Page 125 of The Wicked
Something seemed off.
Milk had an anxious and wary look, Dog looked pissed, Upper looked sick, and Elia wore almost the same look as Zahra, completely blank.
Angelo followed behind them, locking the door as they settled like they had the last time they’d been here.
My gaze briefly locked with Zahra’s, but she didn’t give anything away. Instead, it looked like she was staring through a transparent wall.
The silence in the room was deafening until Dog broke it.
“Well, that’s one ugly dog. It’s even uglier in person; how’s that possible?” he remarked, eyeing the painting.
“Angelo said you had an offer for us; we’d like to go straight to the point, please,” Elia voiced.
Casmiro glanced at me, and I could read the question in his mind.What the fuck happened to them.
I walked back to the head of the table, took my seat, and assessed the group. I should have asked Zahra why she left the house last night because whatever it was, it was ruining their typical demeanor.
I searched inside me for the satisfaction of this new development but couldn’t find it, so I chose to ignore it altogether. The matter at hand was more important than their off day.
“I am well aware that you all know about the dealings with the painting. About Arturo Garza’s quest,” I said into the silence, waiting for any of them to chip in with a response, but there was just… silence.
“That’s a shock,” Casmiro muttered, relaxing back on his chair beside me, watching the group with a smile of amusement.
“I’ll take your silence for a yes,” I added. “A lot of men like me are on the hunt for the original painting, and—”
“Why are you on the hunt for it?” Elia asked.
“The gold, why else?”
“Bullshit,” Zahra muttered with a scoff, but she didn’t look at me. Her jaw was locked, and her index finger circled the table, eyes focused on the painting.
“And why would you insinuate that?” I asked, still looking at her.
I expected her to give me her infamous challenging look, but she didn’t even look up once as she said, “Everybody in this room knows that you don’t give a shit about the gold. You have a thousand times the amount it promises to fetch resting in your bank account, Marino.”
Marino?
Discomfort claimed me.
“All right, since we’re going to be working together—”
Her head shot up, eyes locking with mine. “Working together?”
I held her gaze. “Yes, Zahra. I plan to hire you for a job. You and the rest of your team will help me find the original painting.”
Milk’s eyes widened as she looked around the group.
The confused look in Zahra’s eyes quickly changed into a glare. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but we’re already planning to go after it on our own.”
Dog scoffed. “I wonder how that’s gonna work when no one is talking to anyone. Might as well get out there and get fucking killed,” he muttered.
Elia aimed a glare his way. “Maybe shut the fuck up?”
“Me?” Dog sat up. “Oh, you’re asking for a fucking punch because you caused this whole motherfucking bullshit.”
Upper spoke into the tense silence. “Fellas, not here.”
Dog turned to him in his seat. “Don’t even get me started on you, you little shithead.”
