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My eyes refocused on Bleu in front of me. “Yes?”
He faltered, his eyes switching back and forth between mine, like he’d already said a great deal and I’d missed all of it. “You seem distracted.”
“Because I am.”
Bleu faltered again, like he didn’t expect me to admit it. “Want me to do something about it?”
“No.” For once in my life, it was a good distraction.
“Are you done having fun with the Skull King’s daughter? Because I think she could be of use to us.”
The fun was over. I didn’t owe her anything at this point. When I captured her, she would be livid, but she’d also understand it wasn’t personal. But I still didn’t want to do that, because once I did…there was no going back. “No.”
Bleu did his best to mask his annoyance. “We’ve discovered the bulk of the product is shipped from Morocco on Freightliner trucks on cargo ships. Once it stops at the port in the south of Italy, it drives to Florence. They move a million pounds every two weeks. The Skull King disperses it across his distribution channels, and it reaches the hands of his customers in every corner of the country.”
“So if we intercept that ship, we cut off his supply.”
“Yes.”
“Or better yet, we hit the source directly. Pay them to sell to us exclusively.”
“That’ll just piss off the Skull King.”
“Sure. But without business, he’ll start to hurt. His men will start to turn on him.”
“I find that unlikely, because we wouldn’t turn on you.”
The corner of my mouth rose in a smile. “Don’t be naïve. We’re all wolves here.”
Bleu stared.
“I’ll make a deal with him. I’ll sell him the product he needs, and in return, I get a cut of his business.”
Bleu worked it all out in his head. “Not only will you take the territory, but you’ll take his distribution network.”
“Exactly.”
“What if he doesn’t cooperate?”
“Then I’ll kill his daughter. He’ll have no other choice.”
Bleu turned quiet for a while. “What if she’s not worth it to him? Have you discovered the strain in their relationship?”
I’d gleaned nothing from that woman. Not even a hunch. “No.” But she had a backbone of steel and a smile of sunshine. No way any man wouldn’t do anything for her—especially her father. “Let’s figure out who’s in charge of manufacturing. Then we’ll make our move.”
He nodded before he turned away. “Got it.”
5
LAURA
I had just finished making dinner and carried it to the small circular dining table near the window. I poured myself a glass of wine and set up my laptop in front of me. Just because I wasn’t at the office didn’t mean I didn’t have paperwork that required my attention. The business didn’t do well enough for me to hire employees, so I worked all the time, like an American.
Just when I got comfortable, someone knocked on the door.
I didn’t expect any visitors or packages, so I stayed quiet and waited for them to leave.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
