Page 29 of Ruin Me With Lies

“You pronouncedtoleratewrong.”

Before I can fire back, something on the monitor catches my attention.Something I’ve been scanning for in the security footage playbacks from Liquid Blue, one of their nightclubs.

“Bingo.”

Lorenzo’s gaze flicks to me.“What is it?”

I hit pause and tap the screen.“This bartender at Liquid Blue, is she from The Pink House or Fair Cove?”

Lorenzo leans in to have a closer look.“No idea.I’ll have to check with Tazi.Why?You found something?”

“Yeah, I picked up on something a few days ago but needed more evidence.Scraped through tons of playback footage, compiled it all, and waited for last night’s footage.”I pop a slice of mango into my mouth.“And now I can safely say this bartender is up to something.And it’s not team Castellos.”

“Let me see,” he says.

“Hang on.”

I splice out the relevant clips from the current footage, add them to my compilation file, save the new version, and hit play.

Lorenzo watches, then shakes his head, nonplussed.“What am I supposed to be seeing?She’s out of frame in every shot.”

My sigh is dramatic.“Oh, young student.Must I teach youeverything?”

Lorenzo’s scowl deepens right before he conks me on the forehead with his knuckles.

“Ow!Careful!There’s pricelesstreasureinside this skull.”

When he raises his knuckles to do it again, I throw up my hands in surrender then hit replay.

“Watch closely,” I say, slowing down the video.“She somehow knows exactly where the cameras’ blind-spots are.And wheneverthisguy comes in”—I point at a heavily tattooed man in the crowd—“she moves intothatblind spot to talk to him.So, I scoured the angles of all the other cameras and found one that indirectly catches the bar, through the adjacent mirrored wall.Then I zoomed in, sharpened the quality, and…” I tap the screen.“Voilà!Now, what do you see?”

Lorenzo watches the footage again with complete focus.“Envelope pass.”

“Every Saturday.Always within the same time frame,” I say.“And, sure, itcouldbe nothing serious.Except for the fact that it’s always done in a blind spot.Someone on the inside fed them information on the cameras.”I tap the screen.“The guy does a good job hiding his face, but check out the top of that tattoo peeking out above his collar.Isn’t that part of the symbol for Skullaz motorcycle club?”

Lorenzo frowns, leans in closer, squints, then mutters a curse.“You’re sharp as fuck.That’s the Skullaz mark alright.”

And with that, my work here is done.

Leaning back, I pick up my half-eaten sandwich and take a bite.“Over to you, boss.”

He rubs his jaw.“Our surveillance team needs an overhaul.”

“Not necessarily,” I say around a mouthful.“There’s a difference between sitting in a security room and watching a monitor of multiple feeds with multiple angles across multiple properties, versusactivelysearching for something.Theyaredoing their jobs.I’mworking under daily threats, harsh glares, and insufferable moodiness, so Ihaveto be thorough.”

With my pinky, I wipe a dollop of sauce from the corner of my mouth.Cora sure knows how to make a mean sandwich.“That’s why I know you won’t let your brother kill me.”

Lorenzo scoffs.“You’re a little shit, you know that?”

“Correction, I’mtheshit.”

Movement on the live feed in the lower left corner of the monitor catches my eye.Stefano, Gio, and a middle-aged man in a priest’s robe make their way up the sloped pathway to the house.

Stefano has been travelling for the past two weeks and only got back last night.While he’s been away, things have been a little quiet, less tense.My days spent working with Lorenzo, and my evening spent getting sweaty exercising with Gio.

“Church is over and the heathens are out.”I stretch my arms over my head.“Time to sneak me out like your dirty little secret.”

“Not yet,” he says.“Vale’s with them.They’ll head straight out the back to play chess.Wait until they’ve settled.”