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“No. It needs to be me. There’s not a chance in hell he’s going talk to anybody else. It doesn’t matter what you do to him. He’s had the same training as me.”
“Fair enough.” I could hear the exasperation in Miles’s voice. “What happened in there?”
“I don’t want to talk about that, but Matteo implied things weren’t as they seemed.”
“Of course he did. Even after what he did, he still wants you to believe in him. He wants to sway you. He thinks he has power over you.”
That was the problem. He did have power over me. “I know, but my gut is telling me we need to look deeper into this. If there’s some angle I’m not aware of, even if it doesn’t mean shit, I want to know about it. I know what Matteo did to me, but I need to know everything I can about his motives.”
“He did let you go.” Miles was the last person I expected to remind me of that. He paused, then said, “I’m going to get my people on it, but I’m also calling X.”
I didn’t want to have to deal with X. It was thanks to him that I was in this situation. “Don’t get him involved.”
“He’s already involved, remember?”
How could I forget? “He knows too much. And he is….”
“Intimidating? Frighteningly competent?”
“Yes.”
“He also has the best resources around. If there’s something we’re missing, his men can find it.”
I knew Miles was right, but it didn’t make me like the situation. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust X, not exactly. It was just that I liked doing things my own way, and if X got involved, he would insist on being top dog.
But Miles was right. X was already part of this. He was the man who’d insisted Miles help him keep the cartel from getting a foothold in New York. He’d also known Matteo was here. I was sure he knew about our connection, yet he’d said nothing to warn me.
“I know you’re pissed off about Matteo’s presence being a surprise.” How the hell did Miles read my mind like that?
“Pissed off?” That didn’t begin to describe the rage I felt. “I’m fucking tired of being manipulated by everyone.” I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel.
“You’re counting me in that too.”
“Not really, but?—”
“I’m sorry.”
“Wow. Did you just apologize?”
“Yes. I can do it when I’m wrong. You’re not used to it because that is so rare.”
“Asshole.”
“Come to my house. Let’s figure this out together.”
When I got there, Miles’s boyfriend, Ben, answered the door. I could see Miles pacing the living room, talking on the phone.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No, he said for me not to worry about it. That it would all get settled.”
“Asshole.”
Ben laughed. “What’s new? I know it’s not even lunchtime yet, but do you want some whiskey?”
I did, but I said no anyway. I needed to keep my head as clear as I could for now. I was already fucked up from being in Matteo’s presence. “I don’t need anything to cloud my brain right now.”
