Chapter 15
AMALIA
MATTEO AND I HAVE BEEN working for hours, and the office is a mess of paper.
Matteo’s got the shipment schedules lined up on his side, and I’ve got the connection notes spread out in front of me, and between us, we’re slowly turning Dominic’s code into something we can actually use.
It’s the most progress I’ve made on him since I started, and I don’t want to stop.
I reach for one of the decoded sheets at the same time Matteo does, and our hands meet over the page. His fingers are warm against mine, and I look up to find him already watching me. I take the sheet first, and he lets me. I keep my eyes on the page, even though I can feel him staring.
It’s nothing. I don’t have time to think about it.
“You take that one,” I say. “I’ll go through the names again.”
“Sure.” He pulls his stack closer.
I run my pen down the column of contacts, and this time, I’m matching the names against the dates on the side. Most of these I know. Suppliers, a couple of the smaller families, a banker or two who’ll launder anything for the right cut... The usual people a man like Dominic keeps in his pocket.
But when I get to a folder near the bottom of my pile that I haven’t opened yet, the first page makes me frown.
“Come look at this,” I say.
Matteo leans over my shoulder, and I make myself focus on the words and not on his proximity. The page is a list of names with dates next to them, and at the top, there’s what looks like a meeting place and time.
“That’s not his usual people,” I say. “Look. The Varones, Robbertis, and D’Amico.”
Matteo frowns. “Those three hate each other.”
“More than they hate anybody else,” I say. “The Varones and the Robbertis have been at it for years. D’Amico’s the one who stayed out of it. So why would all three of them be sitting down with Dominic in the same room?”
He pulls the page closer, his brow creasing. “Dominic’s plotting something.”
“Maybe an alliance.”
I stare at the page as if that’s somehow going to change anything. The meeting might be real, and it’s soon, and if Dominic gets those three families on the same side, he’ll become unstoppable.
“This is bad,” I say. “So much worse than I thought.”
Matteo straightens up. “How fast can he pull it together?”
“I don’t know. Depends on if they say yes.
” I run my hand over my face. “But if even one of them signs on, the rest might fall in line. No one wants to be left out. If Dominic gets the Robbertis and the Varones to stop killing each other and direct their anger at someone else, then he’s got more men, more money, and more reach than anyone in our world.
And he did it while everyone thought he was just throwing parties. ”
“And whoever he targets it at—”
“Is finished,” I say. “Us included.”
I push back from the desk. The problem in front of me is huge. I’ve spent weeks circling Dominic, trying to find the thing that’ll bring him down, and I’m getting close. Except, it could just as easily bury me.
“We need to make a move,” I say. “Fast. Before that meeting happens. Once those families are in a room shaking hands, it’s done. You don’t undo an alliance like this once everyone’s committed. Of course, if it’s not all a lie.”
Matteo nods. Most men would’ve argued or tried to contradict me. He just picks up the page and looks at it. “We need to stop meeting,” he says.
“We can’t.” I shake my head. “Fighting three families and Dominic... It’s too much, and even if we tried, that would only tell him someone’s onto him. We’d never get another shot.”
“Right.” He sets the page down. “Then what can we do?”
The alliance only works if the three families trust Dominic enough to come to the table in the first place. The Robbertis and the Varones aren’t going to shake hands because Dominic asked nicely. They’re doing it because he’s convinced each of them that he’s worth the risk and that he’ll deliver.
And trust is a fragile thing. I should know.
“The whole thing only happens if those families believe they can trust Dominic completely,” I say. “We need to make them stop believing in him.”
Matteo tilts his head. “How?”
“We need to make them doubt him. A man like Robberti doesn’t sit down with the family he’s been feuding with for years, unless he’s absolutely sure Dominic can be trusted.
If even a little doubt creeps in, he won’t show.
And if Robberti doesn’t show, the whole thing will collapse, because D’Amico’s probably only there to see which way the wind blows.
As for the Varones, they’ll be suspicious once someone else pulls out. ”
“So we... What? Spread some rumors?” Matteo asks.
I nod. “Nothing they could trace back to us. It has to be something that makes them believe Dominic’s playing them. Maybe that he’s already cut a side deal with one of the others and they’re walking into a trap.”
Matteo gives me a long look, and a grin pulls at his mouth. “That would probably work.”
“Maybe we can say Dominic’s been skimming and lying to his own partners, and then they might actually find something when they go looking, because there’s something there to find.” I shrug.
“And if Dominic is smarter than that and has a plan in place?”
“Then we need to come up with something else.”
“We’d have to be careful who we use,” Matteo says. “Rumors are easy to start and impossible to control. If it gets back to Dominic that someone’s whispering about him right before the meeting, he’ll know it’s not random. He’ll start hunting for who said it.”
“We have to use people who already have reasons to talk. Find someone in Robberti’s circle who already distrusts Dominic. Let it look like it came from inside and one of his own has doubts.”
He nods, and I look down at the list of names again. “We’ve got time, but not a lot. If we can make a few people doubt the right things, Dominic’s big plan will fall apart before it ever happens, and he won’t even know why right away.”
“This is the most fun I’ve had planning to ruin someone’s life,” he says as he scribbles something down. “And believe me, I did many of those. Hopefully, this one will work out.”
I let out a laugh and shake my head at him. It’s crazy I’m here laughing with him when I thought I’d hate every second I spent around him. Even if this is all just a game to him, I don’t care as long as I get what I want, and that’s Dominic’s head.