23. One Bad Decision Leads to Another
23
One Bad Decision Leads to Another
Antonio
Lilith is going to be livid.
I had every intention of giving her more details before I left, but once I heard what Dmitri had to say, my initial intention went right out the window.
Agatha’s phone pings, and she gives me a look as she picks it up, glancing at the screen before turning it toward me.
Lilith : You little bitch.
I grimace, and Agatha laughs, darkening the screen and placing the phone on the table between us. I look at the phone and then back to her face as I ask, “Are you not going to reply?”
She snorts and waves a hand dismissively. “No point.”
Glancing at my own decidedly silent phone, I sigh, uncertain about what the best plan is at this point. The ship has sailed on what I should have done in the first place, so finding the next best-case scenario is imperative. “What should I do?”
Agatha peers at me blankly. “Oh, I don’t know. You could call her.”
“And say what?”
She chuckles wryly. “You could start with I’m sorry. Just be prepared that her not taking it too kindly is inevitable, but that will follow your apology.”
“There is always a but,” I mutter as I rise from my seat, pick up my phone, and turn to find a quiet place to have a discussion I’d rather not have. Never being the guy to put off the inevitable, I straighten my shoulders and sit at the back of the jet, a fair distance from Agatha, who has her back to me.
I consider an audio approach, but then reconsider, hitting the video before I can talk myself out of it. Shockingly, it connects almost immediately, and as her face comes into view, I brace myself for the well-deserved ass-chewing I’m sure will be coming as soon as she opens her mouth.
But then, when she doesn’t say anything, I squirm in my seat, leaning closer to my screen as if that will bring me closer to her as I say, “Lilith.”
She raises a brow, her lips twitching as she responds, “Antonio.”
Narrowing my eyes at the screen, I study her. She appears rather smug, which seems odd, considering I would have thought she’d simply be angry with me. It means she’s up to something. “What’s up?”
Smiling, she shrugs. “Oh, not much. What’s up with you?”
Shit . It’s worse than I thought.
I consider playing along, keeping up this pointless back and forth of pleasantries, but then decide to put a stop to it now. “You’re not mad at me?”
“Nah,” she replies with a wave of her hand. “What’s there to be mad about?”
Yeah, she’s pissed—livid even.
“Seriously? You expect me to believe you’re not plotting revenge as we speak?”
“Actually,” she responds rather pleasantly, her fingers twirling a lock of her hair absentmindedly. “I figure your little stunt doesn’t even compare to our little stunt, so it’s only fair that I not hold a grudge.”
Alarm bells go off not just at her words but at her tone, and I lower my phone so I can lean forward even more, my forearms braced on the tops of my thighs. “What do you mean, ‘our little stunt’? Who the hell is there?”
She smirks, her head bobbing back and forth as she makes a face I can only describe as prissy. “Mostly, Antoinette and I. But I had to call in Mickey as well.”
Well, fuck my entire life. I grit my teeth, my blood pressure rising at a critical rate as I assess her obvious self-satisfaction, then I ask loudly, “What the fuck did you do?”
Agatha, obviously startled by my shouting, immediately turns to look at me over her shoulder, and I give her a frustrated look that has her saying, “Oh, what now?”
“Is that Agatha?” Lilith chirps, then all but yells, “Do give her our best.”
Agatha winces, an unapologetic grimace on her face. She motions for me to come back there, but I wave her off, not wanting to give Lilith any openings to get off-track. “Never mind her, Lil. Tell me what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“It’ll be easier if I show you.” Not bothering to wait for me to respond, the camera flips, showing Mickey sitting on a plane. “And let’s not forget this guy,” she adds almost as an afterthought as the camera pans away, settling on another figure sitting on the opposite side. Or, shall I say, strapped into a chair on the other side.
“Goddamn it, Lilith. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Her face comes back into view, and she rolls her eyes dramatically. “Bringing the informant along for the ride. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“This isn’t funny,” I snarl, anger and panic battling for domination as I try to find words to accurately communicate what I think about this situation without setting her off on a path of complete self-destruction just to spite me. “Where’s Matt?”
Antoinette laughs in the background, the eerie sound sending a chill down my spine. Then Antoinette yells, “They’ve been delayed a bit, but I’m sure they’ll catch up once they figure it out.”
Lilith’s smile is smugly mischievous, and dread coils inside me at the insinuation behind Antoinette’s statement. I’m certain none of the guys would’ve condoned their current plan, and since none of them are on their plane, it seems a safe assumption that they managed to sneak around them. Or, worse yet, that they forced this delay on them.
I’m leaning toward the latter.
Agatha already has her phone out, quickly typing a message and then calling, shaking her head after each failed attempt. Then she sits there, tapping her finger against her chin, so I mute my call, putting my hand over my mouth as I say, “Call the Chameleon. If you don’t reach her, call Declan.”
Agatha’s eyes light up, and she goes to work, throwing me a thumbs-up as someone finally answers. I turn my attention back to Lilith, who’s watching me intently. There is a challenging expression on her face that has me leaning so close to the camera that all she can see is my face. “If you wanted a spanking, Lilith, all you had to do was ask.”
She gapes at me, quickly followed by a gasp of outrage as Antoinette cackles from the other side of the plane. Lilith glares at Antoinette, then turns her glare back on me as she huffs, “I want nothing of the sort.”
“Well, I guess that’s too bad then because you just wait until I see you again.” I don’t wait for a response. I end the call without further comment, the look of outrage on her face making me feel better.
“Did you just hang up on her?” Agatha asks as I take my seat across from her. I nod, and she laughs loudly. “Oh, that’s gonna piss her off.”
“Can’t say I fucking care right now,” I answer petulantly, outrageously annoyed that Lilith decided to take the bad guy out of the basement on a joyride. I won’t assume she did it just to spite me, but I do know that she knows it will infuriate me to no end, so it was like killing two birds with one stone.
“Camilla said she’s already on her way over there, so she’ll let us know what’s up.”
“That’s good. Camilla will know what to do.”
Agatha studies me silently, her fingers tapping on the tabletop. Then she asks, “Why do you think they brought the enemy with them?”
“Likely just because it was quicker in terms of catching up with us.”
“Do you think they know where we’re going?”
“If they don’t, it’s only a matter of time before they do,” I answer honestly. “Dmitri will tell them everything he told us. That last person he would keep information from is Antoinette.”
“Why is that?” Agatha asks with a look of disgust. “After everything he did to her, you’d think he’d want to set her up for failure.”
“The first reason being Lilith will be able to sniff out most of his bullshit. She knows every fucking person who has ever been involved in the criminal world—living and dead. Misleading her will be nearly impossible.”
“And what’s the second reason?”
I raise my brows at her and shake my head slowly. “He loves her.”
“The fuck he does,” she growls, her fist coming down on the tabletop with a bang.
She stares at me, nostrils flaring, those blue eyes so like her mother’s sparking with rage. I place my hand over hers, still fisted on the table, squeezing as I reply quietly, “I’m not making excuses for his abhorrent behavior, but in his twisted, fucked-up brain, he has convinced himself he loves her. That everything he did was for her protection.”
“How do you know that?”
“I guess he must’ve admitted that before you snuck down to spy on us. He truly believes what he put her through over the last few months was a sacrifice he made to prove his love for her.”
She glares at me, shaking her hand in an attempt to free herself from my grasp, but I just tighten my hold, and she spits out, “And you believe that bullshit? You believe anything that swine says?”
Sighing, I release her hand, sitting back in my chair. “Don’t get it twisted, Aggie. Regardless of what he said or what is proven to be true, he’s gonna die for what he did.”
“Then what’s the point in proving anything?”
“Because it helps decide the direction of his fate?”
She frowns and shakes her head. “Direction?”
“Whether he dies easy or dies hard.”