Surrender (Careless Whispers #3)(37)

“What about Alessandro?” Carlo asks, going back to his sweet spot.

“He’s a problem for reasons I haven’t even begun to discuss,” Kayden says. “But I’ve given Niccolo an ultimatum. If he wants our help, we get the goods on Alessandro, which he claims will be delivered here by sundown.”

Carlo lifts his arm and glances at his watch. “That would be now. Are we sure he’s going to come through?”

I tune out Kayden’s reply as my gaze lands on the Cartier watch on Carlo’s wrist, so like the one Kayden threw away because it resembled the watch Garner Neuville wears. I have a flash of images in my head, familiar hated images that Kayden has done much to wash away but they are here now, demanding I put together another piece of my puzzle. A hand touching me, that watch below a white cuffed shirt. But those images are of Garner Neuville. Why do Carlo, Kayden, and Neuville all have that same watch? That’s too much of a coincidence for me to believe is possible.

Carlo leans forward, resting his arms on the table and lacing his fingers together. “Why are you staring at me, Ella?”

“You’re a hard person to figure out.”

“No,” he says, the air suddenly crackling around us. “That’s not why you’re staring at me. If you have something to say, say it.”

I now have to decide if I’m going to confront him or take this to Kayden privately. I want to look at Kayden, but to be the woman by his side, I have to stand tall, like he does. I’m cornered and if I don’t punch my way out, I’ll have no respect in this room and beyond. But accusing one of them of betrayal might not be smart, either. I’m about to let it go when a horrible thought occurs to me.

As if he senses it, Kayden reaches down and squeezes my leg, urging me to look at him, but another sudden, horrible thought crosses my mind, and all calculation goes out the window. “Where did you get that watch, Carlo?”

I feel Kayden’s attention riveted to Carlo’s wrist; feel the moment he realizes what that watch looks like, even before he says, “Yes, Carlo,” his hands in front of him, lacing his fingers as if forcing control. “Where did you get that watch?”

“Gifted by a client last week,” Carlo says with no hesitation, and my bad feeling about this gets worse.

“That’s a twenty-thousand-dollar watch,” Kayden says. “A generous gift for a job I wasn’t briefed on. What client and what job?”

“It was on the books, Kayden,” Carlo says. “Matteo sent me the assignment, like he does all the jobs I take now.”

“Matteo assigns jobs?” I ask. I need to learn the internal workings of The Underground now, not later.

“I keep the database and check out the clients,” Matteo replies. “If they aren’t standard fare, they go to Kayden for approval. This one was standard fare.”

“Name,” Kayden bites out.

“Alicio Petit,” Carlo supplies.

“I checked him out,” Matteo says. “Married guy looking for a file with pictures of him and his girlfriend that his ex–business partner was using to blackmail him. Carlo and I found it and returned it to him.” He grimaces. “I, however, didn’t get a twenty-thousand-dollar watch.”

“Find a connection between that man and Garner Neuville,” Kayden commands. “Somewhere, it exists. Open your computer and find it now.”

Carlo looks between us. “What is this about?”

“Yes,” Nathan echoes, “what is this about?”

Ice runs down my spine and settles in my veins, my gaze finding Kayden’s. “It’s a message. He knows I’m here.”





nine




Kayden’s eyes hold mine, and everything we talked about on the porch tonight is in the air between us before his attention shifts back to the table. “Everyone,” he says, drawing their attention and placing his finger to his lips, silencing everyone before motioning for Carlo to take off the watch. “We need to know if it’s bugged and how much damage control we have to do,” he tells me softly.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Sasha murmurs, obviously close enough to hear him.

“It’s not,” I reply, the words rasping from my dry throat.

“Here,” Nathan instructs, pulling a small leather case from his pocket and unzipping it.

Carlo passes the offending watch to Nathan, who opens the case to display a mini tool set, yet another example of there being more to the doctor than meets the eye.

While he works, Kayden angles toward me, and me to him. “I’m not going to tell you this is a scare tactic,” he says for my ears only. “Though it may well be.”

“It’s a promise,” I say. “It’s him being bold enough to say he’s coming, and then do it.”

“We won’t leave this room without an aggressive plan to deal with him, which was already my intent.”

“You mean kill him? Because that’s the only way to stop him.”

“Yes,” he promises. “I mean kill him.”

“No bug,” Nathan announces.

The room seems to sigh in unison, only to have Matteo throw us all another punch. “But we have another problem,” he warns, looking up from his MacBook Air as all eyes fall on him.