Page 8 of Guarding her Gangster Girl

“Forget the casino,” Brie says, her voice tight. She’s looking back out the rear window, scanning for trouble, then turns back to settle low in the seat. “Drive south.”

I do as she says and we drive in silence to some moneyed community in the desert, the kind of place where privacy can bebought and no one asks questions. It’s surrounded by a large, brushed-bronze wall that would be impossible to scale without a ladder and lends a sci-fi atmosphere to the place. Brie fishes in her clutch bag for a keycard, and hands it to me to wave at the flat, blank security panel set into a bronze pillar by the road.

“Nice place,” I grunt, as the gate in front of us slides noiselessly open, and I drive on past a huge sign that announces the community name: SOLARA.

“Nice” doesn’t even begin to cover it. This gated community sprawls around the sides of a rising rock crop, each section divided by meticulously-crafted stone riser walls, creating terraced levels that offer sweeping views of both the desert and Las Vegas.

And each tiered level holds a million-dollar-plus house, appropriately separated from each other to maintain privacy. Each is a masterpiece of architecture, blending Santa Fe style with glass and steel, and blending into the landscape.

Brie directs me around the circular streets until we reach the top of the hill, where a low-set house sprawls out across the flat peak. It’s single-story, but its vast footprint is palatial. The exterior is a mix of smooth stucco walls and textured stone, with any sharp lines softened by the warm earth tones. The roof is almost flat, slightly sloped to draw the eye into the rocks beyond, lined with terracotta tiles that must blend seamlessly with the desert beyond during the day. Massive dark-mirrored windows line the front, reflecting a noir desert scene on this moonlit night.

So this is where Terry Colombo liked to keep his trophy wife. We knew there must be some offsite property as well as the Golden Sands suite, but we had no idea where it was.

Eva will reward me for this information. Just as she’ll reward me for telling her all about tonight—the secret double life of Brie Colombo, the attempt on her life. Yes, I will be rewarded. If I choose to speak of it.

And I will, of course.

I’ll tell Eva and the Consortium everything.

I turn off the engine though I don’t intend to stay, even when Brie turns to me and flutters her fake lashes. “Come inside for a drink.”

For a moment, I’m tempted. To see the inside, to unravel more of the mystery that is Brie Colombo. I squash down the impulse and say flatly, “I don’t drink.”

She raises an eyebrow at the obvious lie, a challenge in her eyes. “What were you doing at a bar, then?”

“Looking for company.” For a moment, the air feels charged. Her perfume is stuffing itself into my nose again. I have a sudden, vivid image of pushing her back in her seat, of tasting that perfume where it nestles between her breasts. I clear my throat, breaking the spell. “Go get some rest.”

“You can’t tell anyone about this. About tonight. Swear to me.”

I say nothing.

“Why did you protect me back there?” Brie asks suddenly, voice soft. “You don’t evenlikeme.”

I look away, not bothering to deny what she said. Idon’tlike her. I don’t like that she plays a part, that she’s a goddamn rattlesnake under all that makeup, that she uses her looks to get ahead. “It was instinct.”

But that’s not the whole truth. There’s something intriguing about her, something that’s gotten under my skin, something thatmademe want to protect her.

Even as another part of me wants to unravel her completely. Open her up for my own pleasure…

Brie gets out of the car, but she waits and watches as I drive away. And her question echoes in my mind. WhydidI risk my life for Brie Colombo, some gold-digging Mob widow who fakes her way through her life?

But there’s more to her than meets the eye. The Russian. The way she handled herself tonight, the intelligent eyes behind those false lashes.

She’s a puzzle.

I grip the steering wheel, pushing the car faster. The desert night blurs around me, as if I could outdrive my own thoughts. I must report all of this to Eva. It’s valuable information.

Eva will reward me for it.

CHAPTER 6

Brie

I wake with a start,my body tangled in soft sheets that feel suffocating. The desert is glowing outside the window, suggesting a late morning hour. For a moment, I’m a blank slate, no memory of past or present.

I love it here. Time seems to rely not on a clock but on the changing tones of the desert: cold blues at dawn when the earth seems to merge with the sky, blinding whites and yellow in the brightest hours, deep purples and pinks under a setting sun, and in the night an inky blackness broken only by the stars above—or by the lights of Vegas in the distance.

This place was one of my conditions for marriage to Terry. I needed somewhere where I could get away, be myself. No one knows about this place, not even Holden. It was a secret project that Terry and I contracted out through various shell companies, and despite my exasperation, Terry saw to it that it was constructed with as many security features as he could think of: bulletproof glass, 24/7 cameras inside and out, even a safe room.

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