My fingers twitch at my sides.
I hate that Cassandra isn’t in the same room as me, but we came into Nero’s office to look over the intel The Alliance was able to dig up on Gabriel Marcoux. And as much as I wanted to drag Cassandra in here with me, she looked happy talking with The Alliance wives. So now I’m in here, staring at a green and purple painting of a lion’s head while Cassandra is somewhere else in the house.
“He owns three homes in the states, Texas, Arizona, and California. Then a place in Nepal and a property in France he built a few years ago that looks like a replica of the one that was burned down almost two decades ago.” King rattles off the information as the large monitor on Nero’s desk shows the exact locations of the homes.
“I’ll have to torch that one too,” I mumble as I look at the screen.
No one says anything because it should be no surprise that I’m the one who leveled his first home.
But I can’t focus on that right now because my eyes keep moving to the sprawling estate highlighted just outside of Phoenix.
Back where it all started.
King clicks a few buttons to show Marcoux’s financials, but then my phone rings.
When I see it’s Karmine calling, I put it on speaker.
I plan to tell her I have other people within earshot, but she doesn’t let me get a word out before she starts talking.
“Your man was just spotted in Dallas.”
I stand up straighter. “Where?”
“Getting into some douchebag limo outside the DFW airport. One of my girls was there looking for someone else, but she called me when she recognized him from the photos I sent everyone last night. She wasn’t in a position to follow him, so I don’t know where he’s going, but—”
“He has a house in Dallas,” I cut her off, thinking back to the map we were just looking at.
“Since when?”
King returns to the previous screen and clicks on the details.
“He bought it last month.” I relay the information.
“Good find,” Karmine hums.
“Wasn’t my find,” I admit, just as King replies, “I do my best.”
“My, Hans, what talented voice acting you’ve mastered.” Her sarcasm is heavy.
“If you’d’ve taken a breath before you started talking, I would’ve warned you that I have you on speaker.”
“Uh-huh, sure, make it my fault.” She doesn’t say it with any heat. “Let me guess. The Alliance bros?”
“Alliance bros?” King repeats under his breath, clearly not appreciating the term.
Dom leans toward the phone in my hand. “Dom here. I’m a big fan of your work.”
“Aww, thanks.” I can picture her dramatically pressing her hand to her chest. “I’m a big fan of your wife. She’s kickass.”
Dom smirks. “I know.”
He was unconscious from blood loss when Karmine’s girls took out the force that was trying to kill him and his wife. But I was witness to Val’s shooting skills, and I have to agree with Karmine.
“Shall I assume Nero and King are there as well?”
King looks at me, then down to the K displayed on my phone. “Safe assumption. Do we get a name to go with the letter K?”
There’s a long pause. And I’m surprised by her answer.
“It’s Karmine. And if you want my phone number, I expect to get all of yours in return.”
Nero takes the phone out of my hand and, clicking on her contact, sends her a text with his number.
“Nero. The number you just got is mine.”
“Got it.” There’s another pause. “You should have mine now.”
Nero pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Got it.”
Dom rubs his hands together. “I love it when armies collide. Now we just need a target.”
“Give me a few hours to get more intel. I wouldn’t be able to get any of the girls together for another twenty hours anyway. But if he sticks around town for more than some business dinner, we’ll know.”
“I just killed five of his guys,” I cut in, remembering I haven’t told Karmine about the houses yet. “And it wasn’t exactly under the radar.” Nero snorts, probably thinking about the exploding houses. “So he knows that I know he’s after me.”
“So, him being suddenly visible might be a trap.” Karmine supplies the rest of my thought.
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
“Well…” I can hear Karmine tapping her nails against a surface. “If the force is big enough, it doesn’t really matter how good the trap is. And you got all those big bads in one room…” She lets that hang as she ends the call.
Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I look at the three men. “Just like that?”
“Just like what?” King asks.
“Just like that, you go from hunting me to helping me?”
“Ridding the world of this Gabriel asshole helps everyone.” King lifts a shoulder. “And I’m not sure we were ever that good at hunting you.”
I think of all the times I had to dodge them and their men. “I don’t think you were as bad at it as you think.”
“No?” King lifts his brows.
“I spent six hours in a fucking dumpster outside of the deal you busted in Minneapolis last summer.”
Nero makes an impressed face. “That makes me feel a little better.”
“Happy to help,” I deadpan.
“If it makes you feel more trusting in our sudden cooperation, we didn’t just decide to loop you in yesterday.” Dom slides his hands into his pockets as he rocks back on his heels. “We’ve been talking about it since January. But you didn’t exactly have your phone number written on that grenade you threatened us with.”
I look around at their faces. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t aiming for some sort of team-up. I just didn’t want to deal with you guys trying to kill me every time I went out on a job.”
Dom laughs. “Well, saving my life kinda put you on the fast track to friendship. And these dummies do whatever I say, so—”
Nero jabs a punch at Dom’s side, cutting him off.
“How about we figure out how to kill this French prick first? Then we can make friendship bracelets around the campfire after.” King turns back to the computer.
I pull a different cell phone out of my pocket, faraday bag and all, and set it on the desk. “This belonged to the guy in that nice body bag. I’ve been a little too busy to crack it.”
