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More silence.
I sigh. “She is…perfect for this job. Trust me.”
“I trust you, Corrado. I also admire your quick thinking, as I’d have never thought about faking my marriage. But she’s an innocent bird, and I’m concerned about how you’ll keep her playing the fake-wife game during Order functions.”
“She played like a pro last night, and she was a fish out of water.”
“How so?” Severio asks.
“She surprised me, that’s all.” I never expected that she’d escape and use her status as my wife to make her getaway.
“Fine. But you brought in a bird without initiation or any background check, and if the Order members find out the marriage is fake, they will ask for her head and the heads of anyone else who knows about it. And if she finds out about us, that’s a breach of the code of silence. For which both of you will lose your heads, unless?—”
I cut him off. “Thank you, brother.”
“Just keeping it real.”
“Tell Paulina I’ll call her when I can.”
“She’ll want to meet her.”
“Goodbye.”
“Corrado, there’s more to discuss.”
“Later.” Because now I must shower and get my wife’s car.
10
WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY CAR?
CORRADO
Downstairs, I’m standing in front of my apartment, freshly shaved and dressed in jeans and a casual white button-down shirt under a dark navy-blue jacket, when Hank pulls up.
I get into the limo, and Hank lowers the partition, an unusual move for him.
“Excuse me, sir, the address our guys gave me for the location of your wife’s car takes us to the junkyard in parts of town where we might need extra support, so I brought my accessories. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Where did you store them?”
“In a duffel under your seat.”
As he drives out from the parking spot, I open the compartment under my seat that stores Hank’s accessories, a code word for weapons. Inside the black-and-blue-striped duffel bag, I find complete gear a SWAT team member would envy and, oddly, a tennis ball. I grab the hand grenade, weigh it in my hand, then slip it into the pocket of my jacket.
Next, I take the tennis ball and weigh it. “You play tennis?”
Hank chuckles. “That’s a good-luck ball, sir. Jace dropped it in there.”
“How is he doing?”
“Better after the surgery. Thank you for asking.”
I slip the tennis ball into the other pocket of the suit and slide the compartment back under my seat, then check the news and stocks as well as respond to messages from people who are waiting to make moves based on my decisions. Nobody congratulated me on my marriage. Either they haven’t gotten the news yet, or if they have, they’re waiting for me to confirm. I’ll keep them waiting.
The ride takes a little over an hour and a half, and we’re well out of the city. Just when I start wondering how far they towed her car, Hank starts slowing down beside a massive junkyard.
This time, I lower the partition. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
