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“I’m all for that!” Vera grins, sitting up straighter.

I smile, kissing the side of her head. “That much is obvious, with how you’ve been devouring everything.”

“Hey!” Vera pretend-pouts at me and I kiss her puckered lips, making her laugh as she pulls back in surprise.

“It’s a good thing. I like seeing you happy.” I kiss her again and she wraps her arms around me, leaning into it.

It’s nice to have a relaxing lunch like this with everyone.

We’ve been so busy lately that we’re usually all over the place during lunch and we’re lucky if we get four dinners together most weeks. I know it’s because of work, but having everyone together like this is really the best.

Everyone together like this is the only way I really get to calm down, a rarity in our lives right now, and likely for the foreseeable future too.

2

Jorge

I look through the information that Erika’s pack has sent over regarding business dealings between the Diamonds and the Hearts.

Now we’ve finally established a connection between our two organisations, largely thanks to Vera, it’s been easier to find out how all the sides of the Suits Syndicate work together.

It’s been especially useful to identify the third parties the Hearts and the Diamonds, and to a lesser extent the Clubs and Spades, use to hide their movements.

In the last weeks, we’ve found multiple connections between them that we weren’t aware of before. The information has not led to anything yet, but I’m sure it’ll be useful for jobs in the future.

Luckily, I’ve not found any connections to any of my clients in the data from the Hearts or the Diamonds I’ve looked through. I’ve always purposefully tried to stay away from companies that work with the Hearts, and it seems that has worked out pretty well.

I did lose some of my clients when they learned I’d joined Mathew’s pack —the guy is not really looked at with kindness in many circles— but most of them didn’t seem to have any issues.

They’d been aware we were friends for years, so if they’d had any real issues, they would never have worked with me in the first place.

What has become clear in everything, is how influential the Hearts are in this region and how many ‘normal’ —though not entirely legal— companies are influenced by how and where the Hearts are spending their money.

Just like when Mathew and Riley went to the biotechnological research complex.

The client, Allen, had no connection to the Hearts —and we did double and triple check once we got back, to be sure— but the research complex itself was connected to a sub-division of a sub-division of the Hearts.

Probably funded by one or two people high up in the organisation, their own little pet project.

Connections like that are now easier to spot, now I’ve got more data points.

I’ve still got some ethics. I’m not sharing the data from my clients with Mathew’s organisation, but when there are interesting patterns that connect Mathew’s work to my own work, I flag them and then check with Timothy if it seems worth it to investigate deeper.

Being able to help out with the organisation in my own way has felt really good, and it seems that Timothy has also been quite thankful to have someone with a lot of experience with ‘creative’ finances to work together with.

It’s one thing to train someone from the ground up, no matter their aptitude for the work, but it’s another thing to work together with someone who’s in the same field you work in but has had different training and might see things that you didn’t notice before.

It’s the same for me. Working with Timothy has taught me a few new ‘creative’ ways of helping people with their finances that my clients are going to be happy with.

The door to our office opens and Mathew steps inside, wearing a charcoal dress shirt, a new pair of dark red suit pants, and he’s closing one of his cuffs on the shirt. “I’ve got a meeting with a client. Do you want to come with me?”

He manages to close his cuff, before he looks at me, his dark eyes soft, and his whole look makes me hard instantly.

Fuck, he looks so good.

“What?” I blink, my mind now split between the work I was just doing and the sight in front of me. I didn’t really hear what he said, too occupied.

He comes closer, his amused smile taking on a tinge of danger, of the sexual kind. He turns my chair, so I’m fully facing him, and then leans onto the armrests, so his face is really close. “I asked if you wanted to join me. I’m meeting a client. I think this client would interest you.”