Mr. Dark 5 (Tamed #5)(13)

On a quieter level, I could see the effect the two deaths had caused. The signs were subtle, but in my next few night patrols, I saw there was less cooperation among the street level thugs used by the various Confederation members. Members working for one member who were in the territory of another were treated with more suspicion, and each person's territory was patrolled a bit more vigilantly than before.

Sal Giordano being at Petrokias' shooting actually was a lucky break in our favor. I could understand why. After all, why was the smaller Confederation member hit while the big boss man himself not even shot at? The fact that Sophie had used a specially configured AR-15, a weapon that I was known to favor, raised even more questions. Was the hit done by me? But if so, how, when the room was rented to a woman, and the clerk swore that nobody else went in the room? If it was me, why didn't I take a shot at Sal, or was I working for him again? Was this just a way for Sal to unleash an unknown factor into the carefully balanced Confederation system?

Of course there were questions pointed at Owen Lynch as well. However, the death of Han Faoxin sowed even more confusion in that area. The Confederation wasn't sure what to think, once the word got out who had actually been killed. The suspicion on Sal Giordano increased even further, as he was one of the few Confederation members who knew who she was, and routinely claimed to meet her in person.

"All in all, a good start," I told Sophie a week after the hits, as we were reviewing the paperwork to put Tabby in charge of our investments in the city. The biggest headache was setting up another shell corporation, which we named MJT Holdings. Thankfully, while a basic pain in the ass, I'd done shell corporations plenty of times before, and had a connection with a lawyer's office in Connecticut that could get us the paperwork quickly.

"So what's next?" Sophie asked, rubbing at her stomach.

I noticed she was looking a bit pale, and was concerned. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, her eyes tightening a little bit. "Yeah, just feeling a bit weird. I hope it's what we're wanting, and not that my smoothie I had for a mid-morning snack was bad."

My pulse quickened at the idea, and a silly little smile crept up my face. "You think it could be?"

"That my smoothie was off? It's a distinct possibility," Sophie joked, before giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Relax, my love. Let's just wait until I miss a period, then get a home kit. It's only been a few weeks, you can't tell this fast that I know of. We've got other things to think about anyway."

"Yeah, like how we're going to entertain our houseguest," I said, thinking of Tabby. Since finding her in such a depressed state, Sophie had insisted, although I couldn't argue, and besides, it was nice having another person around such a large home. While Sophie and I did have a cleaning service come by twice a week, it was a large house, and I honestly felt like we were rattling around in it half the time. "By the way, I like the new red. A bit more flamboyant than before, isn't it?"

"It was, but we both agreed that a bit of overcompensation would help her mood. You know, kind of the whole fake it until you make it sort of thing," she replied, flipping a page on the document she was reading. I had to give Sophie credit, perhaps it was because of all the years of reading complicated medical stuff, but she had picked up reading business contracts with an eerie speed. There were a few times at first that I'd had to explain a few of the legal terms to her, but after that she was off and running on her own. "Caught something."

"What?" I asked, looking over from my computer where I was focusing on the next steps of our end game plan.

"Just a number error. On page four it says that Tabby will be compensated with fifteen percent of net profit, while on page six it says that she would be compensated with twenty five percent. Which do you want?"

"Twenty five," I said automatically. "What did we decide was the low ball of her pay?"

"Two hundred thousand a year, plus the house, cars, and other stuff. Not that she'd even be close to it with the twenty five percent. She'll be rubbing elbows with the one percenters very quickly with this."

I nodded. "Good. I was thinking, when we come back into town, we're going to need new identities."

"Yeah, you mentioned that before. I know you have the documents ready, but what did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking," I said, typing a few words on my keyboard to adjust something in our plan, "that Tabby could use a butler and maid."

Sophie looked over at me, making sure I was serious before grinning. "I think she just might. After all, this property is large enough for a servant's quarters. It would most likely be a very luxurious servant's quarters as well."

"Damn right," I said. "Maybe we can tell her about it this evening. By the way, how was her return to work today?"

"Seamless," Sophie said. "Our cover story of having her do out of office business trips went over perfectly with her bosses, especially when I came in there and stuck my boobs in their faces along with a pile of contracts for three more businesses."

I laughed and looked over, admitting to myself that Sophie looked especially beautiful that day. "Okay then. And she knows to use the excuse of a business dinner to get out of there by six tonight, right?"

"Either that or you show up as the business peacock and start making a scene," Sophie answered.