Page 19 of Wicked Tricks

As I reached to open the door, it opened from the other side and I crashed into him.

Antoni.

He grabbed me tightly by the shoulders to steady me, with a smirk on his face. I noticed straight away that he was dressed much nicer than when we first met. In a tight black button up shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. For the first time, I noticed a small tattoo on his forearm.

“Rome!” Diana gasped, “I was just coming to find you.”

“Why?” I eyed her suspiciously.

“Antoni came to say hello, isn’t that nice?” she smiled, patting him on the arm fondly, “is there something you might like to say to him?”

“Nothing comes to mind,” I shrugged.

Diana glared at me, like a mother trying to convince their toddler to behave in public.

“Actually,” he smirked, clearing his throat gruffly, “I came for a dance.”

“Amazing!” Diana clapped her hands together, “Mina is our best dancer, you’ll love her! A petite little blonde.”

“That’s funny, I’ve never seen you get a dance here before,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. He watched me with the same look of amusement, and I felt the anger start to bubble inside of me again.

He chuckled, shaking his head, “what about you?” he raised an eyebrow.

I scoffed, “no, I’m not-”

“Working tonight,” Diana interrupted.

“What?” I snapped, looking at Diana as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder casually.

“She’s not working tonight, but oh Rome, surely you can make an exception?”

I crossed my arms as they both smiled at me.

He could see that I was uncomfortable, and the smirk on his face made it obvious that he was enjoying every moment.

“Excuse us a second,” I said, pulling Diana into her office and closing the door in Antoni’s face, leaving him stranded outside. The smell of his cologne once again caught my attention, and it seemed to follow me - even with the door closed.

“What are you doing? I’m not a dancer any more,” I hissed once we were alone.

“You are going to be tonight, Rome. You didn’t know how to fix this, well here - here’s a way.”

I rolled my eyes, “what way?”

“You know exactly what I’m suggesting, go flirt with him. Go and seduce him. Make him like you.”

I scoffed, “yeah, right. He knows I hate him, I had a gun to his head not 24 hours ago.”

“You can turn it around. You know exactly how to get information out of a man. We need him to think that you are just a dancer, you need to convince him we’re not a threat. Anything you find out about The Family that we can use, is a bonus.”

I shook my head, looking at my shoes.

This felt different.

This guy would see right through the act.

First impressions were important, and ours had not been exactly positive. I wasn’t confident that I could come back from that.

“Roma,” she used my nickname to soften me, grabbing me by the chin and forcing me to look at her, “you know what to do. Just treat him like any other mark.”

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