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One look and I knew my consigliere and I were on the same page. Now for my underboss. “That work for you?”
“Yeah,” Dominic agreed.
Perfect. Grey took his phone back and ran a hand over my shoulder gently. “I’ll call the other families and see if anyone can help, but I doubt they will.”
So did I. Two-Bit had made sure he wasn’t on the line for anything Marcosa-related, and stealing from us and Kincaid definitely was.
The thought that Cash knew about that little clause wiggled its way into my brain, flashing like a neon sign. It made me wonder if he’d done more than steal our CIs. Had he managed to infiltrate the other families as well? I wasn’t sure, but I knew I’d need to check soon. If he’d weaseled his way into the families, he was closer to owning the city than I thought, and our window of opportunity to avoid a war was closed.
“I’ll help,” Dominic said. “We’ll get it done faster with both of us checking.”
“Keep it small. We can’t drive an army down the streets of Seattle and not get noticed, even at night.” I turned to Micah next. “Walk with me?”
Micah stood, quietly ushering me out of the room so the boys could make their calls in peace. “What do you need from me?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? “Lock it down as soon as we leave. No one in or out until I say so. Hold shipments until we can get this sorted out. If anyone questions why things aren’t moving, tell them there was inclement weather off the coast or a power grid failure. Anything. They keep pushing, send them to Grey.”
Micah nodded. “You got it. Should I beef up security too?”
The thought of the man he’d lost made me desperate to say no, to avoid more potential casualties, but I couldn’t. “Yes. I’ll send some of our guys down too. No matter what, be careful. I don’t want a repeat of what happened earlier.”
With a respectful nod, Micah left to get things in order. I shot Moore a text to send a small crew over to the docks for additional support and got him started gathering supplies for all of us. We planned a rendezvous spot nearby, and he promised to bring vests for everyone, including Dominic this time.
When I was done coordinating that, I hovered over one name in my contacts list. I had no reason to call, but I wanted to hear his voice.
“Hullo?” Nate’s voice was groggy with sleep, and I could practically see him bleary-eyed and annoyed at the wake-up call. The connection that pulled us tighter together wrapped itself around my throat. I wanted to see him like that firsthand. I wanted to wake up with him even though I never would.
Clearing my throat, I responded. “It’s me.”
“Mari?” His voice was suddenly much more awake, and rustling told me he’d probably sat up. “What the hell are you doing calling me at three a.m.? Did you leave the house?”
“Yeah, not long ago. Look, there’ve been some developments and?—”
“You’re going after Cash.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. I had things I wanted to put out between us just in case things went wrong, but I couldn’t. He’d set the boundaries, and despite how good it had felt with his hands on me yesterday, I wouldn’t cross that line. If he wanted me, he could bring it up.
“You know it’s a trap.” No question there.
“It is,” I agreed.
“He’s going to hurt you.”
“He’s going to try.” More rustling and some low cursing that made me laugh. “What are you doing over there?”
“Getting dressed.”
My brows scrunched together. “Why?”
“I’m coming with you.” He said it like it was obvious, like I should’ve expected that, but why would I? He wasn’t part of the family. In fact, he’d specifically mentioned he wouldn’t be part of the family, so there was no reason for him to help us.
“Nate…”
“I’ll grab a ride with the others when they come for you. Think Moore will let me borrow a gun?”
“No.”
“No?” He hummed. “Knives work too. I’ll just have to be more careful. I’d really prefer a gun, though.”
