“What about Ares business?” Cyryl asked when Mo was done with her update. “After that mess in Brussels, have we heard any whispers in the network about the setup?”
Eli was the one to respond, shaking his head. “No. Or nothing bad. The ambush was leaked, but so was our retaliation on the snitch. If anything, it has only solidified Ares’s reputation as someone not to be crossed.”
“Does anyone know the Guild was involved?” I asked, tapping my foot with irritation. That fucker had brought a grenade launcher to that ambush.
Eli shook his head. “Not that I’m aware. Mo, have you heard anything from our contact on the inside?”
My sister scowled. “Not since that message a couple weeks ago with the address for Kai. I’ve reached out but haven’t got a response.”
“Well, it’s a good thing Kai is so hard at work on flipping another asset for us to use, isn’t it?” Sam sneered, shooting me a hard glare. “That is what you’re doing, isn’t it, boss? You plan to leverage that white-haired bitch for inside access so we can finish this mission once and for all?”
If Sam thought he was the one calling the shots around here, he was severely mistaken. I met his gaze with a cold stare and arched a brow.
“You sound like you don’t want to do this anymore, Sam,” I commented in a calm voice. “Are you quitting the team? If you’ve had enough, no one is forcing you to stay.”
Sam paled instantly, his eyes flicking to Mo. Her brow was tight, but she was keeping a lid on her emotions otherwise.
“No, of course not,” he murmured with a sigh. “Sorry, Mo. Of course I’m not quitting. You deserve closure, we’ll see this through to the end.” He reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing her fingers with reassurance. “Finding and punishing those sick fucks behind Remus is the only thing keeping me going these days. Mauricio would never forgive me if I walked away.”
“What is the plan for Danny, boss?” Jae asked cautiously. “You’re trying to lure her back here… for what?”
My expression closed over. “None of your fucking business, Jae.” I pushed my chair back from the table, the legs scraping loudly across the floor. Before I could say anything more, the lights flickered off and on again.
I tensed, my senses all on alert. My whole team remained dead silent, too, all of us frozen while we listened for any kind of suspicious activity in the house.
When nothing else happened, Eli gave a small grunt. “Probably just the wind, boss.”
It was windy outside, but not at a power-fault level of wind. A moment later, the lights cut out again, but this time didn’t turn back on.
“Shit,” I muttered. “Alarms?”
“Undisturbed,” Eli replied, checking the app on his phone. “Could just be a fuse.”
My skin was prickling with apprehension, but I nodded. We were on an island. If the power outage was caused by someone breaking in…
“I’ll check the fuse box,” Cyryl offered, already on his way out of the kitchen. Jae followed close behind with a gun already in hand, and I motioned to Sam and Eli.
“Check the surveillance cameras,” I told them. “Make sure no one else is on this island right now. Go!”
My men raced out of the room to do as they were told, and Mo gave me a flat glare.
“Make sure no one is on the island?” she repeated with heavy sarcasm. “Or make sure no one gets off the island this time?”
I didn’t respond to her, taking long strides back up toward my bedroom with excitement and anticipation building inside me like a fucking tidal wave. She’d come for Stanley already, and the alarm at her house had only activated less than a day ago. My plan had worked.
Unable to quell my victorious smile, I threw open the doors to my room—the room she’d shared with me for all those glorious nights together. But to my gut-wrenching disappointment, no white-haired siren waited in the armchair beside the window.
Nor, in fact, was Stanley anywhere to be seen.
She hadn’t taken him back herself. I could feel it; she’d hired someone else. Was it too much wishful thinking to assume I knew why she’d outsourced the job? Because she was scared of what she might do if we came face to face once more? I liked to imagine she would crack if I pushed her again. That she would drop her mask and let me see the real version of her… the strong, capable woman that I’d glimpsed beneath the surface. The fearless warrior who’d jumped from a bridge into a speeding boat. That was the woman I was obsessed with and wanted to lure back into my trap.
Disappointment was so bitter I could taste it as I crossed to the window, noting the droplets of water on the sill. Whoever had rescued Stanley had come in that way and was probably long gone already.
A pile of tinsel mocked me from the place where his pot had sat, and a scrap of notepaper rested on the carpet with three words scrawled across it.
Nice try, asshole.
6
Relief washed over me as I glanced down at the photo sent to my phone. Stanley was safe and secure at Carlos’s vacation house in the Bahamas. I couldn’t risk taking him back to my home in Iceland, not now that Kai had found him once. I also didn’t ask about the bow. It seemed festive.
“Thank you,” I murmured to the big man sitting opposite me in the tea shop. “I appreciate you prioritizing this request, I know you’re busy.”
He flashed me a toothy smile, then sipped his tea. The delicate bone china cup looked ridiculous in his huge hand, but he made it work. “How could I resist such a curious task?” He placed his cup down and linked his thick fingers together in front of him, his gaze sharp. “Why did you hire me for this, Danny DeLuna? You could have done it yourself. Easily.”
I gritted my teeth, holding back a grimace. While he was right that I had the skill to make a simple theft—even with the challenges of Kai’s island security—I knew I couldn’t have done it. No way could I step foot back on that island so soon, not if I ever wanted to leave it again.
Nope. I was too weak to face Kai in person just yet, because I’d totally lost myself while playing that meek character. I’d lost myself and left a solid chunk of my heart behind. Which was fine, I could live without it.
“Are you complaining about an easy job, Hermes?” I covered my dark thoughts with a teasing smile. “I figured it would be a welcome break for you. Especially after that Wittenberg diamond theft last year.”
His expression didn’t shift, not even slightly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. However, I did appreciate the simple task of recovering your plant. So much so, I picked you up a present while I was there.”
My brows lifted. “Oh?” Maybe he killed Kai for me and eliminated that worry from my mind. Dammit, why did that idea make me feel murderous?
Hermes inclined his head slightly, reaching into his breast pocket and pulling out a necklace. He held it out, and I opened my palm to receive it. “I thought you might want that back. Those are exceptionally valuable and only going to waste locked in Ares’s dresser drawer.”
I traced my thumb over the intricate key strung on the gold chain as a pendant, inspecting the engraved pattern.
“How’d you know this was mine?” I asked in a cool tone. Hermes was notorious for returning lost items to their owners—usually at an exorbitant fee—but every now and then he did it just because he needed to.
This necklace, however, wasn’t mine.
He finished his cup of tea, then dabbed his full lips with a napkin. “I may not be Guild, Danny DeLuna, but I know a Guild symbol when I see one. That’s an old one but doesn’t make it any less Guild.” He cocked his head to the side. For such a huge man, he was strangely graceful. “Did I make a mistake?”
I closed my fingers around the necklace. “Not at all. Just surprised, though I shouldn’t be with you.”
Another bright smile. It sent a chill down my spine. Hermes—his code name, not his real one—unnerved me like no one else I’d ever met. Even Leon when he showed his crazy didn’t make me as nervous as Hermes smiling.
“Good,” he murmured. “If that concludes our business, I have a big project to plan for.”
“Good luck,” I told him as he stood from his seat. “I have my money on you for the win. Again.” Every four years, there was a very unofficial but very infamous game within the criminal circles of the world. More often than not, the final round of the game was a seemingly impossible theft. Hermes had won every game since he’d appeared in the competitor list as a skinny twelve-year-old.
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about, Danny DeLuna. Stay safe.” With a short nod, he slipped out of the tea house like he was a mouse, not a six-foot-seven mountain of a man. His ability to crowd blend despite his size was beyond impressive.