43. Sebastian
Sebastian
“They coming?” Luca asks impatiently as he paces around my room.
I snort before sitting down at my desk in the corner. “Yeah, they’re coming alright.”
“What’s that—wait, is that what that noise was?”
“Apparently.”
“So he’s feeling better then?”
“Apparently,” I repeat.
“Alright, alright, alright,” Enzo announces as he walks into my room. “Go ahead and ask what you want to ask.”
Joe and Dante file in behind him. Joe has an utterly blissed-out look on her face, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dante look so… light on his feet.
Luca leans on my desk next to me and crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t need to know anything other than if you’re okay.”
“Better than ever.” He looks over at Dante. “Isn’t that right, Big Daddy?”
“Don’t make me hit you again.” Joe does her best to stifle her smile as she rubs her arm up and down Dante’s bicep.
Luca and I eye up the three of them, specifically Dante.
Eventually, he caves. Throwing his arms in the air, he lets out a dramatic sigh.
“Fine. I sucked his dick. There. Is that what you wanted to know?” Luca and I say nothing, meanwhile, Joe and Enzo both cover their mouths with their hands to stop laughing.
“And no, I don’t plan on doing it to either of you. Got it?”
Luca and I hold up our hands in unison. “Not interested,” I tell him.
“Good with me,” Luca adds.
Enzo snorts a laugh behind his hand, and Dante rolls his eyes. “Good. Now, can we move on, please?”
“Actually.” Luca holds up his finger.
“Jesus fucking christ,” Dante mutters.
“I have one more question. Was it—”
“Luca, sii gentile con lui.” The words roll off Joe’s tongue in near-perfect Italian, and all four of us turn to look at her.
“Wh-what did you just say?”
She looks at Luca as if he has no right to be shocked. Then it’s as if you can practically see the lightbulb go on over her head. “Oh yeah, I’ve been studying Italian. I’ve had a lot of free time the last few weeks.”
“You just picked up enough Italian in the span of three weeks to speak sentences fluently?” Dante points at Enzo and Luca. “I’ve been around these two for years and barely know a word they’re saying half the time.”
Joe almost looks confused. Putting her hands on her hips, she answers, “I don’t know if you guys know this… but I’m like, really smart.”
“Ha. Nice Mean Girls reference.” Enzo high-fives her, and she smiles.
“Thank you.”
Luca pushes off the desk and makes his way over to her. “Quindi questo significa che se ti dico quanto sei sexy appena scopata mi capisci?”
“You have these two to thank for that.” She points one thumb at Enz and the other at Dante.
“Yeah, you do.” Enzo snorts, and Dante and I just look at each other in confusion.
“Okay.” I clap. “You two can eye-fuck each other later and speak all the Italian you want, but remember when I said we had shit to do?”
I will admit, though, hearing her speak Italian was one of the sexiest things I’ve ever heard.
“Potrai dirmi quanto sono sexy più tardi, capo.” Joe winks at him, and Luca tips his head back and groans dramatically.
I laugh to myself and turn to face my computer. “Look.” I pull up the feed from the Vittori Enterprises lobby.
Dante leans over my shoulder to get a closer look. “Is that?”
“Sure is.”
“And are they?”
“Sure are.”
“These mother fuckers,” Dante snarls.
“What? What is it?” Joe asks anxiously.
“I got a notification while you guys were, getting ready for bed, that Frank Miller was trying to get into the building.”
“The janitor?” Enzo asks.
Joe’s face lights up. “Oh, I love Frank. He always said hi to me when I walked into the lobby in the morning.”
Enz remains completely lost. Not that I blame him. “Why did that get you to check the cameras?”
“Because I got a notification on my system that he was pronounced dead this morning. I get one any time any of our employees’ names are listed in police logs or news stories. Police found him hanging from a bridge.”
Joe brings her hand to her mouth. “Did he have a family?”
“No, but I just looked into his finances.” I pull up his bank statements on my screens. “What he did have was a shit ton of gambling debt apparently. He took out a loan with the Russians and never paid it back. Looks like the Novikovs came to collect.”
“How convenient for them,” Enzo mumbles.
I spin my chair and cross my hands over my chest. “You’re telling me.”
“How many are there?” Dante asks, looking behind me.
“Andrei, Maxim, and looks like eight more.”
A regretful sigh leaves his mouth before he asks, “How many did they get?”
I turn around, hit a couple of keys on my computer, and bring up a variety of feeds. Joe gasps at the images of our dead security guards. “One in the security office, two in the lobby, and one on our floor.”
“Is there a reason we’re not running out the door?” Enzo’s eyes are wide. Dante, already understanding, scrubs his hand over his face as Luca and I stare at Enzo. Suddenly, it dawns on him. “They want us to go there?”
“Yeah,” Luca answers.
“Looks like they have had enough waiting it out, too,” I add.
Enzo leans in to take a closer look at the damage on my screen.“What if they leave before we get there?”
“They won’t,” I say. “They wouldn’t have done something so bold if they didn’t want us to show up. And even if they wanted to leave, they couldn’t.” Joe, Dante, and Enzo look at me in confusion and I pull up more security camera feeds.
“You have them locked on our floor?” Joe asks as she narrows her eyes at the screen. “Is he sitting on my couch? Ugh, and he used my coffee machine!” Dante side-eyes her, and she curls her lips in. “Right. Sorry. Not important.”
Looking entirely too eager, Enzo asks, “So, what’s the plan?”
Luca looks down at me, then back to the three of them, before a devious grin takes over his face, one that’s usually reserved for Enzo. “Looks like we’re going to work.”