Page 65 of Weaponized

“Yeah. What’soffis that she’s been using me for months.He has a recording. Hesawher. Fuck!” I start pacing again. Jesus. I can’t believe I was so stupid. Maybe I should start by finding her fucking Greek boyfriend, seeing what he knows. Just the thought of him causes my fists to clench.

“Okay, Luke, calm down,” Anthony tries. He looks at my brother. “Fuck, man, don’t get him going again.”

“Never mind. Don’t worry about it,” Matteo dismisses me. Fuck that.

I stand and glare at my brother. But, given he is my brother, he just glares right back. The standoff continues until Matteo finally gives in.

“Look, this is ridiculous.” He is clearly exasperated. “Some of the shit that Anthony told me doesn’t add up, that’s all. I just need Gianni to explain a few details to me. Pisses me off I have to chase him.”

“Like what?” I hate myself for asking, because he has a recording of her selling me out. Hard to misunderstand that.

“I can piece together the file and the Nicopolis thing, but I don’t get why he thinks your girl was with him.” He is shaking his head as if Gianni is the one at fault.

“She’s not my girl,” I snarl at him.

In typical Matteo fashion, he ignores my surliness. “The audio, though—yeah. I don’t have an answer there. But its very existence bugs me.”

“The fact that she—I brought her to that dinner. I told her shit. She told her dad. Got caught. Recorded.” I can feel my breathing going shallow. “Yeah, it bugs me too,” I say sarcastically.

Matteo sighs. “Not what I mean.”

“Well then spit it the fuck out,” I growl. I hate myself for engaging in this. But I can’t stop.

“Where did he say he got the recording?”

“He said he overheard her talking to her father so he was able to sneak and record it,” Anthony answers, clearly interested in hearing my brother’s line of thinking.

“This is stupid. Iheardher.” I have no desire to rehash what I already know.

“Right. I’m not saying you didn’t. Anthony told me what you heard. Butyoutell me—where did the recording start? At what point in the conversation?” My brother prods.

“Jesus Christ,” I snap. “We heard her side of thewhole fucking thing. From hello to goodbye. So if you wanna tell me we missed something, you’re wrong. She played me.” My voice sounds rough.

“How did he get the whole conversation recorded?”

“He hid or something. No idea. Jesus fuck, Matt, what’s your point?”

“My point is: if I hear you talking to someone and I want to get it recorded, I don’t get thewholeconversation beginning at hello. I gotta get my recording device out and turn it on. So, I’m gonna intercept the conversation somewhere after it starts, not at the beginning, anddefinitelynot at hello.”

I stop my pacing. Anthony responds. “Holy shit. You think he spliced that together or something?”

No. He didn’t. He wouldn’t. And then there is the file. And Nicopolis. And, regardless of how he managed it, Iheardthe recording.

“I didn’t say that,” Matteo answers him. “I’m just saying it didn’t go down like he said it did. Doesn’t make sense. She might have saidallthat shit, but he didn’t record it by happening to catch her in a conversation.”

I walk into our living room and the guys follow.I drop heavily into a chair and put my head in my hands. “I—I don’t—I heard what she told her father.”

“What? That we had dinner with the Russians? Whereeveryoneat Titus saw us? The place where her father is a member? What exact news did she reveal that Cormac wouldn’t already know?”

“She told himI’mthe heir,promisedhim a proposal.” My voice sounds weak.

“She did do that,” Anthony agrees with me as if trying to lend support.

“Yeah, okay.” Matt rolls his eyes.

“What? What are you thinking?” Anthony is back to being invested in my brother’s point of view.

“I’m thinking, who the fuck cares? So, her dad gave her a file of guys. Told her she had to pick one to marry. Half the girls here are looking for a husband. She tells Cormac it’s all on track and just like that, he leaves her alone. And, I mean,a lotmore happened at that dinner that she could have told him about. Did she give him some of those details I’m missing?”

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