“What about Marco Boneiro? He’s even more involved with them. If you ask me, he’s the reason they’re here in the first place.” Kezlin pointed at the screen. “He has got to go down for this, Jared.”
“Believe me, sis, he will.”
“Tanner and I are coming with you,” Jordan stated. She grabbed her iPad and headed towards the door, ignoring Brock’s, “Like hell you are!” objection. She snapped another command over her shoulder. “Stop gawking at me Tanner. Get your ass off that chair. You two, let’s move. We’re burnin’ daylight.”
“You can stop right there, Miss Sutton. You are not going anywhere near Luca Boneiro, so you can sit your ass back down.” Brock blocked the exit with his arms crossed over his chest. Try as she might, Jordan couldn’t budge him.
“Get your big ass body out of my way, Brock Carter. Tanner and I are the strategists on this team. I am an expert in terrorist warfare. If anyone can ascertain whether Luca Boneiro is spinning tall tales, it’ll be me.” She leaned closer and said slowly, “We. Are. Going.”
“I’m afraid Jordan has a point, Brock.” Grim-faced, Jared approached. “But you are going only to observe, is that understood, Jordan? You are to be invisible. Luca might be my brother but he is a dangerous man and I for one don’t trust him.”
“Understood. Now, let’s stop wasting time and get the fuck outta here.”
“Tell it, girl,” Knox piped up from behind them. ‘Go get those motherfuckers, Jordan.”
“Observe only, Jordan.” She stopped at the sound of Brock’s voice resonating in her ear. He placed a finger on her lips when she started to protest. “We’ve already talked about this. It’s not up for debate. I want your promise that you will remain on the sidelines to observe only, evaluate and then report once we’re back here.”
“Brock, I’m not a—”
“It’s either that or you stay.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” she snapped angrily. The concern in his gaze stemmed her irritation. “Goddammit, Brock.” With a sigh she conceded and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. “I promise,honeybuns…but it’s gonna cost you… tonight.” She sashayed away; her voice floated back towards him as she disappeared down the hallway. “In the hot tub.”
Brock’s irritation at being labelled with a pet moniker that definitely didn’t fit his muscled gluteus-maximus, quickly dissipated as a visual of her wet and naked body appeared in cinematic color in his mind’s eye.
“You lucky bastard,” Tanner said as he followed her.
Jared laughed at Brock’s muted response, “Yeah, except nobody cares that she’s making me gray with grief every time she walks out the door.”
“Well, well, well. What an unexpected pleasure.” Luca leaned against the doorframe as he raked a salacious leer up and down Jordan’s body. Brock wanted to smash the grin off his face but knew better than to draw attention to the fact that Jordan was special to him. To a man like Luca, it was ammunition of the most dangerous kind.
“You must be desperate, brother; to bring one of the Red Reign chicks along. The sexiest one of the four, if memory serves.”
“Go fuck yourself, pencil dick.” Jordan leaned forward. “Call me chick again and I’ll rip your guts out through your asshole.”
“Is that a promise,mia inamorata?”
“No, motherfucker. It’s a fact.”
“What part of not drawing attention to yourself did you miss, Sutton,” Brock growled against her ear. He should’ve known better than to allow her to come along. He’d become used to the way the Red Reign Kitties dressed— dangerously provocative with their spiked heels. No red-blooded male would want to ignore the skin-tight jeans and white silk shirt that emphasized her firm breasts.
“He asked for it,” she hissed through pressed lips but did her best not to indulge Luca with another disparaging glower as he stepped aside to allow them through. The last thing Jordan wanted was a showdown between Brock and the Mafia Underboss because of her. The cold glimmer in his eyes warned that he was primed and ready to land the first punch. Not that she believed for one second that Luca Boneiro would beat him but there was no way in hell she’d be able to stand on the sidelines and watch her future husband getting tuned up. She’d be right in there throwing haymakers of her own.
No one uttered a word until they were seated in a spacious den on the second floor.
“Since you brought along reinforcements, I’m going to assume that this is the beginning of negotiations.” Luca lit a thin cigar and dragged on it with appreciation, enjoying the warm feeling rushing through his veins. He studied the four of them through the swirling smoke dissipating in the atmosphere.
“We don’t negotiate, Luca.” Jared leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He appeared at ease. “You offered to give us actionable intel that will put Marco, his associates, Fadhil and Abu, behind bars. I am not in a position of authority to offer you immunity from your crimes. That’s not how it works. What I will offer is to give you a month’s grace to disappear.”
“A month? And then what?” Luca’s expression didn’t change.
“Then the authorities will receive all the intel and proof we have on you, your assets, known criminal associations between you and the Five Families, the shell companies, the pedophile ring… do I need to continue?”
Luca snorted. “Proof? I highly doubt that, Jared but…” He scratched his chin as he stared at him. His mind raced as he conjured up a plan that would remove him from the FBI’s most wanted list without losing the power he had in the crime world. “I can work with a month, provided you help me set up my fake death.”
“You want the world to believe you died?” Brock didn’t hide his surprise. “How stupid do you think we are? You want the power Marco has. Pretending to be dead is out of character, Boneiro.”
“I need the authorities and all my business associates to believe Drake Baxter is dead before anyone can make the association you managed to make between that persona and the Mafia. I have no intention of looking over my shoulder the rest of my life.”