Hidden Tracks | ✓

37 | devils roll the dice

The next day, we were all prepared to meet and negotiate with Miguel Rubio.

Or so we told ourselves.

Miranda was going to be stationed outside the Four Seasons, waiting for us if anything went wrong. Soler and I would head inside to Il Palagio, and meet Rubio to reveal the truth. Or at least, the half truth.

We'd decided we'd tweak the story a little bit to make the situation more favourable for ourselves. We'd tell Rubio we'd always been looking for Ianucci and Caldwell, and that at the gala, we'd come to spy on Ianucci. We wouldn't let Rubio know that he'd been on our radar too at one point. And still was.

I quickly got dressed in a short red number I'd brought with myself. It reached till mid-thigh, and had a wide cut at the back, almost making it seem backless.

Overall, it was a pretty hot and sophisticated outfit if I do say so myself, and exactly the kind of look I was aiming for tonight. I needed to be at the top of my game and a dress like this made you look the part, as well as gave you some of the confidence you were lacking.

I brushed my dark hair and put it up in a high ponytail, before dusting some light makeup on my face. Lastly, I applied some classic red lipstick and slipped into my black pumps.

For the past five minutes, Soler had been banging on my door, asking me to come out fast. I usually didn't take much time getting ready, but tonight I had to pay close attention to every detail. He wouldn't get that, I thought, rolling my eyes. They never understand how important an immaculate outfit is while making deals and gambles.

After wearing my watch, I took my purse and stuffed my Glock 19 in it. I also put in a small pocket knife disguised as a lipstick. After making sure everything was in place, I opened the door.

Soler was standing outside, with his hand raised as if he was just about to bang on the door another time. His face was arranged in an irritated expression, but when he saw me come out of the room, that changed.

His eyes trailed down my dress, settling for a brief second on my bare legs, before travelling back up again. I shifted under the weight of his gaze, not wanting to spend another minute in this suffocating space between the doorway and his large figure.

"How do I look?" I asked him nonchalantly, pretending not to notice him checking me out.

He met my eyes for a second before looking away and clearing his throat. "Uh, you--you look fine."

I raised an eyebrow. "Just fine? That won't help me tonight, I need to be at the top of my game if we want to have any hopes of getting Rubio on board with our plans."

This time, he glared at me. "Really, Winter? You're going to try and seduce that man into allying with us?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, but a little red dress never hurts, right? We have to get him to agree to our plans and help us out, and if I can turn on my charm and use that to my advantage, then why not? I'm not going to go any further than that."

Soler was looking incredibly good in his white shirt, with some of the buttons open at the top, and a black blazer. Who am I kidding, he was looking gorgeous.

But currently he was pissed.

"You're not going to charm that guy while I'm present. And besides, you? And charm? Huh, I've never seen you be anything but annoying."

I put a hand on my hip. "Why do you care so much about what I do? I'm simply going to be a bit flirty at the restaurant, what's the harm in that? And secondly, don't say I have no charm. It's just that you never got to see it."