Page 135 of Carnal Wagers

I glanced around me. “What’s the threat level?”

“The cartel put a hit on him. Two point five million dollars dead. Ten million alive.”

“Tell me you aren’t going to take it, Adrien,” I hissed.

“I should.”

“Should but won’t. Right? Adrien?” I growled his name, then tapped my forehead against the glass. “You can’t. Please. Don’t.”

“I’ll never understand you.”

“Take the hit offline. Spread the word he’s family.”

“Is he?”

“Yes, he fucking is. Okay? You happy now?” My breath fogged a circle into the window.

“You better be certain about this.”

“I know.” Jitters popped in my stomach at the thought of how tomorrow would go once I told him the truth. Just one more perfect date, then I’d break it to him who I really was. “Did Erel tell you about my request?”

“Alizé…The cartel…”

“What? So they can place a hit but can’t get one in return? No. I want Sosa dead, Adrien. I want his threats on Boston and Cillian to end once and for all. If you won’t do it for me, do it for the damn paycheck. I’ll triple their payout. Fuck, I’ll even quintuple it. That enough for you?”

The line went silent, except for my brother’s leaden exhales.

“You love him.”

Yeah, no. No way was I confirming that to my brother before I told Cillian.

“I suspected,” he continued. “I’ve already put some men in place, but not enough. What you’re asking for isn’t just Sosa. This would mean the entire upper echelon. I need time.”

I called bullshit on that delay. Endgame was known for its fast response time and high success rate.

“Time isn’t what we’ve got if some bastard takes the hit and breaks code.” The code that stated that family members of fellow hitmen in their vast network were off-limits.

“Well, if you kept us up to date once in a while, maybe we’d know you don’t hate the asshole anymore, and we could’ve planned better for this.”

“Or maybe you and Erel could have taken me seriously to begin with when I first brought this up?”

“When have we been the type of family that communicates?”

I huffed my agreement. Truer words had never been spoken.

“Oh, and by the way, Tessa’s pregnant. You’re going to be an aunt.”

Point proven.

I scratched a nail between my brows. “Your announcement is shit, but congrats. I’ll call her in the next couple of days. I have to go.”

I took a few moments to collect myself, then squared my shoulders and jumped back into the fray. Galas waited for no woman, as seen by the fact that down below, people were congregating at their tables for the dinner service. A projector screen unrolled near the stairs, and a speaker positioned himself behind a newly brought out podium. The problem was Cillian no longer sat at our table, and I couldn’t pick him out of the crowd below. My heart rate thrummed faster and faster the more I paced around the balcony edges, looking over each guest without success.

The hit. Had someone accepted it already? Shit, I needed to find him.

“Do either of you know where Cillian went?” I asked Paulie, my hand grazing the marble balcony balustrade. Both he and Arthur stood only a few feet away.

“We’ve been with you, ma’am.”