Page 3 of Obey

“I’m sorry, sir,” I say, standing up straighter. “I’ll fix it.”

“You will,” Silvano agrees. His smile is darker, less friendly. “Because I can’t trust you with other business if things like this keep happening.”

I swallow hard. My cheeks are burning, and all I can hear is his disappointment.

It’s not familiar from Silvano. I’m used to doing a good job. The last thing I need is to get demoted because I was careless. I shouldn’t have trusted the men to give updates when this had already happened once before. I should’ve gone down there and supervised this shipment. I should’ve done so many other things.

Now I realize I have no idea what to do.

I clear my throat. “I’ll talk to the men. I’ll figure out what happened.” I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” I say again.

“This is all nice and all,” Evan interrupts, “But why are Knives and I here?”

“You’re here because you’re my bodyguard,” Silvano says. His eyes flicker over to Knives. “And Knives is here because he’s going to help Maddox with this task.”

I go still. I don’t dare look at Knives. I don’t want to see the disgust on his features. I don’t want to see him balk.

I know better than to argue with Silvano, though. He’s not going to send Evan with me even though I’d dearly prefer him, and I guess the others already have their assignments. “Yes, sir,” I say, trying for nonchalant but pretty sure I fail miserably.

Maybe if I hadn’t fucked up so badly, I could try to get someone else assigned to me, but I’m on thin ice. I can’t challenge Silvano on this.

“What? Why?” Knives stands up straighter. “Sir, I don’t do… all of that stuff.”

Silvano fixes his gaze on Knives. “You do whatever I tell you to do, Knives. Everything I know about this situation leads me to believe there’s some form of sabotage happening. I don’t want to waste more men than I need to on this. Maddox is familiar with the situation and knows the ins-and-outs of our weapons business, and you’re very competent at protection and are frankly wasted as a guard here. You can do something more useful.”

Knives scowls and clenches his fists, but he’s just as aware as I am that talking back to Silvano would be a bad idea.

Kyran’s threatening presence right behind Silvano is only one of the reasons to obey.

Evan looks between us and smirks. He knows something’s up.

They all do.

This feels like a particularly honed dagger to the heart, like this is Silvano’s way of saying “set your shit aside and get things done.”

It’s a test, and I realize I resent him for it.

I’m not going to show it, though.

I straighten. “Yes, boss,” I say. “I have a few leads I can follow here, and…” I trail off, shaking my head. Silvano doesn’t want to hear about the steps I’m going to take to resolve this. He just wants a solution. “I’ll handle it.”

“Yes, boss,” Knives echoes. “I’ll see what I can dig up too.”

Silvano rests his chin against his hand. “I’m sure my two up-and-coming stars will do a wonderful job. I should make it clear that I’m extremely busy, and the only time I want to hear from the two of you again is once there is a concrete plan in place or you’ve recovered the shipments. I do not give a single fuck about any other issues. Understood?”

Up-and-coming stars. Ha. I don’t feel like a rising star right now. I feel like an asteroid headed into the stratosphere, about to explode into millions of tiny pieces.

“Yes, boss,” I repeat. “I’ll have a report for you by the end of tomorrow.”

I hope.

Knives nods curtly. “Maybe we can track sales of weapons. If somebody is selling our goods?—”

Silvano waves his hand dismissively. “I don’t care. Figure it out, then get back to me.” He looks between me and Knives. “That’s all. Get out of here before Cristiano and Fox arrive for my meeting with them, since the only thing I do all day is meetings.”

“You’ve got a meeting with Mancini later today, don’t you?” Evan points out. “Unless you had me scope out that venue for no reason.”

Knives and I are clearly no longer welcome. We both head for the door, and Knives growls when we almost bump into each other.

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