Chapter Thirty-One
Zahra
The mission had been compromised.
The reason I left Sicily, the reason I woke up every morning with determination to continue the day, the reason Street was created.
Everything was compromised.
I couldn’t afford to jeopardize my relationship with Elio … or Street. I had to tell them. They needed to know.
Years ago, leaving Sicily, my heart had been impenetrable.
Gathering Street had been purely for my own selfish reasons.
But then we became a family. They became my world.
They became important, people I knew I couldn’t carry on in my life without.
Each lie I told them turned from small stones on my conscience to big rocks.
Then Elio came into the picture, and my heart, the heart I’d believed was too broken to ever develop feelings for anyone, was cracked open by him. Slowly, unsuspecting. He crept in.
And now …
Everything was complicated.
I blew out a breath, digging my hand into my pocket, pulling out my phone, and dialing Vitale’s number. I pressed the phone to my ear, my eyes taking in the vast expanse of Elio’s compound from the roof where we’d kissed for the first time, where this whole thing started.
Vitale picked up on the fourth ring. “Wow, pigs really can fly. Zahra Faizan initiating a call to me willingly?” he said in greeting.
“Hey, Vit.”
“Hey.” There was silence … then, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. How are you?”
Another silence, longer than the first time. He soon broke it. “I’m … good. How are you?”
“Good too.”
He scoffed. “Okay, what’s going on? You can’t be calling me for no reason.”
“I’m tired of lying,” I blurted, and he went silent again. I swallowed, closing my eyes and letting out a long breath before opening my eyes again. “I’m tired of lying to them, Vitale.”
“Faizan—”
“I have to tell them why I’m here. I have to tell Elio about the flash drives. I know he’ll understand and help because he wants to help, he told me he’d help me find them and—and imagine all the progress we can make if I tell Elio everything I know about that organization. We could—”
“Zahra.” His voice was sharp. “Stop for a second, and think, please.”
I closed my eyes. “I can’t keep lying to them.”
“You’re almost at the finish line. Everything is going according to plan. You have the map, and soon you’ll find the flash drives—”
“It’s getting harder; the map took us to Brazil, and it was a bust. A dead end.”
“Of course there would be dead ends. I’m positive Street will get it right. You specifically brought in the best of the best. We’ve tested them out from petty crimes to the big leagues.”
“Vitale, I can’t—”
“Remember why you’re there, remember how long you’ve put everything on hold to find those fucking flash drives. Remember where you truly belong. I can only hold the fort for so long, Faizan.”
“Fuck.” I raked my fingers through my hair. “Fine, I won’t tell Street … but Elio, he already knows about the organization; I just need to tell him about the flash drives.”
“Faizan—”
“I won’t betray him, Vit. We’re changing the plan.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“When we find the flash drives, I’ll hand them over to him and ask him to give us the one we need.”
“And you think he’ll just hand it over to you?”
I could almost see his frown. I sighed. “I trust him. I know he’ll understand.”
He was quiet for a while before he spoke. “You’re making a mistake, Faizan.”
“Call off the operation. Let me handle this on my own.”
“I can’t just—”
“I’m not asking, Vitale. That’s an order.”
He scoffed, didn’t respond. The silence dragged on until he asked, “And what about our deal?”
“That’s a discussion for later.”
“Right.”
“A lot has changed, Vitale,” I pressed. “I have Elio now, and I can’t—”
“I don’t even wanna hear it. I hope you know what you’re doing, Faizan.”
The line disconnected, and I stood there with the phone pressed to my ear for a minute before tucking it back into my pocket, blowing out a breath, and hoping … hoping with all I had that I wasn’t making a mistake.