Page 95 of Snaring Emberly

“So you jeopardized my security?” I snarl.

“I swear to god, if I had known…” He bows his head. “Roman, I’m so sorry.”

“So am I.” I shoot him in the temple.

Lotti falls to the floor with a thud.

“Really?” Gil asks.

“He knew better than to bring unvetted employees through my doors.”

“Good point,” he mutters.

“Take him out. Give the corpse a few hours to cool and have him sent to his family. Tell them he got caught up in last night’s shooting.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Gil hesitates.

My eyes narrow. “What?”

“This morning, I was in the bathroom, checking on my bedroom camera…” He rubs the back of his neck and grimaces.

“Spit it out.”

“Annalisa was on the phone with someone.”

My brows pull together. “The blonde roommate?”

He nods.

“Don’t tell me she’s also an assassin.”

“She was discussing money for delivering your special guest to the cop.”

The muscles in my jaw tense at the thought that nobody close to Emberly is a genuine friend—not even me. “Does she know she’s being recorded?”

“No,” Gil rumbles. “She doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“Keep it that way.” I rub my chin. “And keep her close. If she’s in contact with the cop, we can use that to our advantage.”

Gil’s features relax as though he thought I might have blamed him for the little blonde rat. “Sure.”

“And good work.”

I continue alone through the hallway and through a door that leads to another protected by biometric security. After placing my palm on the reader, it clicks open, letting out the stench of burned flesh.

A man lies strapped to a table, his chest a mass of broken flesh. Cesare stands over him in a leather apron, holding a scalpel and one of those little blowtorches that chefs use for crème brûlée.

I’ve got to hand it to my baby brother. He’s a creative motherfucker.

The man groans through a metal contraption resembling a ring gag. My gaze drops to the tongue nailed to his shoulder, and I scowl.

“How do you expect him to talk?”

“He’s from the Moirai Group,” Cesare says. “I didn’t know where he kept his tracker. It could have been under a false tooth.”

“That’s why you took his tongue?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, now I’ve got him communicating through blinks. One means yes, two means no.”