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“Sir, I went to the office this morning before coming here. I had forgotten the charger to my laptop yesterday and I don’t have a backup. I was late.” She looked at him sheepishly, clearing her throat. “As usual, sir. It was 8:15 when I turned onto the street in front of the building. Sir, the building. It … it exploded.”
Armando cursed loudly. “Are you okay? How close were you? Did you get hurt?” he asked, checking her over.
“No, no, sir. I’m fine. I was still far enough away. I got out of there as fast as I could and came straight here.”
I asked, “Are you sure none of your people went to the office this morning, Mando?”
He looked at me, a look of horror on his face. He immediately turned to Giana, “We must call everyone to make sure everyone stayed home.” They left quickly, to make the necessary calls.
I leaned over to Sephie, whispering in her ear, “Tell your father that we owe him one.” I kissed her cheek.
“No shit,” she said, shocked.
I looked to Misha, who was equally shocked, nodding a silent thank you. Were it not for those two, we might’ve been at the office this morning. The relief I felt that we were all safe was quickly replaced by anger. This was a direct attack on Armando, but I had a feeling it was also an attack on me. Giana hadn’t told us what she had found out yet, but I could almost guarantee that the lawyer was working for Lorenzo and Anthony.
Sephie looked to me, like she was reading my mind. “They know you’re still alive. They have to know.” I looked in her eyes, expecting to see her fear. Instead, her anger level was matching mine. “They tried to kill you. AGAIN.”
Armando walked back in with Giana, who was still visibly still shaken. She had her laptop in her hands. “Did she tell you she connected the lawyer to Lorenzo or Anthony or both?” I asked.
He nodded his head. “Just as we suspected. The lawyer must have told them that you were alive. And that Sephie is here. They must have known that my people connected them. All my people are loyal, but they had to have a tap on someone’s phone. I just ditched mine and Giana’s. All my people are safe. They know how to get in touch with me without the use of phones. Giana is going to stay here, in case they followed her,” he said as he looked at her. Given her expression, he clearly did not discuss that with her beforehand, but she didn’t protest.
Viktor looked at Armando. “Your people have been watching Lorenzo and Anthony. What’s their plan now? Clearly, they wanted to take us out this morning, but then what? What’s their next play?”
Ivan, stroking his goatee, said, “If it were me, I would use this as a distraction to leave. They know we’ll be looking for them here or in Sicily. But communication will be slower because you’ve been compromised. Until you find out where that leak or tap is, information is going to be coming slower to us. They’re probably already on a plane to the city. That would be my move.”
I couldn’t say I disagreed with him. Getting back to the city has always been their goal. They might not have even waited to see if the explosion was successful before leaving. Either way, we would be dead or so distracted that they get a few days’ head start.
Armando said, “I’ll get in touch with Dario and Massimo. They’re still in the city, watching Salvadori. They can watch for Lorenzo and Anthony in the city.”
Sephie looked to me. Leaning in, she quietly asked, “Dario and Massimo are the other two bosses that are loyal to you? Or those are the guys that took me?”
“Bosses. You know something?” I raised an eyebrow at her. I was beginning to rely on her random bits of information that always seemed invaluable later.
“You’re sure they’re loyal to you?” she asked.
“I believe so. They, like Armando, came to me immediately when Salvadori came to them.”
Armando added, “Dario would never side with Salvadori. They have bad blood between them. They can barely stand to be in the same room as each other. And Massimo is Dario’s childhood friend. He would never go against Dario.”
Sephie thought for a moment. “Dario is salt and pepper hair, but clean shaven?” she asked. I nodded. “He repeats things you say when he’s lying. He’ll repeat the question back to you, like he’s surprised you even asked him. He’s buying his brain time to come up with an answer. You’ll be able to tell if he’s lying to you over the phone that way. Massimo will be harder. He forgets to blink when he’s lying. He thinks if he maintains eye contact like a psycho that you’ll somehow be more apt to believe him. Massimo is one of the smoothest liars I’ve seen. It took me longer to pick up on his lack of blinking than the rest of them, which makes him more dangerous than the others, if you ask me. I wouldn’t trust that man.”
Armando looked at his watch. “It’s still early there. I’ll give them a call now,” he said, walking out of the room.
We sat in silence for a moment, all of us contemplating our next move. I agreed with Ivan. I think we should get back to the city as quickly as possible. I would feel better with Sephie at the penthouse where I knew she would be safe. I felt too exposed here. Armando was a gracious host, but he was a little too relaxed on his security. I secretly hoped this incident would fix that. I was also worried about them carrying out their original plan of unleashing chaos on the people of the city.
“Misha. What’s your opinion? Stay here or go back to the city as quickly as possible?” I asked, somewhat amused at the surprise on the kid’s face. After this morning, there was no way I wasn’t getting his opinion on our next move from here on out.
He thought for a minute while we all waited for his answer. “City. I agree with Ivan. I think this morning was a distraction to give them cover to leave. If we get in touch with Armando’s people that have been watching them, I’d bet they lost them this morning.”
I nodded to him, agreeing with him. I looked to Viktor, Andrei, and Stephen. They all agreed that returning home was the best plan. Finally, I looked to Sephie, making sure she was also okay with the plan. She nodded slightly, but then turned to all the guys. “Will you guys make me a promise?” she asked, looking at Stephen first. “If you don’t pick them off from a rooftop somewhere, can you keep them alive long enough for me to have a go at Anthony? That motherfucker is starting to piss me off.”
Everyone laughed but Giana, who just looked mortified.
Plans were quickly made to leave early the next morning. I caught Viktor alone and asked him to have the bikes sent back as well. Once we were done with all of this, I was going to enjoy a long ride with Sephie.
Chapter Forty-Two
Adrik
