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“Months now,” she says easily. “I had my suspicions after I got Cressida’s report. It was on her table after we fucked, apparently she was going to try to bribe Giovanni with the information so he wouldn’t kill her after her plan failed. The FBI had an anonymous source who told them that the drake hung out at Delirium.”
Lucia relaxes, sitting up, crossing her legs as she looks out of the window. I mirror her position, my heart still going crazy.
“It didn’t take much after that to realize that the source was wrong: the person didn’t hang out at Delirium, they worked there. I figured that out when the cartel was after you and you claimed you were the one to kill those men in the office.”
The Ramos Cartel had attacked Delirium, coming for me. Enzo had hidden me in the office, but they’d bust the door down anyway. It’d been when I thought I was going to die that Amarie appeared, efficiently killing both men. She’d made me promise not to tell the Costas about her involvement. At the time, I hadn’t understood why but months later she’d revealed that she was the drake, the assassin with the contract on my head. It made sense why she didn’t want the Costas to know.
And while I knew they hadn’t all believed my story about how I killed the cartel, no one had asked any questions.
No one but Lucia.
Swallowing, I watch her, thinking of all the times I’d caught her watching Amarie when she’d been guarding me at the club. About the questions she’d asked me about her. Once, she’d caught Amarie and I talking in the alleyway about killing Giovanni. I knew she’d heard more of the conversation than she’d mentioned.
And when Amarie had placed the bomb on Giovanni’s car, Lucia had covered for her, had lied and placed the blame elsewhere.
“The car…”
“I knew by then who she was,” Lucia says, continuing to watch Amarie as she converses with the man in front of her. Things seem to be getting tense as the man starts to yell, waving his hands erratically.
“Why didn’t you tell Giovanni the truth? You told him it was a different hitman.”
Lucia shrugs but there’s something to her gaze that’s different. “Figured I wanted to see how it’d all play out.” I don’t think that’s the complete truth. “She’s quite interesting, your friend. Did you know that her family has connections toles beaux voyousandle milieu.”
I’d heard that when I first started working at Delirium but I’d long forgotten it. One of the other workers had said it was the french mob.
And knowing what I know now about Amarie, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if she were a part of it or had family who are.
“She has a bunch of secrets, that one,” Lucia continues. Her eyes narrow and she lays back on the ground, lining back up with the gun.
My eyes widen.
“Has a few people after her,” again, she’s talking as if she isn’t holding someone’s life between her fingertips. “It was actually smart of her to get a job at Delirium, it's a good cover, and there ain’t too many people who are willing to come looking for her there. They don’t want to cross the family, incidentally.”
She leans closer to the scope.
“Lucia, what are you doing?”
“Quiet, Whinnie, I’m concentrating,” her voice is completely serious.
I follow her gaze to where the man is shouting even louder now at Amarie, his words unclear and maybe French. He pulls a gun out, pointing it at Amarie's head.
It’s the last thing he does.
I don’t see her squeeze the trigger but when the man’s head goes flying backwards, a single hole the only evidence before he collapses backwards, I know Lucia has shot him.
Amarie looks around frantically, peering in our direction but I know she can’t see us from the angle. She looks at the dead man’s body before slamming her helmet back on her head and hopping on her bike. I don’t know if she’s thinking she’ll be next but she doesn’t wait around to see, gunning her bike and leaving the scene.
Lucia sits up, her gaze cold and blank as she slowly disassembles her weapon.
I watch her, not knowing what’s going on.
“Did you… did you come here to shoot that man?” I ask her.
She clicks her tongue before shaking her head. “I actually wasn’t sure what I would do when I got here, it was a toss up. I heard through the grapevine that Amarie’s connections were turning on her and there’s a hefty price for her head, plus she takes a lot of my jobs. So I could have killed her. But I also knew that her associate would likely try to do the same thing. Knew I’d have to make a decision quickly one way or another once they started arguing.”
“And you chose to save her?”
Her eyes go dark but she nods. “I chose to save her.”
