“It’s because he’s in love,” she says as she situates herself. “Can’t you tell?”
“Oh, I can tell,” Frank replies with a smirk. “It’s written all over his face.”
“I could kill you both and no one would find your bodies out here,” I reply, narrowing my eyes. “We’re not talking about how I feel.”
“We will if it puts anyone at risk,” Valentina points out with a shake of her head. “I’m not saying it will, but Bradley, you’ve never done things by half. I doubt love would be any different.”
“Why do you think I’m so twisted up having to just sit here?” I mutter. “Distract me.”
“Alright.” Valentina leans forward between the two seats and rests her elbows on the headrests of mine and Frank’s chairs. “I have news.”
“Good news?” I keep one eye on the tablet tracking Zira as she drives and the other on Valentina.
“Mmhmm. Those two ‘cops’ that stalled you and tried to kill you? They were definitely Irish. I had the ink confirmed to be aged, and once I brought that to Damian, there wasn’t anything he could do to deny, but boy, did he try. He kept talking about how we were making this mess worse, that we should have handed Zira over and he would have found out where Harris was a lot faster. A bunch of bullshit because like every leader, he thinks he can do this job better than us.”
“It’s a curse.” Frank snorts.
“True. Anyway, after I got him to shut the fuck up and listen, I reminded him about what happened last year when someone tried to mess with us. How many families do we have at our backs who like peace because it lets them churn out billions without interference? Seems he’d lost sight of that in his panic over the Cartel.” She rolls her eyes and briefly purses her lips.
“Anyway, turns out those men were actually working for an overzealous Irish General under Damian’s rule. They had a personal financial stake in this deal and were growing increasingly anxious about how long it was taking to secure the diamonds and payment. I guess he thought trying to kill our King would send some fucked up message, but the men he sent were pretty green. From what Raven could dig up, that General’s got gambling debt out of his ears and was relying on the increase of firepower within Damian’s ranks to keep the debt collectors at bay.”
“But without the firepower, he felt like a sitting duck?” I ask, turning back to the screen as Zira’s flashing dot finally pulls onto the farm property.
“Exactly. He lost an eye to one of the debt collectors so his huge ‘look, we killed the King of the Suit’ was meant to intimidate. It failed, of course, and when Damian realized how it made him and his family look to others, he killed the General for us. He provided the body for inspection and declared the man a traitor as well as offering his deepest apologies for any threat to the lives or livelihood of Suit members.”
“Quite the change.” Glancing up from the tablet, I pick up some of the binoculars from the dash and lift them up, spotting Zira’s car pulling down the gravel path. “I don’t suppose his sudden change of heart comes from learning we’re close to the rest of the diamonds?”
“Probably,” Valentina scoffs. “What is it with these fuckers and asking us for help but trying to make things worse in the same breath?”
“It’s ego,” I reply. “And fear. You know how fragile this world is. One wrong look, one wrong comment, and people get angry. And when that anger is amplified, we have hell on our hands.”
“God.” Valentina slumps slightly. “We start being more active in keepingeveryonesafe and it somehow makes everyone even more idiotic.”
“I think they were always idiots,” Frank replies with a chuckle. “That’s why they’re in organized crime rather than banking or science.”
“Maybe.” Valentina’s dry laugh fills the car as I grow glued to Zira and watch her like a hawk. She climbs out of the car with the case and walks over the unsteady ground toward the house, then calls up for Harris.
Silence falls in the car as we listen to the exchange between them and every time Harris speaks, my gut tightens.
I want him gone.
Wiped from the world.
I want him erased completely so he never darkens Zira’s life again.
“Do you think he’s really there?” Valentina asks.
“Hard to tell. Can we get infrared?"
Her head dips down to her phone and grimaces. “Cassian’s delayed. Blew an axle so he’s on foot.”
“Shit.”
“It’s fine. He’ll be there.”
“I know.” It doesn’t calm my gut or my rampant heart, but focusing on Zira does. Harris barked orders to test the diamonds, which were exactly what I expected of a man so cocky, and thankfully, we all agreed to give her the real diamonds for exactly this reason. Zira’s movements are jerky and slow but she completes it all and is left waiting as Harris drags it out.
Connection issue? Or something more?
