Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
MASON
T he first thing I notice is how her eyes match her dress Emerald green and almost glittering under the lights. She walks right past us, eyes on the bar. But she diverts to a table off to the side, and I have to mentally remind myself that I’m on a mission and I can’t be distracted.
Diego and I are at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, trying to get some intel on Enzo. I’m in the lobby and he’s outside, hanging around the rear entrance. My gut tells me it won’t take long before we at least make a visual contact, and my gut is rarely ever wrong.
But right now…right now my head is tipping to the side as I watch the lady in the green dress walk by. She’s pretty, and she has a nice ass as well. I take a sip of my drink and do a quick scan of the room. Other than Green Dress, nothing interesting is going on. My phone dings, and I glance down, seeing if it’s a text from Diego.
It’s not, and I swipe over, turning off notifications because that’ll be the first of many texts in my sibling group chat. The chance of missing something important is slim to none; the chat mostly consists of my sister, Rory, sending baby pictures and my sister in laws Josie and Chloe loving the images.
My eyes flit to her again some time later, and I see her straighten up. Following her gaze, I watch Enzo sit down at the bar. I glance back at Green Dress just in time to see her take a picture then get out a voice recorder. What the hell? She records something and then puts it in her purse, purposely placing it so she can record a conversation.
Then she goes to the bar and sits just a stool away from him.
Do they know each other?
Now it’s my turn for photos, but I won’t be as obvious as using my phone.
“He’s here, at the bar,” I saw quietly, pressing on the earpiece I have in.
“You got eyes?” Diego’s voice comes through.
“Yeah. Clear view. Over.”
Sitting back, I watch the exchange, continuing to get video and photo evidence. The mission today was just to simply gather some info so we can put together a profile. Unless Enzo does something egregious, I can’t act. Whatever I do has to be able to stand up in court, and I’m not even supposed to be here right now. Though one could always go to a bar, anywhere in the city, and just happen to arrest someone who was doing something illegal. I highly doubt Enzo is going to lop off someone’s head in the middle of the hotel lobby, though I can dream.
The woman in the green dress scoots over, talking to him now. I’m good at reading people. Not only is it part of the job but it comes naturally. But Green Dress…she’s hard to read. Her ankles are tightly crossed and she has one hand on her drink the whole time—smart, of course. But she’s also leaning in, giving off all the tell-tale signs of body language that she’s interested. She’s pretending to take sips of her wine, not actually drinking any of it as she puts it to her lips. Her purse with the digital recorder is in her lap, and her body is angled so it’s front and center between her and Enzo.
Again, what the hell is she doing?
They don’t know each other, I can tell by this meeting. Is she trying to get intel on him, too? But why? If she was with another organization, I should have been informed. There’s no way that was why we were told to back off…right? I swear to fucking god if those asshole from Homeland Security got the Moretti job and we didn’t…I shake my head. Gotta stay focused.
Diego checks in a couple more times as I continue monitoring the odd exchange at the bar, pretending to read the book I brought so I don’t look like a creep just sitting here. If anything, I blend in with the asshole businessmen trying to find a quick hookup while away for work—and away from their wives.
I keep watching what looks like a weird game of cat and mouse. Every once in a while, Enzo’s head is turned just the right way where I can read his lips. He tries to get her to go somewhere else and it seems as if she turns him down. They exchange numbers and he pays for their drinks. Her body tenses slightly when he hands his credit card to the bartender, and I wonder what happened. Did he say something when his face was turned?
She gets up to leave and he grabs her wrist. I’m about to jump up though I don’t know why. I don’t know this woman, nor does she appear to be in any danger. Yet for some reason, I have the urge to protect her. It must be because I know what kind of scumbag Enzo is. It makes my blood boil to see him sitting here, enjoying a drink at an upscale bar like any other person.
I know the things that he’s done and the things that he’s still capable of doing. This woman, though she is just a stranger, seems way too innocent to get mixed up with someone like him. I take another picture of his hand on her wrist and then look back down in my book, pretending to be reading while watching out of my peripheral vision.
Green Dress thanks him and winces slightly when he puts his hand on her shoulder, rubbing her arm more intimately than she’s comfortable with. Then she gets up and starts to cross the lobby. She reaches for her purse, probably to grab her phone, and then stops herself, hurrying to the women’s restroom.
Enzo finishes his drink and picks up his phone, firing off a text. Then he gets up and walks towards the elevator. I follow him, seeing him take his room card from his pocket as he presses the elevator button. If he’s going back to his room, there’s nothing else to gather right now. But the woman in the green dress…
There’s something off about her and I need to figure out why she was secretly recording Lorenzo Moretti.