Chapter 20
MATTEO
THE MAP OF DOMINIC’S routes is spread out on the table between us, and I trace the line from the port to his warehouse with one finger. Amalia’s got her laptop open and she’s scrolling through the notes we pulled from his office. We’ve been at this since morning.
“We should reach out to that guy. The potential mole, I mean,” I say.
Amalia looks up from the screen and frowns. “Reach out how?”
“I don’t know yet. But think about it. Whoever’s doing this wants Dominic gone, or at least hurt. We want that too. Everyone around him is either scared of him or working for him. A mole could be an actual ally.”
“Yeah, I know, but it could also be a trap.” She closes the laptop. “We don’t even know who they work for. They could be giving info to one of Dominic’s rivals, or to someone way worse than him. If we don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with, we could gain a new enemy.”
“But we can’t go slow with something like that,” I say. “Or we could miss our chance.”
“You can’t trust people who already betrayed their boss.”
I rub a hand over my jaw. She’s got a point, but I don’t love it. We’ve been collecting intel for what feels like ages, but we’re still so far away from actually making a move against Dominic.
“Look, nobody around him is on our side,” I say. “Not one person. If there’s even a chance the mole is, isn’t that worth a little risk? We can’t take Dominic down by ourselves.”
“Are you sure about that?” She crosses her arms. “Say we make contact and the mole’s already being watched.
Dominic’s not an idiot. If he suspects someone’s leaking info, he’ll keep an eye on his own people.
So now they’re watching the mole, and the mole’s talking to us, and we’ve just put ourselves on his radar.
Hell, what if the mole protects his real boss and blames us for the whole thing?
Or maybe Dominic already caught him, and now he’s waiting to see who’ll try to contact him. ”
I drum my fingers on the table. Maybe reaching out too soon would blow up on us. But doing nothing could be worse.
“You’re scared,” I say.
Her eyes narrow. “Don’t do that.”
“I’m just saying. You always want more time, more intel, more waiting—”
“Because I have every right to be worried,” she snaps. “This isn’t about being scared. I don’t have a death wish. One wrong move and it all goes to hell. So yeah, I want to be sure the fire won’t burn me before we light a match.”
Her jaw is tight as she glares at me as if I’m the obstacle. I should probably back off. But I’m not afraid to take a risk or die.
“Fine,” I say. “Then forget the mole. Let’s go to Dominic ourselves.”
“What?”
“We tell Dominic there might be a mole. We don’t even have to name him, just hint that we noticed something at the gala.
He’s already paranoid. We tell him that, and suddenly, we’re the loyal ones looking out for him.
” I shrug. “We earn his trust. That’s what you keep saying we need, so let’s do it. ”
She stares at me. “And lose a potential ally in the process. If the mole really wants Dominic gone or maybe another family too, we’ll just throw away somebody who might actually help us.”
“Do we even need an ally? I’m serious. It’s you and me. We’ve gotten this far together, and I think we can finish it together. We don’t need to gamble on some stranger who might sell us out. Besides, you said it yourself that maybe it’s too late anyway and Dominic figured him out.”
She lets out a loud breath and looks down.
“We’re still collecting intel. We don’t know enough yet to do either of those things.
Going to Dominic, reaching out to the mole.
.. Both options could blow up in our faces because we’re working half-blind.
” She rubs her forehead. “I hate it. I hate that I still can’t tell which move gets us killed. ”
I get up and come around behind her chair. Before she can ask what I’m doing, I settle my hands on her shoulders and press my thumbs into the muscle there. She’s wound up tight as a spring.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“You’ve been hunched over the table all day.” I work my thumbs along the base of her neck, and she tips her head forward. “You can decide. The mole, Dominic, waiting it out, or whatever you think is smartest. I’ll back you on it.”
She turns her head a little, glancing up at me. “You will?”
“Yeah.” My thumbs press slow circles into her shoulders. “I might argue with you first, because that’s what I do, but whatever you decide, I’m in. We’re doing this together or not at all.”
For a moment, she just looks at me, and her brow smooths out. Then her lips pull into a small smile. “That’s... thank you,” she says. “I didn’t expect that.”
“Don’t get used to it.” A grin tugs at my mouth. “I’m still going to think reaching out to the mole was a decent idea.”
She huffs out a laugh and leans back into my hands. “Decent. Sure.”
I work the last of the knots out of her shoulders, and some of the tension goes out of her. The decision can wait. Whatever she picks, I meant what I said. I’m not going anywhere.