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He reached over to the nightstand and picked up his phone. “I just have to make a few arrangements, then we can go.”

“Go? Where? I don’t have any clothes or , , , anything here.”

“Let me worry about that.” He winked, not giving me any more hints about what he had in store.

CHAPTER 25

Cruz

I wasn’t sure what I did in a past life to end up on surveillance duty. Watching Dias take Emilia to bed yet again was worse than pouring salt or fucking acid into the open chasm in my chest. Even closing out of that camera’s view and turning down the volume didn’t help. I focused on all the other feeds, making sure his security team was doing their jobs.

But it didn’t help.

My brain was working against me, constantly reminding me of what was happening in that darkened room.

She wasn’t mine, or even ours, but she sure as fuck wasn’t his.

Even when they fell asleep, I couldn’t help but think about how she would feel in his arms.

Derek watched the party, and his summary said it all. They seemed natural together. Real. No one had any doubts they were a couple.

She was doing her job. I knew that.

Too bad that didn’t take away the rage building in me.

Everything was going well. Better than expected. Thanks to that little pool party, we identified and followed more employees. We now had more locations under Dias’ empire, some we didn’t know about.

Overall, it was worth it.

Her stunt with the warehouse employee was exactly what we needed. It watered the seeds of doubt planted in his men by his kill orders on the guy at the club, then his house. They had the encouragement they needed to bloom into dangerous thoughts when he took out one of his own in broad light, just for touching her back.

It was fucking amazing.

Emilia caught a few of them talking to confirm our suspicions, but the mics we set up around the patio and bar proved the crew was closer to mutiny than we could have hoped.

Some stuck to the script that if you didn’t do anything wrong, you had nothing to worry about, but the majority were starting to panic.

They saw Dias as unstable. Protective of his new girlfriend, more so than his own men.

Frankly, if I were them, I’d be pissed too.

He was making our mission so much easier. His men were getting careless, too focused on their boss and his mood swings to keep up with protocol. Allowing themselves to be tapped, followed, and speaking without paying attention to their surroundings.

We now had thirteen cars being tracked, seven warehouses and offices bugged, and eight top men identified.

Months’ worth of work done in a single afternoon.

It felt good.

We were getting closer to being able to end him and go back to our normal lives.

But that meant leaving Emilia.

The night passed without incident. No guards rushing in. No murders. No movement outside his house, besides the two guards on duty.

It was painful, but necessary. Since the panic alarm night, we weren’t taking any chances. Losing sleep was well worth it to watch over her, even from afar.

Around seven, the door opened, and the most wonderful aroma wafted to me.