Page 30 of Duality

Alexander’s eyes sharpened at the differentiation. Danny shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I’m leaning towards the former. Citadel is keeping their cards close.

“We need to know what Citadel knows,” I said, rubbing my fingers against my temples.

“You mean you haven’t hacked their systems?” Marcus raised an eyebrow, his tone disbelieving and accusatory. My lieutenants frowned, and Sebastian glared at his brother.

“They’re a closed system,” Liam jumped in, quick to defend me. “Can’t get access unless we’re on the inside, and we don’t have someone inside.”

We had tried to get someone inside previously, but Citadel operated in a “good old boys’ club” way, and we didn’t have anyone in their circles. Plus, it hadn’t really been a priority. We had always known we would have to take Citadel down eventually, but a job like that meant exposure. More exposure than I wanted us to have. Shining a light on the Archers like that meant it was harder to operate in the shadows for our other cases. But now that they’d attacked the brothers, they’d left me with no choice. It wouldn’t be long before Citadel realized the brothers were the wrong target and came after me, or worse, my lieutenants or anyone else in our organization. At least right now, we could use the brothers as a diversion and hit them before they realized they were chasing after the wrong target. Although everything in me protested at the idea of using the guys as bait.

“Our primary concern needs to be the hit,” Grace said. “The other stuff can wait, but the faster we take care of the contract, the faster the golden boys can go back to their ivory tower.”

I sighed. Grace was feeling touchy about the guys being in our space.

“Take care of the contract?” Marcus argued with her. “It sounds like you’re gearing up to take it.”

“The thought crossed my mind if you can’t get that stick out of your ass,” Grace shot back.

“That’s enough,” Alexander said sharply, glaring at both Marcus and Grace. “I get this isn’t ideal, but you aren’t helping.” His voice was deep, the growling command clear as he glared atMarcus. I couldn’t help the spike of heat that shot through me. I liked a dominating man, sue me, and Alexander could command a room like no other. It surprised me, though, when he turned the meeting back over to me. “Miss Harp—Evelyn, what do you propose?”

I bit my lip, aware I was about to unveil another layer of the Archers to the guys, but at this point, they had enough on us to cause us serious trouble. Maybe if they learned more about us and the good we did, they wouldn’t go to the authorities. And if we saved their lives, we were probably going to be in a better bargaining position, anyway.

“Liam, are you still monitoring the contract on the dark web?” I asked.

Liam nodded. “I can see who’s accessed the page.” He knew what I was asking.

“I’ll reach out to some contacts. See if I can get them to hold off on taking the contract to give us some time.”

“You have contacts on the dark web?” The disbelief in Marcus’s tone was starting to rankle.

“The Archers have contacts everywhere,” I said, ignoring his obvious distrust. “I can buy us a week. Maybe two. The bigger problem is going to be figuring out what Citadel knows.” I looked at Grace, who cracked a smile for the first time all morning. She knew what I was going to say next. “It’s time for a little B&E,” I said.

“Breaking and entering?” Marcus’s eyebrows shot up.

“Yes, that’s usually what B&E means,” Sebastian said, his tone full of snark.

I didn’t like the tension between the brothers. It was worse that I was the cause of it, but their tense postures indicated there was little I could do to change it.

“Who’s going to do it?” Alexander asked, leaning forward on his elbows. I tried not to let my eyes linger over his defined forearms and instead met his fierce gaze.

“Grace and I will,” I said.

When it came to B&E, Grace and I had the most patience. Danny was like a bull in the china shop, and Izzy preferred to be the backup around the corner. We tried to keep Maya out of most of the illegal things, both by their preference and keeping our contact in the police force safe. It was hard for Captain Patel to be a trusted member of the force if his child was out doing criminal activities. And Liam never left his den.

“Sebastian will join you,” Alexander said. I arched an eyebrow at him. Oh, would he? “He knows most, if not all, security systems on the market and can hack as he goes. Citadel, no doubt, has one of the best systems on the market.”

Danny went to protest, but I raised my hand, and he fell silent. I allowed my lieutenants to speak their minds all of the time. But I was still the boss. And Alexander had a point. Sebastian did know most of the security systems, and his knowledge would be invaluable. But could he do what needed to be done if we came across any Citadel employees? I caught glimpses behind the happy-go-lucky mask he wore, but that didn’t mean he was any good in a fight.

“It could get messy,” I countered, tilting my head.

Alexander nodded, a strange look crossing his face before he spoke. “We have experience in the messy part of our job.”

Marcus sat up straighter. “Alex,” he warned, but Alexander shook his head.

“No, it’s only fair. They have been more than accommodating with us. It’s only fair they know.” He looked back at me, and the seriousness in his eyes had me stiffening in my seat. “In the early days of SDS, we… Well, we were known to walk on the wrong side of the law a time or two.”

Sebastian bounced in his seat. “Best days of our lives!”

My eyebrows shot up. The strait-laced, strict morals, Stone brothers used to walk on the dark side? It didn’t fit anything I knew about them.