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My wide eyes search for Santi’s, hoping—praying—for this to be some horrific nightmare. But Santi’s very somber eyes only serve to confirm the cold, hard fact.
No!
“With any luck, we’ll know who she’s reporting to before the night is over,” Marco continues gleefully, but it sounds so far away because I’m no longer here.
They have Kate. How? Why?
“How’d you catch her?” Santi asks nonchalantly.
“You know we’ve been keeping tabs. But she couldn’t have made it any easier for us.”
He pauses for dramatic effect, which typically I’d ignore, but I need to know everything, now. “How so?”
“Imagine my surprise when I got a notification for activity detected from the camera in my office. She was snooping.”
My jaw would hit the floor if it could.Why in the fucking world would she do that?
“Well?” Marco asks when Santi and I are dead silent. “I’d expect you to be excited. We’re no longer under threat!”
“That’s excellent news, Mr. Mancini,” Santi offers. His expression matches my surprise.
“Seriously,” I add, forcing life into my numb body so we can get the information we need. “Where is she at?”
“Ron is taking her to one of the warehouses as we speak. I’ve got to say, I was surprised. She doesn’t look like she holds a bad bone in her body.”
Oh, how wrong you are.
“But you never know. Appearances are just that. Isn’t that right, boys?” We force out our laughs a moment too late, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
“Anyway, I need a favor. We need to pull the money out of the hotel just in—”
“Hotel?” Santi says at the same time that I say, “Money?”
“Oh, right,” Marco says with a chuckle. “Yes, we have a hotel room with hundreds of thousands crammed into the walls. Gotta keep it somewhere!”
“Wha—”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I demand, cutting Santi off. My tone stays neutral despite the rage begging to spill out.
“We didn’t feel this was information you were privy to. Until now, at least.” Santi’s glare turns murderous, sharing my sentiment. “She found the safe in my office wall housing the hotel key. I assumed she’d report us, so I sent Ron to pull out the money. Ron had to handle the girl once he found her there, so I need you two to tear down the walls and get the money over to Rowan’s immediately. She’ll be disposed of before the end of the night, I’m sure, but how do we know she hasn’t reported this to whoever she’s working with? One can never be too careful.”
So many thoughts fight for my attention.
What the fuck was Kate doing in that office? Why didn’t our dads trust us with this hotel room? It would have made our lives a fuck ton easier! I need to ask which warehouse he took her to, but I have to play my cards right. I can’t give away any inclination that I care.
And we need to call Ted, immediately.
“Give me the hotel info, we’ll head over,” Santi says, feigning obedience. It doesn’t go over my head that Marco has no problem sending us into a dangerous situation; in his mind at least. If Kate were actually the rat, andhadreported this, going there would risk us getting caught with the money. Luckily, she’s not, and we know that.
But it only proves that Rowan and Marco don’t give afuckabout us. We’re pawns, just like the rest of the world.
Marco rattles off the location, explaining that we’ll need to take a few suitcases for the cash. The moment I hang up, I lose it, chucking my half-empty beer bottle at the brick pillar holding up the awning. “Fuck!”
“Zo,” Santi says cautiously, tensing beside me.
“What the fuck was she doing in Marco’s office?” I glance at him as he shakes his head.
“I don’t know, bro,” Santi says quietly. He must be siphoning through the information since I’m unable to do anything but panic.Why did she do this? And why today? Was it Santi starting?
