Page 57 of Hook

“The dockmaster has to be involved,” I say, pacing the detective’s living room. “Why else would all five of the guys he told me have access to his system be clean?”

This detective has got no answers for me and all the while the rat remains in my organisation, plotting against me. And there’s nothing I hate more than a fucking traitor. I rub my prosthetic across the back of my neck.

The detective shrugs, which only angers me. “I couldn’t say, but it’s possible whoever betrayed you is good at keeping the trail clean. I’ll keep digging.”

This is terrible fucking news. As it means that all bets are off again, and Smyth may well be behind the stolen shipments. If he is, I’ll cut his fucking balls off and feed them to the sharks at the Goddamn aquarium. Hell, I’ll break in and feed the entirety of him to them.

“Where have you gone?” The detective asks.

I shake my head. “What?”

He shrugs. “I’ve noticed a few times we’ve met that you get this far off look in your eyes. And honestly, you look a little insane each time it happens.”

I narrow my eyes, glaring at him. “I am fucking insane. What’s your point?”

He clears his throat. “No point, just an observation.”

“Well, observe who the fuck is messing with me, or I’ll be out for blood.”

“I’m not one of your thugs in your outfit.” His eyes narrow. “And I don’t expect to be threatened.”

Motherfucker.

I clench my fists by my sides. “Is that right?”

He stands taller and looks me dead in the eye. “Don’t threaten me again, understood?”

The desire to claw his eyes out for speaking to me like that is strong, but he’s right. He’s not in my outfit and I need him, so pissing him off isn’t an option. If he doesn’t find out who is behind the stolen shipments, then more will get hit, and each time it happens, it’s costing us too much money. I’ll be left to try to find out who the fuck is behind it by myself, which wouldn’t be easy.

“You’ve got that look again,” he observes.

“Do the job I pay you for and then we’ve got no problem. Okay?”

He nods, but it’s unconvincing. “Fine, I’ll ramp up my efforts.”

“Thank you,” I say, trying to keep things cordial between us.

“Congratulations, by the way.”

“For what?” I ask.

He arches a brow. “Getting married.”

The mention of getting married draws my mind back to my obsession with Gwendolyne. Someone I’m trying to avoid thinking about, because I can hardly think of anything else since I fucked her last night. “How did you know about that?”

He laughs. “I wouldn’t be a good detective if I didn’t know about the most talked about mafia marriage in californian history, would I?”

He has a point, but I can feel my suspicious side taking over. I fear that soon enough I’ll be forced to fire this idiot and go it alone, because I don’t trust anyone.

Never have and never will—okay, that’s a lie. Stupidly, I trusted Piero, and he fucked me over. But I vowed from that moment the only person I would trust was myself, and my ma, of course.

“I want answers, okay? And I don’t care how you get them or how much it costs me.”

He arches a brow. “Surely you care how much it costs?”

“I won’t have you ripping me off, but within reason. I’ll pay whatever is necessary to find the bastard double-crossing me.”

He nods in response. “Fair enough. As I said, I’ll get you results as fast as I can.”

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