Dante is sitting in our usual seat. He’s not in his teacher get up so I can only assume he’s no longer playing the part of Mr Virgil. If I’m no longer at school, I guess there’s no need.
I slip into the booth as the waitress asks to take my order.
Pancakes. Side of Bacon. Tea instead of coffee as I already had one on the way over.
“Nice to see some things haven’t changed,” Dante muses. His hands are clasped together where I can see them, elbows on the table. He’s deliberately showing me he’s not a threat. It’s what you do when you think your target will bolt.
I’m not stupid. His hands being where I can see them and occupied doesn’t give me a false sense of security. I lied to Dino. He could kill me any time he wants. And there are ways to do it in public that won’t make it look like murder, at least not right away. A light dusting of poison on the surface of the table. Quick slice to the femoral artery. What Dino doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
Just being here makes my skin tingle.
“I’ve come to make a deal,” I say, copying him with my hands.
He smirks. “I don’t negotiate. You know the rules.”
I smile. It’s not a pleasant one. It’s carnivorous and calculating.
“Let’s just say, I have leverage.” I reach into my pack and take out my laptop, switching it on.
“I told you, I’m not in the—”
“System, I know. But you will be.” I spin the screen around so he can see, pressing play on the paused video. “I switched the cameras back on.”
He watched the video, amusement creeping over his face. “I’m impressed.”
Good. He should be. I suppress a yawn. Fuck, I’m tired.
It took a lot to let go of control and allow Dante to wreak havoc with my life. Letting him kill the drama teacher meant I didn’t have to do it. Allowing him to fuck up Joseph’s murder meant I had another way of blackmailing him. See, I switched the cameras back on when I left the Duke estate, knowing Dante wouldn’t know about them because I didn’t.
Planting the blood evidence was never going to be enough. I knew he would follow me and mess with my crime scene. It’s what I would do. He expected me to freak out, so I did. Maybe a little too much. I even took it as far as putting on the dramatics for Lorcan.
“I have your blood. I have this video. I have as much intel as Quinn could get on you.” I take out the USB stick that was taped to the underside of Quinn’s smoothie jug. “I take this to the police and immediately, you’re an assassin no one will hire,” I say, echoing the words he said to me last week in the library.
In a way, Dante is predictable. He doesn’t believe I care anything for anyone, or will trust anyone else. How? Because Dante only cares about himself. And we are the same. Or at least, he thinks we are. But we had an exit plan from the moment Quinn and I started working together. Dante always works alone, so I knew he wouldn’t ever suspect that I would trust Quinn explicitly. Or that she would trust me.
“So this deal? What is it you want?” he says, dead blue eyes seeming to suck the last of the heat out of my body. I’m absolutely freezing all of a sudden, so I take my tea mug with both hands and try not to shiver.
I can not shiver in front of Dante.
Not until he’s tamed.
I incline my head at him. “I want you to kill someone. And I need you to leave my boys, and Quinn, the fuck alone. In return, I’ll come wherever you want.” Suddenly, I open my mouth and inhale deeply. I can’t keep the yawn in any longer. Fuck my eyes feel heavy.
“Late night?” Dante smirks.
“Fuck off,” I snap. “Just tell me if we have a deal.”
He leans back. “Tell me who you want taken out first.”
I tell him and he chuckles, ice blue orbs shining at me as he takes me in. “Fuck, V, you never fail to surprise me. But that’s a hard one. He’ll cost you more than some shitty evidence that’ll never hold up in any courtroom.”
“How much?”
“Ten million.”
The scowl is on my face before I can stop it. I’m going to need more money. A lot more fucking money.
After Dante leaves, I eat my breakfast and finish my tea. He agreed to give me a few days to sort things out. I don’t know how I’m going to get that kind of money, but I’ll worry about that later.