Page 103 of Tristano

Teddy doesn’t say anything. He moves to the SUV, opening the door and helping her inside before climbing in the front passenger side. Mia gets in the back driver’s side, and then they are off.

“What now?” I ask Conor and Matteo as we stand around.

“We’re placing cameras around the car and stationing men to watch the area,” Matteo tells me.

I frown. That’s not going to work. By the time we get the alert, they will be long gone, probably with the girl when they realize the other one is missing.

“What is it?” Conor asks when he sees the look on my face.

“I have an idea.”

“We are all ears,” Matteo asks.

“The guy or guys will come back tonight to drop off another girl, right?”

“Yeah.” Conor nods.

“What if one or two of you stay in the car until they show up and take them down?”

“That way they don’t come back to an empty car and take off before we can catch them,” Conor says, following my lead.

I snap my fingers. “Exactly.”

“As soon as they open it and see the girl gone, they will take off,” Matteo murmurs. “That, and if they have too many guys, we won’t be able to take them.”

“That’s why you leave me inside. That way you can gauge how many guys they have before you take them down.”

“Tristano won’t be happy if we use you as bait,” Matteo warns.

“Maybe or maybe not. This is my risk to take, not his.”

Conor and Matteo share a look before turning back to me.

“It’s a solid idea. Let me run it by Bash.”

* * *

Shaking my head,I blink slowly. “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that? I could have sworn to God you said they want to use Serena as bait.”

Enzo nods. “I did.”

I chuckle darkly. “Absolutely fucking not.”

“Look, your chick is batshit crazy, and that’s on you. With this family though, that’s nothing new.”

“She’s going to turn my hair fucking gray.” I stand so fast that the chair flies back, hitting my desk.

“Watch it,” Greer snaps. “She’s fine. Conor and Matteo are with her in the container with her out of sight.”

“They are chaining her up. Again! I promised I wouldn’t let that happen to her,” I yell.

Greer crosses her arms. “I think you are forgetting the woman you chose to be yours. She made this decision. She has been undercover so many times. If she feels this is something she can handle, then she should be able to do it. She is one hundred percent in control. Even if she wasn’t, you and I both know that Conor and Matteo would rush in there to save her before they could hurt one hair on her body. Your girl isn’t a delicate little flower, Tristano. She’s a badass. She’s been trained for this. Let her do it.”

I run my hands through my hair. “I know that. I do, but it doesn’t fucking mean I like it.”

“You knew she became an undercover cop. What the fuck do you think she’s been doing on the streets? Acting like an innocent little church girl? Me and her have talked about it a bit. I can guarantee you that was not it,” Greer challenges.

“I didn’t think about it, okay. She was out of sight, out of mind. I always worried for her, but I didn’t watch her close enough to know about her cases. We kept that separate, so no, I didn’t know what she did undercover. I pretended like she didn’t do it.”

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