Page 356 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

Or twenty.

But I don’t want to give this guy the satisfaction of knowing any of that.

I do, however, want to find out exactly who Gio is and why he was looking for Vigo. As far as anyone knew, he wasn’t supposed to be at Tatiana tonight, so I’d like to know why they were skulking around.

That means I’ve got to pack up my inner snarky bitch and bring out my weepy damsel alter ego again.

God, I fucking hate her.

But good that I can play her so damn well.

I force tears to my eyes and take a quivering breath before taking the glass Gio holds out to me. I release my arms, gazing up at him through my glued-on lashes. Can I just say the glue must be of the Gorilla variety because I can’t figure out how the hell they’re still adhered to my eyelids right now after all of the bullshit crying I’ve done.

Pretty impressive if I say so myself.

“If you only knew what I’ve been through tonight, you’d understand why I am being a little difficult.”

“Tell us,” Jameson says. “How the hell did you end up there?”

I raise the glass to my lips and take a tiny sip of the vodka. Mm. So smooth. So crisp. I want to toss it back in the worst way but I restrain myself.

I’m restraining myself a lot right now.

Self-control is something I struggled with for a long time after we escaped our hellish existence in the Ukraine, when I was angry all of the time and wanted to unleash it on anyone who got a little too close for comfort.

I’ve since learned how to channel that hostility in more productive, cash-generating ways, thanks to Uncle Boris.

“I was interviewing for a job,” I say in a shaky voice. “A cocktail waitress job in the casino. A friend of mine works there and she set me up with Vigo. But when I got there, he had something different planned for me. He brought in another man who pointed a gun at the back of my head and ordered me to take off my clothes.” I cough up a sob to make shit really sound legit as I spin my bullshit tale. “He told me he would shoot me if I didn’t. So I…I…” My shoulders quake and I weep into my hands, biting back a smile when I see the look of rage flit across both of their faces. I mean, yes, Vigo was a total pig and he deserved to die. But these guys are more than a little pissed off to hear how he came damn close to violating me. “I took off my dress and Vigo did…things. He touched me, made me touch him, and then he pulled off his pants and forced my head between his legs.” Bile genuinely rises in the back of my throat when I recall how very close my lips were to his diseased cock.

Gio slams his large fist on the bar, his full lips twisting into a grimace. “That fucking bastard,” he mutters. “What else?”

I balk. “That’s not enough?”

He shakes his head. “I’m just trying to figure out if he hurt you. In other ways,” he says vaguely, motioning for me to continue my story.

“If you’re trying to find out if he raped me, the answer is no,” I say. “I guess you could say I was one of the lucky ones who escaped that fate.”

“Lucky how?” Jameson asks.

I furrow my brow. “Someone killed him before he could do anything else. You saw his body when you pulled me out of there. The man with the gun left the room, and not a minute afterward, someone came in with a knife and plunged it into his throat while I watched from that corner.”

“But the killer left you alone,” Gio says.

“Yes. Like I said, I was lucky. I could be dead right now. And before you ask, he was completely covered so I have no idea what he looked like.” I quirk an eyebrow at the guys. “Okay, so I gave you a lot of information right there. Now tell me why you were looking for Vigo. Do you work with him? For him?”

“Fuck, no!” Jameson grumbles. “We’d never get involved with that piece of shit!”

“Okay,” I reply, taking another sip of the vodka. “So why were you there? With guns?”

“Let’s just say Vigo did some business with a friend of ours,” Gio says in a low, gravelly voice. Cone to think of it, I should have named him Mr. Dark, Dangerous, and Delicious. It totally fits him. “And he didn’t pay a debt. So we were there to collect.”

I nod. “Explains the guns. Sorry you didn’t get your money.”

Gio shrugs. “We didn’t exactly walk outta there empty-handed.”

“Yeah, but you’re walking out ofhereempty-handed. I can assure you of that,” I snap, allowing the scathing words to slip out before I have the chance to bite them back.

“Another blow to my self-esteem,” he says with a playful grin. A shiver runs through me as he shifts away from the bar, his muscular bicep brushing against my side.

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