Page 13 of Ruthless Mafia Heir

He parts his lips, and his eyes dart over toward the restaurant for a second, to where Blake is sitting with Patricio. Then he shakes his head slightly.

"Forget I said anything."

He shoots back off to the kitchen. I reach out to try and catch him, but he’s gone before I can get a word out. I stare after him for a moment, my head spinning as I try to piece together everything that has just happened here. I feel like I’m losing my mind. Why is everyone acting so shady? And why does nothing seem to make sense? Does Blake have a hand in running this place? And if he does, why has he gone to such lengths to hide it from me?

As another crowd of guys stumbles into the place for dinner, I push that to the back of my mind. I can handle that later. For now, I need to get through the rest of my shift.

And pray that whatever I’ve gotten myself involved with by accepting his help doesn’t land me in more trouble than it’s worth.

Chapter Eight—Blake

Raul looks nervous as he sits in front of me, his eyes darting back and forth, like he fears he might be caught out at any moment. I lean forward, lowering my voice pointedly.

"Tell me what you saw," I order him.

I’m visiting the restaurant that Sophia is working at, catching up with some of the staff about what has been going on and how she’s been settling in. By the sounds of it, she’s making quick time of making herself indispensable. In fact, I wouldn’t have bothered sticking around as long as I had if Raul hadn’t dropped a casual comment about seeing her hanging around in the office when I last came in to visit.

"You know, it’s probably nothing," Raul tells me, waving a hand. "She’s only just started work here, she probably wandered into the wrong place and—"

"Tell me." My voice is cold, leaving no room for argument. His face pales slightly, and he finally cuts to the chase.

"I saw her with your lockbox," he admits. "The one you brought in for us to... cycle through the restaurant."

Shit.

I should have known someone like her wasn’t going to take my word for anything. She’s too curious for her own good. And that stupid comment Patricio dropped about me hiring her must have been enough to pique her interest and get her to come looking for answers.

"The one with your initials on it," he adds.

"I know," I snap back. "Did she see anything else? Or ask you about anything?”

"She’s brought it up a couple of times," he confesses. "Asking about who runs this place, stuff like that. But nobody has told her anything she can go on. She’ll probably drop it..."

I rise to my feet.

"Thanks for your help."

"She’s not going to get in trouble, is she?" Raul asks, concerned. Sophia seems to bring that out in people, that protectiveness. Every world I’ve seen her a part of, she hasn’t quite belonged there.

I don’t reply as I check my watch. I head outside instead. I know she’s due to arrive at work any minute now, and I want to intercept her. If she’s on to me, if she’s started to piece together everything that’s going on, then I need to get out in front of it and ensure she doesn’t do anything stupid. Like try to quit.

I’m leaning outside the back of the restaurant when she turns up. When she sees me there, she freezes on the spot, her eyes widening slightly.

"Blake?" she whispers. "What are… what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"Now? I have my shift—"

"Now."

She knows better than to argue with me. She wraps her arms around herself and stares at me expectantly.

"Okay, what’s going on?"

"I heard you’ve been doing some snooping," I remark, taking a step toward her. "Is that true?"

She bites down on her lip. I’m giving her the chance to come clean with me, but I’m not sure she’ll take it.

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