Chapter 17
MATTEO
“WHY DIDN’T DOMINIC invite us?” Amalia asks as we’re pressed against the wall and waiting for the right moment to lower from the rooftop. “Those weren’t his regular allies.”
“Who knows what he called them for? And just because he seems to like us doesn’t mean he’s ready to work with us.”
She turns her head and frowns at me. “Yeah, I know this is a slow game, but... What if we did something wrong? What if he believes we were snooping around his office and is holding that against us?”
“Well, we were,” I say, just glad that my cock is no longer raising a tent in my pants.
I don’t know what it is about Amalia, but when she pressed herself against me, all my blood went to all the wrong places. Hell, I didn’t have such a reaction to anyone since I was a teen. It’s embarrassing and ridiculous.
“Yeah, I know,” Amalia says, “but his guard caught us kissing. Just because we were in there doesn’t mean anything.
He can assume that we know something, but until we make an obvious move, he can’t just treat us like enemies.
Besides, it’s his fault for leaving it all out there in the open like that. ”
“He just met us, and it makes sense that he’s cautious. You would be too.”
She presses her lips into a tight line. “How long have we been here? I don’t even know if Dominic’s still in the restaurant. It feels like we’ve been up here forever. Maybe they’re all already gone.”
“Last time I took a peek, his men were posted out front,” I say. “They wouldn’t bother if the meeting was over.”
“Right.” She bites down on her lip, and I focus a little too much on it. “Let me check.”
She pushes herself off the wall and carefully inches closer to the edge. “The cars are gone now, and the guards too.”
I move forward and look down at the street too. Right. The cars that lined the curb earlier are gone, and the restaurant looks closed. No visible lights or anything.
“So either he left,” I say, “or he wants it to look like he did.”
“Check that guy over there,” she says, nodding toward a guy strolling down the street.
“He’s one of Dominic’s. Why leave guards if there’s nothing inside worth guarding?”
It’s a fair question, and the answer is obvious enough. Something important might be in there, or even Dominic himself. He just wants anyone watching to think he’s gone and the restaurant no longer matters.
“We need to go closer to the restaurant and take a look,” she says. “Maybe we find something. Or someone.”
I arch my eyebrows. “Down there? With his guys posted? Just because we can’t see more doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
“Yeah, but it’s dark and the guards probably aren’t that close by. We can try to sneak inside.”
I should talk her out of it. Marco would have a heart attack if he knew. But Amalia’s already zipping her bag.
“Of course,” she adds, “if we see danger, we’ll just go back. But if there’s a chance to get in, I’ll take it.”
The fire escape groans as we go down, and we cut around the long way through the back streets to make sure no one sees us.
The alley behind the restaurant is narrow and dark.
No guard back here, which either means we got lucky, or there’s nothing interesting actually inside.
Who knows why the guards might be sticking around?
It could be for some other reason not related to the meeting.
Amalia presses herself against the wall by the door and tips her head at the lock. “Can you open it?”
I crouch and take a look at it. It’s nothing fancy, so I look around the alley for a piece of metal or something I can use to pick it. When I find it, I focus on the lock.
“Do you actually know how to do that, or are you only going to scratch at it?” Amalia asks.
“Not my first time,” I say as I carefully push the metal inside.
After a few tries, it actually works and the door unlocks.
“Not bad.” She actually sounds impressed, and I’m more pleased with myself than I should be.
I ease the door open just enough for us to slip through, and we step into a back hallway. A storeroom is on one side, a kitchen on the other, and past that is a swinging door. Low voices come through.
Amalia touches my arm and points toward the kitchen.
We make our way to it, careful not to disturb anything, and crouch behind a steel counter.
There’s a service window connecting the kitchen and the dining room, and as I take a peek, I spot Dominic and another guy, and they’re surrounded by a group of guards.
Fuck.
“I’ve been more than fair,” Dominic says. “You’re the one dragging your feet.”
“Fair.” The older man laughs. “You call moving my dates around twice in one month fair? I’ve got people waiting on those shipments. Buyers don’t care about your scheduling problems.”
“They can wait.”
“They won’t, and you know it.”
Amalia goes still next to me, and I’m sure she’s thinking about trying to shoot Dominic, but it’s impossible because he’s well-guarded even now.
“We need to wait until the heat dies down. I’m not risking the whole operation because you’re impatient,” Dominic says.
The man shakes his head. “And what about the Zamora load? You promised me that one in two weeks.”
“It’s being handled. Victor’s running point on it.”
I glance at Amalia, who’s frowning.
“I don’t like working with someone who changes the rules whenever it suits him,” the man says.
“Then don’t work with me.” Dominic’s voice loses some of that warmth, and there’s an edge in it now. “But I’d think hard about that, because the men who walk away from me don’t tend to do well after.”
Amalia leans in until her mouth is almost at my ear. “We need to think about how we’re getting out of here,” she whispers. “This could turn ugly.”
I nod, because she’s right. If guns come out in that room, the last place we want to be is crouched behind a counter with no way out. I tip my head toward the hallway we came through and she nods back.
“Are you threatening me now?” the man says.
“I’m telling you how things are. Sit down, Alberto. You came here to talk, so let’s talk.”
“I came here because you summoned me like I’m one of your errand boys.”
Amalia and I edge toward the door, keeping as close to the floor as possible. Just as we’re halfway to the back hallway, I hear footsteps coming closer. Someone’s leaving the dining room and heading for the kitchen. Fuck.
Amalia freezes, and I grab her wrist, pulling her behind the storeroom doorway just as the swinging door bangs open. A man steps through, probably one of Dominic’s, and he stops to dig around his jacket pocket for something.
I hold my breath, Amalia pressed against me in the dark. The guy’s a few feet away, his face lit up by his phone screen, and if he turns his head even a little to the left, he’ll see us.
He brings the phone to his ear and grunts something, then heads back the way he came.
The second the swinging door settles, I tug Amalia toward the alley door.
We slip out the way we came, and I pull it shut behind us softly as I can.
Then we scurry away from there until we’re back around the block and out of sight.
She lets out a breath and grins at me, her face flushed. “Well, that was close, but now we know a few more things.”
“That guy, Alberto, seems ready to put a bullet in Dominic,” I say.
Her grin widens. “Yeah, great news all around, but now let’s get away from here before any of his other guards pop up.”
I should be thinking about the shipment and the task ahead, but all that’s on my mind is how much I’d like to kiss Amalia right now. As if she can read my mind, she focuses on my mouth, but then she spins away from me.
Right. I need to focus. Not on her nice ass, though.
Oh fuck. Too late.