Page 53 of The Secrets We Keep

“Yes,” Matteo agreed. “But worth it if we can pull it off. And I think we can. We have plenty of time to plan it and an inside man to give us all the details.”

“We have to be careful with that,” Luca warned. “I don’t want to risk blowing their cover because you’re trigger-happy.”

“If he ends up blown, we’ll protect him.”

“Assuming you can get them out in time.”

“This is how we end it, Luca.” Matteo braced his hands on the edge of the desk. “Unless that’s not what you want anymore.”

Luca balled his hands into fists on his knees. “Obviously that’s what I want. It’s what we all want. But my contact has been loyal. I’d prefer not to throw them to the wolves.”

“Get him to coordinate which shipments we can hit in the next two weeks to do the most damage with the least amount of blowback. Can he do that?”

“Probably.”

“Good.” Matteo nodded as if it was settled. “Then there’s the Christmas party.”

“What Christmas party?” Carina asked.

“Restivo throws one every year.” Matteo’s grin was wolfish. “This year we’ve been invited. And I’ve got it on good authority that Gallo never misses.”

“It’ll be the perfect opportunity to rub elbows with his people,” Luca said.

“In a place where he has to watch himself,” Carina added, and Matteo nodded.

“Who’s invited exactly?” Dom wanted to know.

“The four of us and our plus ones should we choose to bring any.”

“Alexei in black tie,” Carina said, clapping her hands with a grin. “Excellent.”

“I’ll send you all the details. Just make sure everyone knows to be on their best behavior,” Matteo said, pinning first Dom and then Carina with a look.

Carina drew an X over her heart, and Dom rolled his eyes.

“Great. That’s all I have, so—”

“Actually, I have something else,” Luca said, watching Matteo closely. “Curious what you might know about several shell companies across Europe tied back to a corporation based in Bruges.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

She tapped her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, eyes flicking to the clock on the dash. The man she was here for had deviated from his normal routine. As a result, she’d spent the last hour watching three old women decorate a scraggly Christmas tree in front of a trinket shop while her target was balls deep in his mistress.

According to his credit card records, he drove from Catania to the small village of Trabia, halfway between Cefalù and Palermo, every two weeks. Once he arrived, he bought lunch at a little seafood place on the water and rented a hotel room across the street.

Today, however, he’d pulled even with the curb, climbed out, and jogged in the wrong direction. Sienna thought at first he might have made her tail, even though she was careful to keep her distance. It’s not like she needed to follow him. She knew where he’d end up either way. But she didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

She’d watched him stop in the middle of the sidewalk, eyes sweeping back and forth. His watchfulness made her nervous. But he wasn’t watching for her, face splitting into a wide grin when a brunette easily ten years his junior rushed into his arms.

They kissed, his hands sliding down to squeeze her ass, and Sienna reached for the door handle, prepared to follow them into the restaurant. But they’d turned and disappeared into the hotel instead.

She checked the clock again. One hour and eleven minutes ago.

The vial of hazelnut oil was burning a hole in her pocket. If they skipped lunch and she missed her window, she might not get another chance. She knew from Luca they were stepping up their assault. Planning multiple attacks to dig deeper into her uncle’s pockets.

This might all be over soon, and she wanted to take down as many of the bastards as she could before it was finished. It had to be today. Quick, clean, accidental.

The man she’d shot in the alley hadn’t raised a single red flag. Getting mugged and murdered with your dick out wasn’t all that uncommon in that area. As far as she could tell, there hadn’t been any internal chatter about it either. She needed this death to be as equally unremarkable.

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