Page 526 of One More Kiss

Paolo

My gaze driftedaround the living room.

As always, I was drawn to Avery like a moth to a flame. She was wearing a skintight silky red dress that clung to her body. My cock tightened beneath my pants as I watched her move through the room, a bright smile on her face as she talked to the men and their wives or partners.

For a week, my handler had dug through the information on Joe. A few times, I casually tried to ask the other soldiers where he was, but nobody would answer.

Avery waved to me. Tonight, she was in her element. This was what she loved to do. She made organizing a lavish party for two hundred guests look easy. And it had gone off without a hitch.

“Paolo,” Marco said beside me, “the boss wants a word.”

I gritted my teeth. In the past week, Vincenzo and Marco had been keeping something from me. I wasn’t stupid; I knew that they had an inkling as to what was happening between me and Avery, but neither had said anything. One of my thoughts was to use the leverage about the mole as an offer for Avery. I hated the thought of using anything to bargain for her, but her dad was old school.

Marco followed me down the hall. I walked into Vin’s office.

The bags under his eyes were heavier. He even looked more aged.

“Vin?” I asked when I sat down in the open chair.

“The flowers that were delivered last week,” he began, and my gut tightened.

Fucking Joe.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“You check them?”

My brows furrowed. Something was up. “Yes.”

Vin growled. “And why was this not brought to my attention?”

“You hired me to find the mole, not actually work for you. When I have concrete evidence who the person is, I’ll bring you everything. We had a deal.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You sure as hell damn well know I wanted to be fed information as you had it. I need to know who it was that sent the flowers. They planted a recording device in them.”

“Avery threw the flowers away. What the hell did the recording device get from the garbage? You have it burned every day.”

Marco sighed.

“Rosa took the flowers out of the trash and put them in water.” His voice hardened. “She put them on the table in the dining room.”

Fuck. That was where the majority of the men gathered to talk, where Avery and her father spoke freely. Joe could have heard a lot of shit he wasn’t supposed to.

“Tell me, Paolo. Tell me that you know who the fuck is doing this?” Vincenzo said.

I sighed. “It’s Joe.”

Vincenzo and Marco exchanged looks.

I went on to tell them about what had gone down at the restaurant when Avery was to meet Lena, and what questions Joe had asked her.

“So he sent your senses tingling,” Marco said as he crossed his arms over his chest, “but you have not done anything about it.”

I glared at the asshole. “I’m sorry. I’m pretty sure my job was to uncover the mole and stop Vincenzo here from dying. Right now, I only have suspicion and no proof with the tie back to Frank besides the dinner.”

“So we bring him in here,” Vin said. “We’ll deal with him.”

I shook my head. “One problem with that—he’s in the wind. Has been since the ‘date’ with Avery.”

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