Page 23 of The Mafia's Captive

“He’s a big boy. He’ll heal.”

“Who were those people?” she asks me.

One mind is on not telling her. She knows too much already. The other is on telling her everything. I want to offload what happened to someone, and she seems like the perfect outlet. Is that what makes her a good spy?

“Payback.”

“For what?”

“Essentially? Your meddling.”

“I didn — what exactly did I do now? The entire time I was there, I was in the hotel. I can hardly say I visited Rio.”

“Not today.” I turn so I can face her. “Silva wasn’t happy with my giving information to one of his enemies. It was crucial info that tanked one of his biggest deals. Killing you was his revenge. At least that’s what I think. “

“Because I supposedly leaked this info?”

Supposedly. I had to admire her ability to keep to her story. “Because he thought you were my girlfriend. At the very least, a piece, and killing you was a way to hurt me, I suppose. He brought me all the way to Rio to fuck with me.”

“I — it makes little sense.”

“Silva is impulsive. I doubt it’s something he planned. Probably came up with after my meeting with his lackey.”

“Fuck.” She sinks back into her chair. “You shouldn’t do business with him.”

“No shit Sherlock.”

“Is that why you brought me with you? Did you think he would do that?”

“What? No! If You’re going to die, it will be at my hands. Not as some revenge plot.” The shock on her face is enough to satisfy me. I’m lying to her. Well, the first part is true, not the last. But she didn’t need to know that. After a long bout of silence and long after I thought the conversation was over, she asks, “Why would he think I am your girlfriend, side piece or whatever?”

“I told you. His lackey told him.”

“What if you missed one?”

“What?”

“A bug.”

It doesn’t need to be said out loud, but the question swirls in my head. What if we missed a bug in the master bedroom? Our midnight spat would be more than enough to give anyone listening to the implication that we were sleeping with each other, even though it didn’t happen. Then there was Pedro. Did he detect my possession of her from me? He didn’t look like he bought my assistant's story. Whatever the case, at least she is alive and unharmed. At least I didn’t blow that part up.

♠

“You shouldn’t have gone to Rio,” Nico says. I look around the room. Enrico and Giovanni nod their heads. Even I have to concede that he’s right. I should have known he was looking for payback. Soon after I came back from Rio, I called a family meeting. Just my brothers. After I told them of the events in Rio, they were more than eager for it. And now, three days later, here we are in my office discussing what to do next.

“What’s done is done,” Gio says, “But how did he know who she is?”

“Really brother? You wound me. He could have killed me.”

“But he didn’t.”

He’s right. I live to fight another day. “I don’t think he knows. He thought she was my girlfriend.”

“Why would he think that? You’re not fucking her, are you?”

“No.” But I very much want to. It’s been hard trying to avoid her ever since we came back. Because of the increased risk, I have to make sure I know where she is, and having to check the tracker app constantly is driving me crazy. My obsession has only grown. I can’t stop thinking about her in inappropriate situations. My mind right now is half-occupied with the thought of ending this meeting, going to her room, and wrapping myself in her arms. The Brazil trip has only intensified the tension between her and I. Every time we’re in the same room together, the need to pull her closer to me and touch her, kiss her, run my hands down her hair only gets stronger. The only comfort I get from driving myself crazy with her presence is knowing she feels it too. She tries to be discreet, but I’ve seen the way she looks at me whenever she thinks I’m not watching.

“Why does that sound like a lie?” Rico, who had been standing in the corner of the study nursing his drink, says, dragging me out of my thoughts. Unlike his more talkative twin, he preferred observing and rarely said anything unless he had to.

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