Page 514 of One More Kiss

He nodded. "Be sure that it doesn't."

He waved me away, dismissing me. I rose from the chair, confused by why he’d pulled me into his office.

“And no more hanging around here while she's at home,” he added as I left the office.

I ignored the comment and made a beeline for the kitchen where Avery was.

"Hey," she said.

I saddled up beside her, my hand brushing against her elbow.

I smiled when I spotted the goosebumps on her arm.

"What are your plans for today?" I asked, even though she couldn’t do much. Vincenzo was adamant that she was to stay in the house. She was a prisoner in her own home, but she didn’t complain.

“Chilling,” she replied. “I’m going to watch movies this evening in the movie theater. Fancy joining me?”

I should have said no, but I couldn’t. “Do I at least get to choose the movie?”

She rose to her feet and her laughter filled the kitchen.

“We’ll see,” she replied as she placed her plate in the sink. She went toward the door. “Have a good day, Paolo. I’ll see you this evening.”

“Count on it, princess,” I said.

Spending so much time with her was only going to end in heartache—or my death. I needed to figure out who the fuck wanted Vin dead, and soon. Get this job done and move onto the next one before I fell deep in love with Avery’s.

I had a feeling that was going to be impossible.

* * *

I stood at the docks,waiting for Marco to arrive. Vin men stood beside me. I needed the meeting to hurry the fuck up so that I could spend time with Avery. Marco sent a text for all of us to come to the docks for a meeting.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked the group around me. “Everyone’s tense and no one’s talking.”

“We don’t question the boss.” Timmons rubbed his hands together. “Even if he hadn’t directed to retaliate against whoever killed Leon. If this was anyone else and we’d be guns blazing, showing the world what happens when you fuck with the Bilotti Famiglia, but instead, we’re standing her twiddling our thumbs.”

The other men shifted. They too agreed with Timmons, not that I could blame them. What had happened to Leon was far from okay. In their eyes, Vin needed to bring the killer to justice. Not retaliating made it seem like the soldier’s death didn’t matter.

“The principessa took Leon’s death hard.” Timmons snickered. “You think he was hitting that?”

The guy was a fucking ass, always joking around about Avery. I knew that he wanted her, but as a soldier he would never have a chance.

“No way, man,” Sebastian said, as he shook his head. “He respected her. She was like a sister to him. He would be glad that she wasn’t in the car with him, I’ll tell you that much.”

“Was a good thing that you were there, Paolo,” Hunter said.

“Who the fuck would be after her?” I asked, watching them to see what they would do when I brought up the subject.

I could spot a liar a mile away.

Timmons shifted his weight from foot to foot and glanced toward the dock. “Same shit, different day, Paolo. People want to get to the boss, so they go after the daughter.”

Oh, he was a good liar. He kept his voice casual, nonchalantly answering my question and playing it off as though it was no big deal. But the way his gaze kept dancing around was a tell-tell sign that he was lying his ass off.

“It’s bullshit,” Joe snapped. “No one should be going after the principessa. She’s off limits. Just like Lena is off limits.”

I glanced at each of the eight men around me: Joe, Timmons, Hunter, Sebastian, Arlo, Justin, Peter, and Philip. One of these men was the mole.

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