Page 62 of Man of Lies

That’s when it hit me—there was no way Dominic could’ve known about the meeting Mason interrupted unless he’d gotten the information from someone there. Someone close. And itwasn’t Gator or his men. It wasn’t any of the people I’d been keeping tabs on.

Sylvia.

The realization was so obvious, it felt like a slap in the face.

“Sylvia,” I muttered under my breath. My eyes snapped back to Dominic, and I caught the flicker of a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “You’ve been using her, haven’t you?”

“No more than you,” he acknowledged, cold and a little too amused. “She only talks to people she trusts, or people who have the power to do something for her. You might be the former...but I’m the latter. She despises Gator, and I’m in the position to make him suffer. I’ve kept him around because he’s been useful in moving my product. But he’s brought too much heat into the parish. It’s time to clean house.”

I didn’t need to waste energy on the details—just the facts. So I pushed past it. “Did she give up who shot me?”

Dominic took a slow drag from his cigarette, the ember flaring with the movement, before he exhaled the smoke in a thick cloud. “I know who’s pulling the strings.”

He said it casually, dangling the information before me like taunting a cat with a piece of string. My jaw tightened. “You gonna tell me who it was or keep playing games?”

Dominic didn’t flinch as I stared him down. He crushed his cigarette against the rail and faced me. “I’m not here to babysit,” he said flatly. “I gave you information once, and you still fucked it up. You’ve got less than twelve hours now. Then the sting in Mississippi goes live, and everything you’ve built up in this investigation goes cold.”

“I won’t let that happen,” I growled.

“You don’t have a choice.” Before I could react, Dominic reached out and pressed the heel of his hand against my bandage—hard.

“Fuck!”I groaned and shoved him away, doubling over and clutching at my bandage. “What the hell iswrongwith you?”

“I’m proving a point,” he said harshly. “You’re out of commission, Silas. You’ve been made, and I’m not letting you turn it over to more feds. They’ll just fuck it all up like they always do, and those girls who’ve been slipping through your fingers for a goddamn year? They won’t survive the night. This is my city, Silas. You want to get things done, you let me handle it.”

I belted out an incredulous laugh, straightening up, teeth grinding against the pain.

He leaned in slightly, making sure his words hit their mark. “It’s the only way,” he said. “I’m getting rid of the head of the operation. I’ll do it my way—clean, quick, no questions asked. You need to be ready for the fallout.”

I worked my teeth so hard my jaw creaked. Whoever was pulling Gator’s strings was exactly who we needed. Dominic was right; if this fell apart, we wouldn’t get another shot. And I knew myself well enough to know I’d lose sleep over it for the rest of my life.

“You’re not asking for my opinion,” I said slowly.

Dominic sighed. “I’m used to dealing with people who have different ethics. I know better than to give too many details. They’ll only put you in a tough spot. All you need to know is that I’m taking care of it. Call your handler and tell them the girls will be delivered on time, but the shot caller is in the wind.”

I shook my head, rejecting it automatically. “Out of the question,” I muttered, but it was a knee-jerk reaction. The job was all I had left. Without it, I was nothing. If I let Dominic take the reins, my career would be finished. After the disastrous end to the op in New Orleans, this was my last chance to redeem myself.

But then Marie’s words came back to me, uninvited:“You’re tired, Silas. You’ve lost track of what you’re doing it for. Who you’re doing it for.”

I had no idea when I’d stopped being able to separate the mission from my life. When did this all stop being about saving people and start being about… saving face? Hanging onto something because it was all I had left? All I’d built for myself?

The truth hit me, and it wasn’t pretty. I’d been empty all my life, and that had made it so easy to slip into other people’s lives, lie to hundreds of faces, and disappear without ever questioning the consequences. But the job wasn’t the thing keeping me grounded anymore. The moment Mason walked into my bar, my world shifted. I’d stopped faking my life and started feeling what it was like to bealive.I wanted more than just the constant pull of duty. I wanted… him.

What mattered now wasn’t my career. It was justice. I could force Dominic to hand over the information, and maybe we’d bring in the shot caller, but not without sacrifice. Some of those girls would never make it home. I’d do whatever it took, even if it meant working with the devil himself, to ensure that didn’t happen.

I let out a harsh breath and released the anchor that had been dragging me down for years.

I was done.

“You take care of this,” I said slowly, “and you make sure every girl who's still breathing stays breathing. You hear me? You don’t walk away from this, Dominic. Not with blood on your hands.”

His expression darkened and shifted to something almost pitying. “You think I’m gonna leave those girls hanging?” he scoffed. “This ismyparish. You’re not the only one who’s invested here.”

But he wasn’t done. He leaned in close and said in a tone that felt like a deal being struck, “I’ll handle this for you, but you owe me something in return. If I pull your ass out of the fire, you have to make a choice. You tell Mason the truth, or you get the hell out of his life.”

“Deal,” I said tightly.

“Good.” Dominic’s smile was shark-like as he nodded toward the apartment. “Here’s your chance.”

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