“Will you be joining us?”
She smiled. “As much as I would like to, I wasn’t the one invited.”
“I can still bring you along.”
“It’s okay, Crewe.”
“When are the four of us going to have that dinner?”
“Cassandra and I have an open availability. We both work the same hours.”
“Then how about Friday night?”
“I’ll check with her,” she said. “But that should be fine.”
“Great.”
Dimitri walked inside without knocking. His cheeks were red, and he was clearly flustered since he forgot his protocol. “Sir, we have a situation. Joseph Ingram is outside. We have him surrounded, but he’s unarmed. What would you like us to do?”
Shit. “Don’t shoot.” I tossed my folder aside. “I’m coming.”
Ariel watched me through her thick glasses. “Can I help?”
“Stay here.” I walked outside with Dimitri and found Joseph standing in front of his car with his arms crossed over his chest. A dozen of my men surrounded him, all holding pistols or AK-47s. Joseph didn’t seem the least bit worried about all the bullets sitting inside the barrels.
Joseph leaned against the front of his car. “Beautiful day, huh?”
I raised my hand then lowered it. “He’s fine, guys.”
Dunbar was the last one to drop his gun. His hand shook before he finally cooperated.
“Search him,” I ordered.
“Oh, come on,” Joseph said. “If I were packing, I would have shot these fuckers for pointing their guns at me.”
“It’s not for my sake,” I said. “But theirs.”
Dunbar did a quick pat-down, feeling Joseph’s arms and thighs to make sure there wasn’t a Glock or a knife hidden anywhere. He finally stepped away. “All clear.”
Joseph adjusted his jacket then walked up to me. “Is this how you greet all your guests?”
“Just the ones who shoot me.” I walked to the front door and heard him trail behind. Whatever he wanted to discuss shouldn’t take place in front of my men. It either had something to do with London or the heist he was about to pull off.
Joseph chuckled behind me. “Alright, that’s fair.”
We walked into my office where Ariel was still waiting. “Can you give us the room, please?”
Ariel stared at Joseph with a look colder than ice. She’d nearly been taken hostage, but she didn’t show an ounce of fear. She sized him up like he was an easy opponent she could take down in a heartbeat.
Joseph whistled under his breath. “You’re looking fine this morning—”
“Speak to her again, and I’ll slit your throat.” I stared him down, no longer hospitable now that he had the nerve to insult one of my closest friends. If he thought I would let him objectify her, he was stupid. If he weren’t London’s brother, I would have already shot him by now.
Joseph shut his mouth but didn’t hide the annoyance in his eyes.
Ariel shut her folder then rose from her chair. She clicked her pen as she stared at Joseph, threatening him with a single movement. She was slender and lacked strength, but she would stab someone in the eye if she had to—I’d seen her do it before. “Don’t take too long. We have work to do.” She walked out and left us alone together.
“You’re awfully protective of her…” He dropped into the armchair she’d been occupying just a second ago.
I recognized the accusation immediately, knowing exactly what his suspicion was. “She’s gay. And yes, I’m very protective of her, so don’t try anything.”
“Ooh…gotcha.” He gripped the armrests with his large hands, his knuckles protruding with corded veins. His green eyes reminded me of London’s, along with the fair complexion of his skin. Their bone structures weren’t comparable, but I think I would have figured out they were related if I didn’t know they were siblings.
“What can I do for you, Joseph?”
“I wanted to talk about the plans you were so interested in.”
I leaned back in my chair, spinning a pen in my fingertips. “I’m listening.”
“How did you want to be involved?”
“In whatever way you need help. I have men, money, and weapons if you need it.”
“I have all of those things. But you do have something I don’t have.”
“What?”
“Intelligence.”
“I can get that for you too.”
“Because I’m wiping his bank account clean, but I know he’s got a lot more than that. His house has so many relics, jewels, and cash that it nearly doubles his fiscal worth.”
“Not surprised.”
“So I want everything. But I need specific information about his whereabouts, his guards, codes to the property…”
It could cost me a lot of money to get all that information, at least if I didn’t want to get caught, but it would be worth it. “I can get that to you in exchange for something.”
“I told you I wouldn’t be giving you a cut.”
“Not that. I want you to kill him.”
Joseph rubbed his fingers across his chin. “Wow. He really pissed you off.”
“Don’t touch his family. But I want him dead.”
“That’s not just murder. That’s the assassination of the century. I’m not really in the killing business.”
“You are now.”
“I need to know why you hate this guy so much. I don’t get mixed up in personal vendettas.”
“He killed my parents and my older brother, Alec. It happened when I was six. He courted my mother, but she didn’t reciprocate and ended up marrying my father. He never let it go and couldn’t take the damage to his pride. So, he killed all of them.”
Joseph watched my expression without blinking, taking it all in.
I’d told this story a million times, but it always caused a pain in my chest. I hardly remembered my parents and fictionalized what they were like, but it still bothered me that they were gone. And having a brother would be nice. He could have taken over the house name, and I could disappear on Fair Isle…with London.
“Sorry, man,” he finally said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything. But I need this guy dead.”
Joseph rubbed his palm up his cheek. “Like I said, killing isn’t really my thing.”
“You had no problem shooting me.”
“You know that was different. You took my little sister hostage.”
“And treated her better than the goddamn Queen of England.”
He brushed off my words. “I don’t know this guy, so it’s still weird.”
“You’re gonna walk away from this with eighty million dollars. That’s more money than Greece has. You’re really going to turn that down?”
Joseph didn’t hesitate. “No.”
“Then we have a deal?”
“What if I get caught?”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
“You told me not to hurt his family. But if we clean him out, they’ll be left with nothing.”
“No, that’s not true.” Men like that diversified their assets. Their money wasn’t hiding in one specific place. As a member of the Russian mafia, he had more money put away somewhere. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I know he owns most of the rental properties in Moscow. They’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Then I’m going to need men and information.”