Another blink.
“I am not above bribery.”
His ears perked.
Finally, a language he understood.
I went to the kitchen, found the expensive cat treats Martha had absolutely pretended not to buy, and placed three on the floor.
MrBigshot sniffed them.
Ate one.
Slowly.
Then looked at me like the deal was insufficient.
“You’re extorting me, expensive little shit.”
He ate the second treat.
I put down two more.
He accepted them with the grace of a king receiving taxes from a conquered village.
“Fine,” I muttered. “But if she asks, Fluffy behaved.”
The cat’s tail swished.
That was not a yes.
It was not a no either.
I would take it whatever this Satan’s spaws was going to give me.
Matteo waited in the car outside the back entrance, engine already running, hands on the wheel, face car
