Mateo's expression changed subtly, I had spent a lifetime reading people so it was easy to tell when a man is shocked.
The thought of me having a source sitting right inside Don's empire must have dreaded him. Though his expression remained set, jaw tight, eyes forward. But something behind them flickered fast and involuntary, like a candle catching a draft it hadn't expected.
There and gone.
I watched it happen with quiet satisfaction, then let the silence stretch between us, giving the moment room to breathe the way you gave a fire room before adding to it. Then I drew from the Cohiba slowly, the ember glowing its familiar deep orange in the dim light, and exhaled a long unhurried ribbon of smoke upward into the darkness above us.
"Shocked?" I said softly.
Not a question. More like an observation, I tilted my head slightly, watching him through the thin dissipating smoke.
"You shouldn't be."
