“Even if Hernandez was alive,” Gio cuts in, “the cartel doesn’t hire mercs.That’s some cowardly corporate fancy-rich shit.Hernandez would never hide behind anyone.He’d walk up to your front door, shoot you in the face, and leave his name carved in your chest.No masks, no middlemen.”
I grab the water on the end table and take a slow sip.“What’s got two thumbs, thirty-two teeth, and loves to do egregious shit then blame it on immigrants?”
Gio snaps his fingers.“A politician!”
I aim a gun finger at him.“Bingo.This stinks of Lucy Rainford.”
Lorenzo scratches his jaw, skeptical.“I don’t know, man.Isn’t she more of a chessboard straddler than a player?Lots of talk, very little bite.”
“Exactly,” I say.“Do I think she greenlit a hit?Nah.But she’s the kind to whisper the idea into the right ear, then wash her hands while the blood dries.I know her well, how her mind works.She’s devious in her thinking, but she never acts on them.”
“Or maybe…” Lorenzo rubs the back of his neck.“Maybe this one’s on me.I let my guard down, trusted too easily, got the wool pulled over my eyes.”
I frown at him.“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Raya.”He stands and rubs a hand down his face.“You were right all along, brother.It’s her.She’s involved in this somehow.”
Pain rips through my side as I jerk upright.“What makes you think that?”
“Several things.”He begins pacing, fired up.“First, before I left, I told her to check in with me every hour to let me know where she was and what she was doing.And according to her updates, she was here at the villa all weekend.But Tazi and Eleni reported that she didn’t show up at the Pink House until last night.Surveillance confirms it.Sheliedto me all weekend.”
“Second, I’d instructed Jenkins to reach out to her if he couldn’t get through to either of us,” he goes on.“According to his debrief, when he called her, she knew right off the bat where the attackers were coming from.Gave him a step-by-step to shut it down.”
I say nothing.Just absorb it.Try to connect it.
“Third,” he adds.“Sanders said that when the shooters were subdued and they couldn’t get anything out of them—fuckers were offing themselves with cyanide—she strolled in, took one look, and just…knew everything.The agency they’re from, where it’s located, and that one of them had a kid.She’sthe one that got them to name Hernandez.”
He stops pacing and levels me with a look.“And let’s not ignore the obvious.This place hasneverbeen hit.Not once.Suddenly she shows up, smart as hell, oh so fucking helpful and insightful, and now all this shit’s happening?Think that’s a coincidence?”
“Have you talked to her yet?”I ask.
“No, not yet.”He shakes his head.“I don’t trust myself not to shoot her in the face if she looks me in the eye and lie to me again.She’s thrown in confinement for now.Until I know exactly who she is, I don’t want her anywhere near the villa or this operation.”
Leaning back, I nod in agreement.
Gio glares at me.“Aren’t you gonna say anything?”
“What do you want me to say?”I lift a brow.“That I was right?”
“Unbelievable.”He jerks up from his chair, nostrils flared, jaw tight.“You’re a despicable asshole, Stefano.”
He storms out like a tantruming child.
And they claimI’mthe dramatic one.
Lorenzo watches him go, then asks, “What’s his problem now?”
I drain the rest of my water.“Probably just mad his lying little girlfriend turned out to be exactly what I said she was.”
Lorenzo mutters something under his breath and scrubs a hand down his face.“This shit is fucked.Trust me to deal with it, alright?You just focus on recovering.”
“I trust you,” I assure him.“But send me the debriefs.I want everything.Footage.Reports.All of it.”
He nods and walks out at the same time the doorbell rings.
A minute later, he comes back holding a matte black box with that familiar emblem burned into the lid.
He drops it onto my lap.“Hell sent you another message.”
