one, no one linked to the city. You’re a good choice since you’re not active and you look like you’ve gone straight from the outside. There will be no fallout from law enforcement.” She nodded, her mind clearly made up. “Yes, this is a fantastic idea.”
He had no choice but to say yes, at least for now. “I don’t do weapons and I won’t be party to hurting anyone. I’ll only work this if no one is home. No one is hurt. Period. And I would prefer not to work with Ryba.” Not that he thought that was actually on the table, he just wanted to be clear.
“I know your reputation,” she said dismissively as her driver pulled back into the parking lot for the strip club. “And I’m shipping Kurt up to Pensacola. He’s useless and I want him out of my hair.”
She hadn’t actually agreed to his terms. But at least she wasn’t killing him and she was getting rid of Ryba. For now. Unless Pensacola was code for “getting rid of completely.” Which wasn’t a terrible thing.
“I’ll be in touch,” she added as his door was wrenched open from the outside, dismissing him.
Gareth handed him the cloth bag with his weapons and stepped back, letting him out.
He got out and slid into the front seat of his SUV but didn’t start the engine. Instead he watched as Irene’s driver pulled away, then he texted Isa.
Then he did a sweep of his vehicle, making sure nothing explosive had been planted on it. That had been a slim possibility but he wanted to check anyway. When he got home, he’d check it for trackers thoroughly. Irene would know where he lived so if she had planted one, he wasn’t worried about her knowing the location.
That was already an unfortunate reality.
Once he was done, he called Zamira, needing to hear her voice.
Thankfully, she answered right away, relief in her voice as she said, “Dimitri.”
He felt the punch of his own relief. “I’m okay.” For now.
