Page 9 of Days Of Valentino

I almost choke on my glass of water. “They what?”

Her older brothers were strictly forbidden from letting Aurora anywhere near guns.

“They wanted me to be able to protect myself. Just because I’m a girl, it doesn’t mean I’m useless.” She scowls at me.

“No, it doesn’t. It means you’re more lethal than anyone else. You have a secret weapon your brothers—hell, all the men in our family—don’t have. But that weapon could also be what causes your downfall if you’re not careful.”

“What weapon?”

“Your beauty,bella. That alone could bring a man to his knees. People look at you and underestimate what you can do. You already know that. Nobody would ever expect you to strike if you had to.”

“People at school don’t underestimate me.”

“That’s because you’ve shown them what you’re capable of. Until the world knows that, you are practically a ghost, a hidden assassin,” I explain. “It’s in your best interests to stay that waytoo. Don’t let people know exactly what you can do when you put your mind to it, Aurora. Always keep 'em guessing.”

“Oh, I plan to. I learned from the best, you know.” She winks.

“You sure did, kid. Tell me something… How exactly did you end up with all those fakes?”

“I know a guy who knows a guy,” she says.

“You know a guy who knows a guy?” I shake my head. “Aurora, who’s the guy?”

“If I tell you, I’m breaking my word, Nonno. Valentinos don’t go back on their word, now do we?”

Fuck me. Why does she have to throw my own sayings back at me?

“No, we don’t.” I make a note to have someone tail Aurora for a while. Something isn’t sitting right. She’s always a little cagey with information, but this wholenot being sure about collegeand then not wanting to give up the name of a source doesn’t sit right with me.

Episode Four

“Why are we here?” Dante asks me.

“I’m here because I need to get into that building, and you’re here because you’re going to hack the alarm system and get that door unlocked for me,” I tell him.

It’s partly true. I could have gotten someone else to do it, but my parents are out of town and Pops instructed me to keepDante busy and as far away from Josie as I possibly could. Which, considering how those two are joined at the fucking hip, isn’t an easy task.

“What’s in there?” Dante asks, peering up at the building we’re about to break into.

“Something I need,” I tell him. “Can you disable the alarms or not?”

Dante scoffs as he pulls out his laptop. “Please, I once hacked into the Secret Service database,” he says. “This is like child’s play.”

“Why the fuck would you need to hack the Secret Service database?”

“To see if I could.” Dante shrugs. “Turns out I could.” He smirks.

I shake my head. “How long is this going to take?” I ask as he taps away at the keyboard.

“You’re in. System’s disabled. Front door’s unlocked.”

“Good. Now, you think you can crack a safe?”

“A safe?”

“I didn’t fucking stutter, Dante. Can you or not?”

“I can give it a try,” he says, shutting his laptop and shoving it back into his bag.

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