Fatally Yours

Chapter 16

•INDIANA•

"Another C.I. called in last night," Keith informed me over the phone. "Lee and his crew are looking for new partners to launder their extra money, and they've found one."

My shoulders slumped in disappointment. Lee hadn't told me anything about this during the past few weeks I've been working with him.

This shows the lack of progress I've made in breaching his inner circle and getting informed about things like this directly from them.

I need to improve my skills; otherwise, the connection we've established will remain fragile because they still don't trust me enough to include me.

"Where are they making the drop?" I asked Keith.

"Void Check Cashing," he replied, and I immediately picked up on his exhausted tone. I wasn't the only one stressing over this mission, trying to ensure everything goes according to plan and nothing gets screwed up.

"Lee has done his due diligence. They're ready to finalize the deal. My source confirmed that he'll be there tomorrow with at least seven million. His partners will also be armed, and so will Lee and his crew, so be careful."

I chuckled and lazily strolled from the kitchen to the living room.

"I'm always careful."

"You're doing a great job so far, detective. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be this close to Lee and his inner circle, which we've been trying to breach for years."

"Guess you're lucky to have me, then."

He chuckled. "I guess we are."

"Then you should buy me dinner sometime to properly thank me for my help."

"Yeah, I will," he drawled. I could sense the smile in his voice, and it sent a flutter of butterflies through my stomach—a rare occurrence.

"But once all of this is over, we should definitely go out for dinner," he continued.

"It's a date, then."

I ended the call without waiting for his response, and for the first time in a long while, I actually went to bed with peaceful thoughts, uninterrupted by worries.

OoO

The next day, I showed up at the Echo Chamber to meet Lee and the others. They weren't expecting me, and I wasn't going to wait around at home for them to call.

If I want to prove my worth and loyalty to these guys, I'd have to put in extra effort. Lee immediately excused himself from the room, where the others were still assessing the weapons on the tables.

He shot me a puzzled look as he made his way over.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I quickly plastered a fake smile on my face as he confronted me.

"Thought there might be something I could help with today."

He rubbed his hand down his face and glanced around the room as if searching for someone.

"You need to go back home, Nova. I'll call you when I need you, okay? Today's not the time."

"Why not?" I asked, confused, and he shot me a glare.

"We have another important task to take care of, so I need you to leave right now."

"Well, if it's that important, then count me in. I want to help."

He growled in my face, and before he could speak, I quickly stepped closer, meeting his eyes and lowering my voice.

"Look, I'm not in this for the money, and you know that. I just want a chance to prove that you'd be lucky to have me here. So far, you haven't given me the opportunity to fully impress you and your friends with my capabilities. If you're going to keep shutting down every chance I get, then I'll be happy to walk out right now and find someone else who will appreciate my skills."

He gave me a long, deadly stare, and I gave him a once-over before stepping back and turning to leave. I barely made it to the door when he suddenly called out to me.

I hid a triumphant smile before turning back to face him.

"Go help with the bags, and I'll meet you out front. Make it quick; we don't want to be late."

"Yes, sir," I replied with a quick smile before doing what he asked.

After loading the SUVs with three huge black duffel bags full of cold, hard cash, I got into the car with Lee and his driver, and we left the warehouse.

"So, about that other guy who showed up at the warehouse yesterday," I began, and Lee cast me a wary glance before asking,

"What about him?"

"Is he your boss or something? Is he in charge?"

Lee turned to me, raising a brow.

"Why are you suddenly curious about that?"

"Well, you know, after yesterday, I figured he might be more important than the rest of us because of how he talks and how he handled the ambush situation. Do I need another reason to be cautious around him?"

Lee chuckled darkly and exchanged a quick glance with his driver through the rearview mirror.

"No, but you're right. He holds more power than any of us. Hell, he runs this entire godforsaken city."

"So you're not the main boss, huh?" I teased casually, and the smile faded from his face.

"No. But he is."

Well, I'll be damned.

Did I just meet the person running the Valahia Syndicate from the shadows without realizing it?

"So do we call him Dom? Sef, or something?"

"That girl better watch how she talks about the boss like that." The driver suddenly muttered annoyingly.

Lee smirked at him. "Don't worry, she'll learn."

I turned back to him, feigning innocence as if I hadn't understood the driver's comment.

"What was that about?"

"Family calls him Dom," Lee answered sternly. "Outsiders like you will refer to him as Boss, or Sef—if you understood what that means in Romanian. If I were you, I'd be careful how I address him next time. Dom doesn't tolerate disrespect from strangers."

The car slowed to a stop, and I realized we'd arrived at our destination. Lee started unbuckling his seatbelt, his eyes fixed on my face the entire time.

"He'll give you two choices. You either end up in the hospital alive, maybe with a few stitches, or you don't wake up to see another day."

He chuckled at my expression and stepped out of the vehicle as the driver opened the door for him.

"Make good choices, sweetheart," he advised with a casual wink before disappearing into the building.

So, Sef wasn't a name after all—it's just how Romanians address their boss. I hadn't picked up on that before, thinking it was someone's name. My Romanian is a little rusty that's why. Blame it on Duolingo.

But this is good. Now I know who's really running the Valahia Syndicate. And Lee was right about one thing: now that I know who Dom is, I'll need to start making some very good—and bad—decisions to protect both my life and my identity.

Because if I let anything slip, he'll be the first to catch me.