Page 71 of Corrupted Deception

I scoffed. “I don’t do ‘sloppy’,fratellone.”

But he was right. A hit like this would normally require days of careful planning.

“We still have Pablo,” I said while I tried to gauge just how much intel the man would have.

Vito shook his head. “He was sent on a veritable suicide mission,Signor,which means he was on Mendoza’s shit list, not privy to the boss’s secrets.”

“True,” Deo and I conceded at the same time.

“But he’ll have enough,” Aurelio interjected. “Even men who are low on the totem often know where those higher up tend to congregate.”

I nodded. “If we assume all of Mendoza’s men will be well-armed and well-guarded, and we proceed accordingly, then all we need are locations.”

“I’ll get them from our visitor,” Aurelio said, gripping my shoulder. “You should stay with the girl,Signor,” he said, nodding back toward the warehouse.

It wasn’t the right move. What I needed was distance from the woman inside. But she was in there, hurting, because she’d fried up a parking lot full of men to try to keep them from filling me full of bullets.

“Si, I’m going to make sure she’s all right.”

Aurelio nodded approvingly and dropped his hand, but as he and Vito headed back to have a conversation with Pablo, I could feel Deo’s wary gaze on me.

“It’s not like you to hand off ‘conversations’,” he mused. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing here?” he asked, inclining his head in the direction of the warehouse.

“Not a fucking clue,” I admitted, four words that tasted bitter on my tongue.

He scoffed, shaking his head. “That’s what scares me.”

Me too.

Chapter Twenty-One

Charlotte Santoro

Charter a plane. Kill Silva. Get mydad back.

That sounded like a pretty damned good idea to me.

I swept the clothes on the floor out of the way and yanked the suitcase out from under my bed. It was already packed. It was always packed.

Ray whined as I dropped the heavy luggage down on my bed and adjusted the hem of my dress—the too-short, skin tight dress with the plunging neckline that was sure to help me get past Silva’s security. Silva had a never-ending stream of ‘escorts’ in and out of his estate. All I had to do was knock one of them out of the lineup and take her place.

Easy.

Hell, I couldn’t quite remember why I hadn’t done this sooner.

“Don’t worry, buddy; you’re coming with me,” I told Ray, pausing long enough to give him a reassuring pet.

It wasn’t like there was anyone I could leave him with. Cielo, maybe?

“You two seem to have become awfully good friends,” I mused with just the slightest hint of accusation in my tone.

Ray looked up at me with his big, innocent eyes.

“All right, I get it. He makes it hard to walk away, doesn’t he?” It was one of Cielo’s most annoying features.

Ray shoved his head beneath my hand, looking for more pets.

I indulged him for a moment, but I had calls to make and some very unpleasant poisons to prep.

---