I didn’t want things to go back to the way they’d been. I didn’t want Niall to walk out of my life after the mission ended. I wasn’t sure what he would agree to, but I was going to make sure he didn’t disappear on me. However long it took, I was going to make him understand he was mine for real. That wasn’t just an act.
X had a car waiting for us when we reached the airport.
“Where are we headed?”
Niall shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
He looked unsettled and distracted. I might even say nervous. Was he concerned that even with all the evidence we had, we wouldn’t be able to expose the traffickers?
“Mr. X instructed me to take you to the Marchesis’ house,” the driver said.
“Thank you.” I glanced over at Niall. “I guess that means Lucien is going to get more involved in this.”
Niall nodded, but he was distracted by something on his phone.
“Niall.” I sharpened my tone, and he looked up.
“You’re not going to shut me out of this. Whatever we’re doing, I’m taking part in it.”
Niall sighed. “I can’t let you—”
“No. This isn’t up for debate.”
Niall smiled then, a soft look that made my heart speed up. “Just be reasonable about the role you take.”
“I’m sure as hell not going to be a front-line shooter.”
He smiled. “No, I guess not.”
“I can still defend myself. I’m just not as good left-handed.”
“I never thought you were helpless.”
His thoughts still seemed far away. “What’s wrong?”
“You’ve been shot, I’ve only had a few hours’ sleep, and there are some very bad men after us.”
I frowned. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Fine. I know how I want to handle eliminating these men, but I’m not sure X is going to agree.”
I nodded toward his phone. “Are you messaging with him?”
“No, I’m making notes.”
“Tell me your plan.”
“I don’t…”
I laid a hand over his. “Get my feedback before you have to sell it to X.”
“The right thing to do would be to turn the evidence we have over to law enforcement.”
“Do you think that’s what X wants to do?”
Niall sniffed. “I sure as hell hope not because I have no doubt these men will find a way to get out of any charges brought against them. They have too much money and too much power to be brought down by the legal system.”
“And even if only one of them is prosecuted, that won’t help. We need to get them all, or they’ll just bring in more people and keep going.”
“Right. If we go in, we need to kill them all, but that’s the problem. Too many deaths to explain easily.
I was sure we could find a way to handle it, but I wanted to hear Niall’s thinking. “So what’s your plan?”
“We make it look like they fought with each other, and the argument ended in a fatal shootout. We can leave the evidence we have for the authorities to find.”
“So ultimately they’ll be exposed for their crimes, but only after we make sure they can’t harm anyone else?”
“Yes, and it will look like one of them was going to betray the others by turning over the evidence. The trick is to get them all in the same location.”
“I’m sure Walsh will help with that if he can.”
Niall nodded. “If we succeed with all of these men, then we can go after their operators in other cities, assuming they continue without leadership.”
“Someone will step in and take over. It’s too lucrative for them not to.”
“Agreed. X has contacts all over the country, so one way or another, we’ll close every one of their connections.”
I wasn’t going to let it go down any other way. “What about the household staff?”
“I’m hoping the Marchesis will lend us some men to go in and get them out. We can have them say there’s a raid coming, and they need to be taken to safety or something.”
I nodded. “That will work, and any of the companions who want to get out rather than go down with those men aren’t likely to talk to police about what went down.”
“True.” He laced his fingers through mine. “Marco, are you sure—”
“I’m not staying back. Yes, my shoulder hurts, but I can handle this.”
I thought Niall would argue, but instead he reached for my hand. “Okay.”
“I like your plan.”
“Do you think we can make it work?”
I considered carefully before answering. “I do. It’s going to take some work to stage it right, but—”
“Wait. I’ve got it. I know what we can do.”
Niall described his plan, and I listened intently.
When we reached the Marchesis’ house, Lucien and his aunt Sabrina looked wide awake, Devil looked like he’d been up all night drinking Red Bull, and Joe and Angelo looked sleepy as hell. Peter, Lucien’s partner, and Cam, Angelo’s partner, weren’t present. Hopefully they were tucked in bed asleep like everyone should be at this hour.