MARK

I stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut.

I didn't wait for the driver to pull away. I walked straight toward the entrance of the Vance Logistics tower, muttering under my breath.

"It was an emergency. The Hamburg port. Customs impounded the fleet."

I repeated the lines over and over, testing the rhythm, making sure I sounded stressed but authoritative. I needed to sell this. I needed Aria to believe that I was a CEO making a tough call, not a desperate man paying off a hitman.

"It was eighteen million or we lose the European market," I whispered to the glass doors as I pushed...