The Woman from the Past (Grassi Framily)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Massimo

The wait was agonizing.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever longed for a woman before. Not past the general desire to be with one, something that—in the past—always went away as soon as things turned physical.

Somehow, though, getting physical with Cammie only made the need for her grow.

Especially because I was trying to be smart, not put either of us at that level of risk again.

So when we did meet at the coffee shop, we stayed inside. We didn’t give in to the suffocating cloud of desire that surrounded us.

I’d been a little impulsive to toss the idea of Sunday at her in that lot before my heartbeat had even fully returned to normal.

It was really something I needed to discuss with Nino and August. But, at the end of the day, this was my job. And if I said we were moving in right that moment, that was what we were going to do.

Still, it required a fuck of a lot of planning. Especially since it was just three of us. And our kill list was pretty damn long, once we had concluded all of our research.

“She was pretty spot-on with her observations,” Nino said when comparing our list to hers.

In fact, we’d only concluded that two people she thought of as “probably decent” ended up being major shitheads. Otherwise, she’d been right on all her other accounts.

We had to give her a little grace on the two she was wrong about since they were both new and she hadn’t had years to observe them like she had the others.

“So, do we mark him off the list?” August asked, pointing at Larry’s picture.

He’d been missing since Cammie had let it slip to Colin that Larry had given her attitude.

There had been no bodies that showed up in the general area. But if Cammie was right about Colin—and everything we learned about Colin confirmed that she probably was—he was far too fucking careful to let one of his bodies be found. At least before it got the chance to decompose enough to erase most evidence.

“I guess we can de-prioritize him, but if we see him, it’s on-sight,” I said, shrugging.

If either of them were curious as to why there was suddenly such a rush, they didn’t say anything to me about it.

“Got it,” Nino said.

“Does anyone see any flaws in the plan?” I asked, looking at the pages spread before us, ones that would get dyed and shredded, just in case. Back at home, we’d burn it. But without the access to a fire pit or fireplace, we had to work with what we had.

“I’m worried about the house staff,” Nino chimed in. “He’s got, what, a cook and a cleaner every day?”

“Yeah. I don’t know as much as I should about the cleaner. I will have to ask Cammie about that. But I’ve seen the cook leave myself every night after dinner. Seems like as soon as Cammie leaves, he does as well.”

“I doubt the maid is going to be armed,” August said, shaking his head.

“No. But she might be a loyalist to Colin,” Nino argued. “Enough to warn him if she sees us first.”

“Fair enough. I’ll clarify it. And, obviously, unless she tries to shoot first, we leave her be,” I told them.

“Obviously,” Nino agreed.

“Do you two think we can pull this off with just the three of us?” I asked, open to their thoughts, knowing my judgment might have been a bit skewed because of my unexpected feelings for Cammie, and the desperation to get her free for partially selfish reasons.

“That’s a complicated question,” Nino said after giving it a moment of thought. “If Sunday night is a normal night at the house, I think we’re more than capable of handling the first part of the operation. And getting it done quickly enough that the other guys won’t get alerted.”

“But you have questions about getting everyone?” I clarified.

“I have questions about the necessity of getting everyone,” Nino admitted. “Hold up. Hear me out,” he said, holding up a hand, sensing I was going to object. “I understand getting Colin. Even his enforcers, who would be equally as toxic to the area. But outside of them, I don’t think it’s necessary to take all these guys out.”