Page 18 of The Apprentice
“Tell us what you know,” I demanded, taking over.
Pellegrini’s gaze shifted to me. He hummed, then stood, walking over to his fridge. Throwing open the door, he glanced at us over the top. “You want a beer?”
“No,” I answered bluntly. “What I want are answers. I’m a busy man, Mr. Pellegrini. Come and sit down and give me what I want.”
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Daire smiling proudly, and it was all I could do not to straighten my back and puff out my chest.
Pellegrini grunted and kicked the fridge door closed once he had a can in his hand. He walked back and threw himself down on his chair, like a child who’d gotten into trouble. He opened his beer and took a long slurp, some of the alcohol sloshing down his chin and onto his white shirt.
I cringed. “Mr. Pellegrini?—”
“Yeah, yeah.” He let out a loud belch and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Diaz. You want to know about the informant she had.”
“Yes.” I sat up straighter. “What information and how much you provide us with will determine how much cash we hand you in return. So, talk.”
“Hm.” He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his belly thoughtfully. “Diaz was a bitch.”
I stared, unamused. From what I understood, a lot of male detectives had the same view of any woman in their field.
“She was a pain in the ass to criminals, to cops, to everyone. She was a know-it-all bitch.” He grunted, and for a brief moment, I felt bad for Diaz. She’d had to work with lazy bastards like this. Pellegrini looked like the type of man who liked criminals—even the lowest forms—to grease his palms, all while preaching about protecting the force from women detectives. If I didn’t hate Diaz so much or want to know who she had as an informant, I might’ve shot Pellegrini right here and now. I’d be doing the world a favor.
“I don’t care what Diaz was like. If this is all you have, we will be leaving.” I went to stand, but Pellegrini moved lightning fast for a drunk and grabbed my elbow.
Daire slapped the hand away from me and glared at the former detective. Unmasked fury swept over his face and he gritted his teeth. “Never touch him. Ever.”
Pleasure at the surprise protectiveness from Daire simmered low in my stomach and my cheeks heated in desire. The anger on his face transformed him from a regal, untouchable man—who rarely showed emotions—to one who was protective and furious and handsome.
Fuck. My cock twitched, and it took all my effort not to get hard in seconds. I crossed my legs to prevent them from seeingwhat the sight of his anger did to me. Damn it, I was mad at him. I couldn’t let his reaction affect me like this.
Pellegrini held up his palms. “Sorry, sorry!”
“He is never to be touched,” Daire growled out, eyes flashing. “I will cut your hands clean off if you do it again.”
I let out an excited breath, my chest shuddering under the exhale, and focused on Pellegrini again. Butterflies danced inside me, making me feel fluttery and light.
Pellegrini grunted out a laugh and sat back in his chair. He grabbed his beer and took another large slurp, then slammed it down on the table. The empty can crumpled under the force. “Do you wanna know about Diaz or not?”
“Yes, we do.” I kept my tone neutral, even though I was fucking giddy on the inside. Sloan would be proud. “Tell me what you know.”
He burped and thumped his chest before answering. “Listen, Diaz didn’t trust us, all right? She liked to keep her informants close to her chest.”
I wonder why.“So, you don’t know who her rat is, then? Are you wasting our time?”
“No,” Pellegrini snapped, glaring. His fingers twitched where his hand rested on the table. “Like I said, she kept her informants close to her chest, but she needed to write down their contact information, didn’t she? And I know where to find it.”
“You think we haven’t been through her belongings?” I asked. “We searched her house from top to bottom, and everything she owned has now been passed on to living relatives.”
“Relatives who didn’t give a damn about her,” Pellegrini growled out, slamming his hand on the table. “They were happy to give us anything they found with names in it.”
“And have they found something?”
“Yes, but I didn’t know you were looking for it.” He glared at the table. “I passed everything I found to the Folliero Family. They wanted to check if they knew anyone on her list, and if they did, they’d deal with them. After they were done with it, they were going to give it back so I could do some blackmailing of my own, but they haven’t been returning my calls.” His jaw clenched.
“So, let me get this right.” Any pleasure I felt about seeing Daire’s protectiveness disappeared, leaving behind a buzzing anger that beat against my temples at Pellegrini’s confession. If the Follieros had the list of informants, they should’ve passed it on to Sloan.
They hadn’t.
This was a termination of their association agreement with the Killough Company, and Sloan wouldn’t like hearing that Elio had been hiding Diaz’s rats from him. “You passed any interesting belongings from Diaz to the Follieros, believing you’d get it back. And now that you haven’t, you’re trying to convince us to give you money for telling us that you gave it to Elio Folliero’s men?”
