“We’re done here. Get out.” She doesn't bristle, boil, or flare. She just reeks of chilling impassiveness, bouncing from cutthroat killer to majestic predator . . . just like a great white shark.
“Is that what you really want?”
“Yes.”
“Fine, but before I go, give me the rundown on Cameron. So I know what we’re dealing with.”
“We’renot dealing with anything.I’mdealing with him.Youare shoveling ice.”
“For now. But eventually you’ll see you need me. You recruited the best for a reason.”
“The jury is still out on who’s the best.”
She doesn't give me one goddamn inch.
“C’mon. If I’m going to be an integral part of this organization, I need to know some things. Like who to look out for. Like that clown Cameron.”
“He’s not a clown,” Dove reluctantly admits. “He’s smart, and has been on our ass for about a year now. He crops up at the most inopportune times. It’s making me wonder if there is a mole.”
“Were there drugs in the building tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She isn’t quick to answer.
I wait.
“I may tell you one day, but not today.”
“Fair enough. Baby steps.”
“Tread lightly,Guapo,” Dove warns.
“IsLa Tiburonagoing to bite me if I don’t?”
“No . . .” That arctic disconnection rears its terrifying head.
“She’ll kill you.”
4
Dove
I pickat my lower lip lightly, mindlessly staring down at the empty club room floor. Cameron’s latest visit is weighing heavily on me. He’s relentless. This last time worried me the most, since there were drugs stashed here, but how anyone but myself and Stefania could know has me reeling. We have a mole. We must. Or possibly a spy. I glance around the office with sudden alarm. Is there a bug? We have all our most important conversations right in this room. I sit down at the desk and survey the black, sleek piece of furniture. I touch around underneath, searching for anything abnormal. I feel down the legs, open the drawers, but nothing seems unusual. I turn my attention to the leather couch against the wall next. I slip my hand behind it, feeling around before crouching onto the floor to peek underneath.
“Palomita?” Stefania’s voice flits through the room, confused as she enters. I pick my head up immediately to her wide eyes and Tate’s perverse smile. He thoroughly enjoyed catching my ass straight up in the air.Idiot. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for a lost earring,” I lie. I don’t want to alarm Stefania before I have to. It could just be my paranoia getting the best of me, but until I’m sure, I’m keeping my suspicions to myself. In my eyes, everyone is a suspect.
I stand, brushing off the dust from my knees. Irritated that Tate is once again getting toted around by Stefania. She likes her new lap dog. Over the last few days Tate has been shadowing her everywhere. I will admit reluctantly, he has the perfect personality profile for slithering through the ranks quickly. He’s a kiss ass for sure. But Stefania isn’t so easily fooled. She sees the same things in him that I do. He’s smart and slick and fearless. He walks around with zero intimidation, even though he is the newest and lowest-ranking member of the Deltoros. The right kind of ego can get you anywhere.
He does nothing but get on my nerves, though. He looks at me like he wants to lick me like a lollipop.
I was dead serious when I said it takes more than a pretty face and charming smile to make me drop my panties. He’ll learn.
“Why are you here so early?” I ask Stefania. Her morning ritual usually involves an hour of yoga and two hours of primping before she shows her face around here sipping a caramel latte with extra foam. It’s barely nine in the morning right now.
