Page 83 of Power & Punishment

“Yeah, I know,” I say, scratching the back of my neck. “Which means we need to move quickly. Does he have any big jobs coming up?”

“Tomorrow night,” Dante responds. “They’re moving a high-value shipment. I don’t know what it is, but he’s using his best guys so it must be important.”

I step closer, eager to latch on to anything useful. “Do you know the route?”

“No,” he replies coolly, “but that’s because there may be three different ones floating around.”

I grin. This time it’s sharp and ready for the kill. “You’re smarter than you look, Russo,” I say, rolling my shoulders back. “I think we can kill two birds with one stone.”

Dante’s cocks his head, narrowing his eyes. “Meaning?”

I scan the shadows for Michael before signaling him to come closer for this next part. “Meaning we tip off the cops.”

Dante huffs out a quiet puff of air. “And what good would that do? I don’t trust the pigs. It’s bad enough my sister sold her soul to become one.”

Michael can sense my irritation, causing him to move closer to me in case I decide to strike again.

“Here’s the deal, Russo. Right now, there’s doubt. Whispers. And if this shipment is really that big of a deal and gets hit, rumors become real, and his guys start to feel betrayed. They’ll start reassessing their boss’s ties with the police…and Enzo? He starts questioning them right back. Either way, it fractures trust. That’s a win.”

Dante mulls over my suggestion, rocking back on his heels. “What happens when Enzo starts looking for the rat?”

“Because of the controlled chaos you’ve started, he won’t look outward first. He’ll look at his own crews and maybe he’ll even start assuming someone close to him is the culprit. Someone who’s looking to take his spot.”

Michael clears his throat, stepping into the light. “It will force him to take action.”

“And he’ll overreact,” I add. “We want him to pull back. Tighten his circle. Cut people off. Because the second he does that, he loses control of the bigger picture.”

“Or he’ll lock everything down so tight we’ll never be able to touch him,” Dante responds, his voice layered with skepticism.

“No, he’ll isolate himself and isolated men make mistakes. And when he makes a big mistake, we’ll be there to make him regret it.”

Silence fills the empty space. The only thing I can hear is the muffled sounds of the city beyond the confines of the parking garage we’re in.

“What if he connects things with Mia? She can’t hide her identity forever. He’ll find out she’s a cop and will start to realize something is off about her.”

I push out a low breath, my hands shaking at my sides. “I handled it. She’s getting some much-needed distance from the NYPD.”

“What did you do?” Dante grunts, stepping forward.

“I did what I needed to do to protect her,” I answer.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but after last night, she needed to pump the brakes. All I did was submit an anonymous tip to the commissioner’s office, and that was enough to buy me some time while we got this mess sorted.

Dante’s eyes soften, and for the first time I see the similarities between him and his sister. They both have a hard exterior but were undoubtedly soft on the inside.

Michael is the next person to speak. “We don’t have time for this bullshit. If we’re doing it, we move now.”

I nod once, agreeing with him.

Dante drags a hand across his jaw, letting out a muffled curse word before pulling out his phone. “I’ll confirm the route and get it to you by the end of the day.”

“And I’ll handle the tip,” I say.

Michael’s gaze lands on me, his charcoal eyes looking somber, but steady. “What do you need from me?”

“Check on Mia,” I order, grabbing my own cellphone from my pocket. “I want to gauge her mood before I see her later. I’m sure she’s pissed.”

Michael doesn’t say anything. He just shakes his head, confirming that he heard me, and vanishes without so much as a footstep echoing off the cement walls.