Page 44 of Dark Wolf Soul
“She has only our word that she is who we say she is,” I tell him. “If she can hear it from Franco himself, I think it’ll—”
He stalks over and gets in my face. “You think it’ll what? Make herfeel better?”
“It would be easier to have her cooperation in this,” I say quietly.
“Cooperation?” he snaps. “Are you crazy? Have you been gone so long you forgot what it felt like to be played?”
“She’s not playing me.”
“And what about Franco, huh? You think, if we let her walk in to see him, he’s going to let her walk out? That old fuck would sooner kill her than let her be used by me.”
His words are truer than he knows, but I’m not about to tell him Franco’s already tried taking her off the board once.
“We brought that girl all the way here to use against the old man, not to hand her over to him,” he adds.
I should let it go. He’s made his position clear, and he’s not someone that changes his mind. Five years ago, I would have stopped here. But today, I push.
“I’d put countermeasures into place designed to remove her when her time is up,” I say. “She wouldn’t remain in his custody.”
“Bullshit,” he snaps, stopping his pacing to glare at me. “You’re talking about an outright battle right there in his fucking headquarters. He would see it as an act of war.”
It’s all I can do not to roll my eyes at that. “Kidnapping his granddaughter was already an act of war—”
“I’ve made my decision.”
I turn away before he can see the fury in my eyes.
“Now,” he says, his tone smoothing out and becoming way too calm, “what is this I hear about Trucker missing?”
I don’t let myself react. “First I’ve heard of it.”
“My sources tell me he was informing for Franco.”
Swiveling back to face him again, I say, “So do mine.”
“Any confirmation on that?”
“Not yet.”
His eyes gleam, which is not at all how I expect him to be taking the news of a rat in our ranks. “Guess he did our job for us by telling Franco we had his princess.”
I shrug and say, “Guess he did.”
He scans the empty bar with suspicion. “You have any more trouble with the princess?”
“Nope.”
His gaze flicks to the hallway toward Lexi’s bedroom, and my heart thuds harder at the idea that he might go check on her himself. I ordered Dutch to make sure she didn’t come out but didn’t say anything about not letting my father in. Still, something tells me Dutch won’t hesitate to step in front of that door if my old man comes that way.
It’s not a confrontation I want though.
“She’s quiet,” he comments.
“Yeah.”
“Got her ass tied up, eh?” he asks, arching a brow at me in amusement.
“She’ll do what she’s told,” I say tightly.
