Page 23 of Kidnapped Bratva Toy

“The wiretap on my client’s phone.”

I smirked, laughing. I could tell my use of such devices amused Billie, and it was way too much fun to tease her.

“It’s not hard, doll. I just hit up the black market contacts when I was refilling my stock of hand grenades.”

“Hand grenades? Seriously?!”

Her eyes shot wide, and I could only hold back the bark of laughter for a moment. The face she made was just too damn hilarious. I shook my head, catching my breath have the good chuckle she’d given me.

“Ha, oh fuck, that was good. No, not seriously.”

Billie visibly relaxed even as she glared at me. I turned back to the garage, pulling into a spot near the back wall, which would provide another excellent exit if necessary.

“You don’t buy those there.”

Glaring all the harder, Billie chewed on the inside of her cheek and then went for her seatbelt.

“Haha. You’re hilarious.”

I just amped up the smirk, leaning across the console for the handle on Billie’s door.

“I am. Adorable too. After you, sweetheart.”

Pulling the handle to open the door, I let Billie out. I was up and out of the car behind her in a heartbeat. I didn’t want her getting any bright ideas after all. Still, I knew that look. She was damn curious about what her boss was up to, and—at least for now—she was working with me to find out.

We walked through a short lobby that connected to the front of the ritzy restaurant, and I led us to the host station, where two servers were waiting.

“Hello. Welcome to the Char. Do you have a reservation?”

Billie stiffened next to me. It was so apparent that she wasn’t used to doing this, and I pulled her against me, smiling at the woman in front of us.

“No. But,” I looked down at Billie, crooning like a damn sap, “it’s our anniversary, and I asked her out on our first date here. Would you be able to squeeze us in for a lunch date?”

The woman at the podium smiled, that flicker of romantic bullshit touching her eyes. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Is it just you two?”

“Yup, just us, Of course.” I squeezed Billie tighter, and she let out a little squeak before smiling and nodding.

She laughed, the high-pitched giggle clawing at my nerves. “Oh, right, of course. Well, okay. Let me see if we have anything available. Just a moment.”

I could see Emilian already seated and chatting near the back of the restaurant by the patio. In fact, the door to the patio was right behind his table, and there was a free table.

“Honey, would you like to sit outside again? Like before?”

Smiling at Billie, she gaped slightly before coming back to herself and nodding. “Oh, yes. That’d be great.”

The hostess grinned. “Oh, that’ll be perfect then. I believe there is a spot right outside without a wait. Follow me.”

We walked behind the woman as she led us to the open table. She went on and on about how lucky we were to be having such a “nice spring day for our anniversary,” and it took work to hold back the groan.

As we approached where Emiliano sat, I could feel Billie tense. Yanking her closer, I nuzzled into her neck, noting out of the corner of my eye how every patron nearby looked away.

Billie sneered at me when we were alone at the table. “What the hell was that?”

She kept her voice hushed.

“People don’t like public displays of affection. Labriolia looked the other way when we walked past.”

Billie’s face crystallized with realization, and I watched her hold back the desire to look just to the left, where his table was on the other side of the glass wall.

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