Page 59 of Arranged

“Probably, yeah.”

“I’ve been thinking about it, and it’s the only explanation.”

“But what about the tracker?”

“I think the mole used it as an excuse because they knew we’d blame the tracker for the attack.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait, slow down. Let’s say we have someone who’s in contact with Santino here. How are they contacting him without us finding out? Do they know I let Jessica go?”

“I’m not sure. We’re going to have to test my theory and figure it out.”

“How are we going to do that?” Flushing out a mole was a huge problem. “Are we even safe here?”

“I already made sure that only our most trusted ones are around you. If there’s really a mole, I think it’s someone who’s not very close to us. Just one of our soldiers. Someone we brought in not too long ago. Someone who can only send a message to their boss once in a while and only when it’s something super important. Otherwise, they just pretend they’re one of us.”

“I guess we could just confront everyone or ask questions, or replace everyone with new people. But then we’d risk the mole getting away.” I scratched the back of my head. “Can we use the mole to get to Santino? If they’re in contact with him, we could use that.”

“I was thinking about something like that. We should slip a piece of information. Something big. Something that would make Santino and the mole think that we’re going to be in a certain place at a certain time. Then we set up a trap. Or we catch the mole while they’re trying to send a message to Santino.”

I let out a loud sigh. “Great. A potential mole was just the thing we needed right now. And we still don’t have a solid plan. Santino probably won’t show up here himself. He’ll again send someone.”

“That’s why I said we have to make it sound like it would be something big for him. We should let him believe he could capture or kill you. That will draw him out. He knows he’s untouchable in his territory, but if he thinks he can take you down in your own territory, he’ll want to do it himself.”

“Yeah, that sounds like something that asshole would do. If he’s sure he’s very close to winning, he’ll come. But I don’t know if that will work.”

“We can always try.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll try to think of a few more things we could do so that it doesn’t look like we’re trying to set up a trap for him. Maybe I can come up with a new communication system that can easily malfunction and that the mole can access.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You seem like you’re thinking about something else.”

“It’s Luca. He’s... I don’t know. Different somehow.”

“Have you talked to him? Like really talked to him?”

“I didn’t get a chance. He’s busy training with the guys or whatever.”

Rafael’s eyebrows shot up. “He never does that. He only trains with me.”

“I know. That’s why I said he’s acting weird.”

“He was in the hallway when you and I talked about him.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“When I came to tell you about your father. Luca went out. I saw him in the hallway when I left the room later. Maybe he overheard you saying that he’s just entertainment to you.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, not in those words, but that’s what it sounded like.”

“Shit.”

“If I were you and if I wanted something more, I’d make sure to tell him.”