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Kade walks back into the room but stays standing. He moves behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders. Declan sits at my side and knocks his knee against mine as I stop talking. I take a deep breath in, something lifting off of my chest under both of their touches. Almost as if it’s easier to breathe.
“Our number one purpose right now is to impede his ability to strike back at us.”
Rachel immediately understands my intent, jumping onto my train of thought seamlessly. “We took out his informants, making it harder for him to know what we’re doing. Next step is to take out the assassins he uses. We all know Romano barely ever does his own dirty work.”
Huh. My mouth opens in shock. I hadn't even considered his assassins. She notices my expression and reels back. “Is that not the next step?” she asks hesitantly.
I shake my head as I start rifling through the database I have on Romano. I haven’t taken the time to go through all of it and organize it yet. I might have to get Noah to do that for me this week. It’ll make it faster and easier for us to decide targets.
Declan chuckles almost silently next to me. “Give her a moment. I don’t think she had considered that.”
Oh right. I guess it was a bit rude to not even respond to Rachel. I will in a moment though. I start by using keywords to search through the people on Romano’s payroll. Trying to get a list started, even if it won’t be comprehensive at the moment.
The others start quiet conversations around me, but I tune them out as I continue to work. It takes me a few minutes, but I finally have a good starting place.
I pull up three more files and throw them on the projector that we hardly ever use.
“Sorry,” I say with a grimace. “I’m so used to doing the killing myself, I completely overlooked that Romano would have people just for that.”
Rachel and Alec laugh, trading looks with each other before Rachel turns back to me. “It’s honestly so nice to see this side of you, Scar,” she admits.
I tilt my head to the side before it hits me. I huff in laughter. Until only a few months ago, Rachel and Alec both only ever saw me as a dancer. Now they’ve seen the full scope of my crazy. Okay, well maybe not the full scope. I’m sure it’s coming though.
I smirk as I begin to understand what she’s really getting at. “There aren’t a whole lot of women like us, are there?”
She hums, her eyes lighting up in amusement. Alec watches her, bemused. His love and adoration for her so clear on his face. I wonder if that’s what I look like with the guys.
Something warm starts in my chest and spreads at the thought. I shake myself off, trying to stay on task. I don't have time to be distracted by soft feelings. Not right now.
“Right,” I interject, trying to force us back on track. “I’ve done most of the killing myself or with Kade since we started this.” A new hint of respect lights up in both Rachel and Alec’s gazes. I know some of the kills attributed to “Luca’s guy” have been quite infamous. I might be more than a little smug about them too. “I went straight to clean up and cover up because of that. But what you’re saying makes more sense.”
I have to give credit where credit is due. It was an oversight on my part not to remember that Romano detests getting his own hands dirty. He hires out just about everything he can. Good news is that it gives us that many more places to target.
I point to the screen. “These are a few of his known hitmen in the area.” I let my gaze roam over the details Romano so generously provided for us. “I don’t think any of them are his big hitters,” I muse aloud. “But this one,” I isolate one of the photos on the screen. “I’m guessing this is the guy responsible for The Black Rose.”
Romano honestly kept very detailed notes on all of his associates. Including their backgrounds and skills. I leave up Josh Morisson’s profile for the others to catch up on everything we have on him. He’s definitely being taken out tonight.
Meanwhile, I go back through the information Rachel sent me about Davis and how he was murdered. I read through the file, picking out the most pertinent information. Estimated time of death confirms that this wasn’t done in retaliation. Davis was killed in the middle of the night last night, while we were all still making our runs. It was a straight forward assassination. One bullet between the eyes. He died asleep in his bed.
It’s a simple but familiar M.O. I go back to the screen and pull up one of the profiles I had on there before, displaying it to the others. “This is my guess for who killed Davis. Let me see if I can confirm.”
I leave both of the profiles up while I start digging deeper into the second name. One Spencer Faucher. The guy isn’t nearly good enough to truly make a name for himself. But I guess he doesn’t have to be when he has Romano to clean up after him.
I scoff in disgust. He almost makes it too easy to confirm it really was him. I shake my head, causing Kade to peek over my shoulder. He snorts as soon as he sees what’s on my screen. “What a fucking idiot.”
“He deserves to die for this alone,” I mutter and Kade laughs.
The eyes of everyone else swings our way. Brows all raised waiting to be included in the discussion. I clear my throat. “Faucher boarded a flight at 10:26pm last night out of San Diego and landed in Oakland just after midnight.”
All of the guys scoff but Rachel narrows her eyes at Scar. “You hacked into travel records?”
“It’s not as hard as you think it would be.” She looks like she wants to ask more, but Ryder opens his mouth faster.
“Is he back?”
I nod. “Departed on the first flight out of Oakland and was back before 10am.”
Ryder rubs his hands together in obvious excitement. It’s hard not to smile when I see my own bloodlust reflected in him. Even after everything that happened after last night, he’s ready for more. Eager to jump back into the chaos. It’s going to be on me to make sure he isn’t consumed by the very chaos that fuels the both of us.
