I roll my eyes. “Good night,Mr. Miller.”
He smiles, lazy and smug. “Good night,Billy.”
He says it just low enough to float across the hall before his door clicks shut. Three words. A stupid nickname. And just like that, I know—Bennett Bradley is going to make this job very,verycomplicated.
Chapter 14
Ben
Lagoverde, Italy
Friday morning
Morning light filters through the archways and spills across the terra-cotta tiles of the veranda, warming the spot where I’ve planted myself after a quick breakfast and an even quicker meeting with Ramirez and Rook. Beyond the balcony, the sunlight glints off the lake that gives the quaint Italian village, Lagoverde, its name. Cicadas hum. Birds chatter from the branches overhead. And down the sloping hillside, the town is waking up.
I could die here.
The irony isn’t lost on me. Especially after the conversation I just had with Ramirez. My plan this morning was simple. Outline how I’d manage his accounts for the deal. Ask strategic questions. Propose a few layered shell options. Talk off-ledger asset routes and how I plan to clean up overlapping ownership trails. You know—normal criminal enterprise things.
But Ramirez wasn’t interested.
He said he wouldn’t be joining me for the meeting with Alessandro Moretti. Told me he trusted me to handle the details. That was surprise number one.
Surprise number two was the YubiKey clipped to his key chain, resting beside his espresso like a casual afterthought. Small. Harmless looking. But lethal to my entire plan.
The device generates a new encrypted passcode every day, required to access his files and accounts. If he’s using it to log in, the sniffer hidden in my laptop won’t capture anything useful. No data. No evidence.
So whatever he’s hiding? It’s locked behind a blinking piece of plastic now sitting in his pocket. Which means I need a new plan. One that doesn’t get me killed.
Lagoverde is a beautiful place to die. But I’d like to keep that off the plan.
I’ve already sent an encrypted update to Ruby, looping her in on the new complication. Not exactly the wake-up call I wanted to give her, but if we’re hoping to salvage this mission, she needs to know the facts—fast.
For now, I act like everything’s fine. Like my mission didn’t just hit a wall. Like I’m not thinking about the brunette sleeping across the hall from me.
I stretch my arms overhead, trying to shake the tension I woke up with. Last night after I’d stepped into the suite, it took everything in me not to cross the hall and knock on Cybil’s door—just to check on her. Make sure she was okay.
If it were just the two of us here, I might’ve done it. But with Ramirez, Rook, Mr. Edmond, and Sebastian scattered through the villa like land mines, the risk of exposing our connection wasn’t worth it.
So instead, I grabbed one of my clean T-shirts, set it outside her door with a quick knock, then ducked back into my room like some idiot teenager pulling a stunt at summer camp.
I watched through the peephole like a stalker, unsure if she’d take it or toss it back at my door. But when she opened her door, I swear I caught the hint of a smile tug at her lips. I didn’t think about what the image of her sleeping in my shirt would do to my pulse—until it did.
And then Ruby ruined it with a single text message.
Remember who Cybil is working for and what they are willing to do to protect their interests. If she slips up, it’s your neck. Watch her, but don’t get distracted. She may not be an innocent bystander, and you can’t afford to forget that, no matter how much you think you can trust her.
I’d chalked up seeing Cybil at the airport as coincidence. Ruby’s message made it clear—it wasn’t. The FBI orchestrated this. Made sure our paths crossed last night.
She may not be an innocent bystander.Yet that’s exactly who I believe her to be. No way is Cybil anything more than someone working for the wrong man at the wrong time and certainly in the wrong place.
I rise from the table and head inside. I have a meeting with an Italian banker in an hour. A man who’s definitely not innocent and is maybe the only thread I have to pull if I want to unravel Ramirez’s empire from the inside.
I take the long way through the hall, instinct or something like it tugging me away from the direct route. That’s when I see her.
Cybil.
She’s midstep in the hallway, pausing just long enough to peek inside one of the doors. Her hand rests lightly on the knob before she lets it ease closed.
