AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Have you confirmed if the Sorens are in Switzerland? Did they take the bait?” Did I want them to say yes or no? At this point, I was torn. Yes, I wanted this to all end so Mya could have her life back, but she needed to survive for that plan to work.
“Not yet,” Sydney answered. “The hotel is old school about their guest log. Everything is done with pen and paper. You know, like the Sorens are probably doing with their pigeon messages.” She shook her head. “Also, they’ve beefed up their security measures since last time we were here. I can’t hack their surveillance cameras the way Gwen was able to.”
“I can do that when I get there,” Gwen offered without missing a beat, and I caught the concerned groan from her dad at the idea she’d be diving into the op headfirst.
Carter nodded, ignoring the death-stare glare Wyatt was giving him. “We learned a few hours ago the owner, Nicholas Barbier, is holding an event for the top contenders looking to buy the property.”
“Like an open house?” Jack smirked.
“Basically, but in evening wear and at night. And they know damn well what they’re doing by placing top-tier buyers together like that,” Sydney explained.
“A bidding war between bad guys, huh?” Jack piped up. “Guess it’s good they don’t allow weapons on the property, or we’d be dealing with pistols at dawn to fight over who wins.”
He wasn’t totally wrong, but were we really considering this plan?
“Nicholas knows I’m interested and highly motivated to buy, so he’s given me a private wing on the seventh floor for myself and my guests.” Carter and his endless supply of money kept saving our asses. “Will you all be joining us?”
Gray quietly looked to Tessa for permission, then Jack to Charlotte.
Gwen ignored her father and said, “Well, you know I’m coming.”
Wyatt grumbled something, a phone already to his ear before disappearing from screen.
“We’re in,” Gray and Jack both agreed.
“And you two?” Carter tipped his head, waiting for an answer from me. He already knew Mya would bulldoze her way there regardless of what I wanted her to do.
“What choice do I have?” I avoided eye contact with Mya, too pissed she was risking her neck for what felt like the millionth time. But I couldn’t pass up a chance of confronting Hugo myself. I had to add his brother to my hit list as well, given the pigeons and shipping crate, and the possibility he was somehow part of our capture orders in Thailand. As far as I was concerned, anyone involved that day needed to die.
“So, it’s settled. We talk to them there,” Mya stated, and I rubbed my chest, now knowing why Wyatt always looked like he had heartburn when it came to Gwen’s decisions. Mya was doing the same thing to me. “It’ll be safe there despite the fact we’re in a hotel for bad guys.”
“We don’t have to run the risk of RPGs or a sniper on overwatch while at this meeting,” Jesse said, almost too casually, and my shoulders fell as their plan came together.
“Unless you count cutlery as weapons,” Jack joked.
Carter would never live down the “forking” incident. At this point, I was surprised Jack hadn’t made memes from that night.
“But what do we do after the confrontation? We can’t attack them at the hotel or force an interrogation,” Jesse reminded us as he stood.
Griffin took to his feet too, because yeah, this wasn’t a sit-down moment for any of us.
“Exactly,” I growled out. “The hotel has protocols in place to prevent their guests from being attacked both to and from the hotel, which also keeps Falcon safe. But we probably won’t be able to track them when they leave. So like Jesse said, we face them at the party, then what happens?”
I couldn’t believe it, but I was looking at Mason for backup. I sent him a silent, Will you please reason with her? message I hoped he could read in my eyes.
“If she won’t listen to you, she won’t listen to me,” Mason said under his breath, accurately reading me but not helping.
Mya discreetly elbowed me in the side for that attempt as Carter said, “If the Sorens are really the central messaging system for The Collective, they’ll definitely want to control a place like The Sapphire and garner access to their existing clientele. So, if I steal it out from under them, they’ll do anything to get it back from me.”
“And we’ll draw them out to a place that isn’t as secure, where we can have snipers and R-P-Fucking-Gs.” Jack winced and apologized to Charlotte’s belly for his curse.
“I might have an idea where they may agree to meet us.” Gwen was back to typing, and she must have been onto something, as her fingers flew across her keys as she spoke. “What do we know about Hugo? What’s his obsession?”
“Fighting and races.” Mya visibly cringed. “And ugh, now that we know about the pigeons, I bet he gambles on those races, too.”
“Right. Anything involving betting, for sure.” Gwen spun her second laptop around, then pointed at the screen. “There’s a big fight happening next week, and a man like Hugo won’t miss that. Pretty sure his family is friends with the ruler there, too. Hell, maybe the ruler’s part of The Collective, too.”
“Where?” I knew, though, I fucking knew, and I didn’t want to hear it.
