“Dante.”
He followed my line of sight, finally noticing what I had. One boat stood out from the others, smaller in size and older. There was rust along the outside, the trappings looking worn out. It was not one of ours, that I knew for sure. There were lights on the deck and at the front of the prow, illuminating the inky water around it. Our actual ships bobbed beside it, towering over the smaller boat.
We slunk behind a wall of containers, checking the deck around the corner. I couldn’t see any movement, but that didn’t mean there weren’t people on board. I frowned, scanning the deck again. There was no room on that ship for any sort of goods or containers. It was too small unless this shipment wasn’t as big as we thought it was.
“Pst.” Killian’s voice echoed along the docks, too loud in the silence. Both Dante and I whipped around, shushing him before he blew our damn cover. He stepped out from the opposite side of the docks, David following close behind. “I don’t think anyone is here yet.”
“Get down, you idiot. There’s a boat right fucking there with lights on,” Dante hissed. “Are you both blind?” David and Killian crouched down, finally noticing the lights.
“There’s no one on the deck,” Killian whispered loudly. Dante shot him another death glare.
“That we can see. Who knows if anyone is below deck,” Dante replied.
“I can’t see any movement in the cockpit, either,” David told us. He settled back, facing us. “Maybe we should split up and keep checking the place out. Your source did say they would be here, didn’t they?”
“Are you questioning my sources now?” Dante gritted out.
David just shrugged. “I’m just saying we’re here, and no one else is.”
Dante and I exchanged looks. His information had come from Cain, and the Arco brothers were very rarely wrong. I also wasn’t too sure about splitting up. We had a better chance of taking Ivan down alive together than we did apart.
“I’m not sure splitting up is the best idea,” Dante finally said. “That’s not what our plan was.”
“Well, plans have to change. Especially when the information we were given isn’t matching the actual scenario,” David pointed out. “Besides, we have the comms, and this shipyard really isn’t that big.”
An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach as Dante finally agreed. He squeezed my hand once. “Just stay close. Don’t go too far away from me.”
David started back the way they’d come, towards the western entrance. Killian crept down the middle, leaving the east side to Dante and me once again. I watched as Dante disappeared behind the furthest warehouse, the darkness swallowing him whole. I wrench my gaze away, focusing on scouring the docks close to the water. I clicked the safety off my gun, tense and ready just in case I did manage to stumble across this supposed job.
I reached the end of the docks and saw no one. The only sounds were that of the city surrounding us and the lapping of the water against the concrete. Starting back towards the boat, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to find out if anyone was actually on it. I got two feet before I heard the sound of another safety latch clicking softly.
“You’re getting warmer.” I froze, not recognizing the voice. “Drop the gun.”
Slowly, I bent down, setting the gun on the ground before turning towards my attacker. Ivan glared back at me, the barrel of his weapon pointed straight at my chest. I took a deep breath, my hands shaking as they went up.
My fingers brushed the hair over my ear, tapping the earpiece so Dante and the others could hear. “Ivan.”
“Sienna?” Dante’s voice filled my ear, sounding anxious. “Where are you?”
“I knew the Rosania were a nosy bunch, but you’re downright annoying,” Ivan sneered. “You should have stayed home.” At the sound of Ivan’s voice, Dante fell quiet. I just hoped he would figure out where I was in time.
“But then I’d miss out on all the fun,” I replied lightly, though my words sounded forced.
Ivan snorted. “You’d think after losing your father, you’d want less fun. But you and your family never were the brightest. Just the luckiest.”
“Is that why you joined the Snake?” I asked. “To take us down?”
His dark eyes glittered in the shadows. “At first, yes. But then I realized I’d set my sights too low.”
“So you killed your Don. Was that high enough for you?”
Ivan’s laugh startled me. “I was loyal to Sal for too many years, and that got me nowhere. Sure, I had some power as his underboss, but again—too low.”
“How is this any better?” My eyes caught movement over Ivan’s shoulder. Dante crept from shadow to shadow, the barrel of his gun flashing in the dim light. “You’re not the Snake. You’re just another soldier. Just another underboss.”
“I’m a lot more than that, girl,” he growled. “The world is changing, and the Sicilian mafia isn’t changing with it fast enough. The Snake has bigger plans. We won’t be in the shadows of others for long.”
“You won’t be doing much of anything for long,” I said. Ivan frowned.