Page 10 of Assistant to the Mafia

Dumbass’s eyes went unnaturally wide. “W-wait, don’t you wanna—”

“Time’s up.” Romeo pulled the trigger exactly once, blowing a hole in the bastard’s head barely an inch above his nose. He reset the safety and tucked the gun away, then turned his back on the corpse at his feet. “Mikey will send a team. Keep the building secure until then, and tell them to save the hammer. I like it.”

Ryoma nodded once. “You got it.”

Romeo strode swiftly up the stairs, his expression undoubtedly saying everything the gunshot hadn’t already told the waiting men.

Mo pulled the door open for him. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up, sir. I’ll get Mikey on the phone for you.”

Romeo didn’t have anything to say, so he allowed his friend and longtime guard to lead the way, to open the SUV door for him, and to put his brother on speaker when they were a handful of miles away. Only then did Romeo inform his sibling that it was time to send in the team. He told Mikey what he’d gleaned, which wasn’t much and felt more frustrating than anything, and when the call was over, they descended into silence.

It wasn’t that he thought he should have found another way. He wasn’t so altruistic. It was that every time he took a man’s life in recent years, he found himself wondering how long before everything fell apart. If he got caught—if they got caught—Lucia would be all alone. Even their mother could be locked up, merely for all she knew and didn’t say. Lucia would be tossed in the system, not even allowed her own inheritance most likely. Or worse … worse, the government would actually find her mother.

Romeo had no fucking clue where Amber was, but the fact that she’d chosen to run away when her daughter had been only three months old was enough for him to be sure she needed to stay there. And if she hadn’t been able to hack it when she’d had a partner to lean on, a goddamn team of willing staff and family to help out, there was no way she’d be suitable to a growing and increasingly spirited child.

He had to do what he had to do to protect his family, his entire family. He knew that. But damn, if they ever fucked up, he had so much to lose.

It almost made him want to get married, just so Lucy could have a legal parent in the event everything else fell to shit. Except he knew himself too well. He could never bring a woman into his life, his home, unless he trusted her—unless she meant something significant to him. She would have to, if he were going to trust her with Lucy. And that woman, well, obviously he’d tell her his truth eventually.

Romeo let out a tired sigh and found himself staring at the empty seat behind Mo again. The one where Grace had sat hours earlier.

She really was too deep under his skin.

four

Night Terrors

It was probably for the best that Romeo hadn’t come back to the office, at least for Grace’s personal sanity. She still did what she could to keep both halves of the top floor running smoothly for the remainder of the day, even getting started on a list of current employees worth looking into for the vacant position. As per usual, Dante left first, before the sun was down. As per usual, Grace worked until well after dark, until the building was down to a skeleton crew of either hard-working or desperate employees.

She stepped a little out of her usual and dared send Romeo a text as she was finishing up, to let him know she’d set a file of information for him in the top drawer of the assistant desk. She didn’t know what Tina’s system had been, but it was important he knew the information was there. They both knew there was no telling what demands she’d have waiting for her the next day.

Her phone beeped with an incoming text as she waited for the elevator to come and get her in the darkened hallway.

De Salvo, Romeo: Tell me you’re not still at the office.

She debated making him wait until she could tell him the answer he wanted honestly, but replying took her mind off the always-eerie feeling of standing alone in an unlit space. She knew the building was secure, knew no one else was on the entire floor, but still she could admit this was her least favorite part of the day. Even beyond dragging herself to work at five-thirty in the morning. So she texted back, making an effort to keep from letting her response seem unprofessional. Technically I am. Just closed up.

The elevator finally opened for her as her message went off, for better or worse, and Grace stepped inside. She pressed the button for the parking garage, as Romeo had done hours earlier, and she found herself rolling her lips between her teeth.

The elevators had cameras, of course. Nearly every inch of the building was covered in cameras. DSI had twenty-four-hour security. And now she couldn’t help but wonder if someone had been watching that specific camera when she and Romeo had been in the elevator before, when he’d been kind of leaning close to her the way he had. Would it have looked like he was flirting? Had he been flirting?

She nearly dropped her phone when it started ringing. The self-mortification that came with that only intensified at Romeo’s name staring up at her on the screen. She couldn’t imagine why he was calling. Was there something he needed from the office? Was that why he’d asked, and she’d totally misinterpreted? She hurried to answer, simultaneously bracing herself to ride the elevator back up. “Yes?”

“Grace. It’s after eight.” He sounded irritated.

Grace shifted her purse to easier hold her work bag with the same hand. “It is.” She paused. “Was there something you needed?”

Romeo sighed. “Do you always work this late?”

Further confused, Grace frowned. “I work until the day’s tasks are either completed or as close to completed as they’re going to get. I’m under strict orders never to work past ten.” She’d gotten a real lecture for doing that in the beginning.

It was hard to tell, but she thought Romeo might have sputtered. Just for a moment. “Have you eaten?”

“Of course.” This couldn’t be why he’d called. He was sacrificing family time. “Mr. De—”

“I’m gonna have a talk with Dante,” he said, speaking sharply. “You can’t be waking up before the fucking sun and not even leaving the office until after dark every goddamn day. It’s not healthy.”

The elevator settled jarringly to a stop and Grace nearly toppled over, so emotionally thrown off-balance that she hadn’t been prepared for the jostling. She caught herself on the banister, her work bag falling to the tiled floor just an inch shy of her toes.

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