Page 20 of Assassin's Obsession

Did Angelo beat him up for not doing his job?

After the way he broke Ronnie's wrist, it's entirely possible.

I reach backstage with seconds to spare, but the girls are huddled in a circle talking and I'm as addicted to gossip as the next dancer.

I rush over. "What's going on?"

"Bianca quit without notice. She's not coming in tonight."

"She got the job?" I don't do a thing to stifle my delight at the prospect.

Piper nods. "I guess. All I know is she's not coming back."

A grin takes over my face. "Good."

With Bianca gone, there's nothing holding me to this club.

"Listen, girlie, don't you go looking for another club to dance in," Piper says, like she's reading my mind. "Gino's not going to force you to offer extracurriculars. I'll make sure of it."

We all know that Piper has connections with the mafia that owns this place. What those connections are is unclear, but when someone needs to talk to management, she's the one to do it.

No one knows aboutmyrelationship with the Genovese. My biological father made sure of that long before my mom, his former mistress, died.

"If Gino doesn't want the same thing happening to him as it did to Ronnie, he'll back off," one of the other dancers says.

"It's true then?" I ask. "Angelo cut off his hand?"

Piper nods. "It's true all right. I've got a friend who works the ER. She confirmed it."

"Is he in jail?" I ask, more concerned for my dark savior than the perv who assaulted me.

"Are you kidding?" Piper shakes her head. "Ronnie told the ER it was a home improvement accident. No way is he ratting out the Genovese Mafia's top enforcer."

Something weird pings inside me when I learn who Angelo is. And it's not revulsion.

"It had to be him. My customer came rushing back into the room after we finished. I thought he wanted more." She makes a face that the others share sympathetically. Some johns get clingy.

Not that I've experienced, but the other dancer's talk.

"Only he didn't want anything to do with me. He was trying to hide from something in the hall. I cracked the door to see what was going on and overheard Mr. Caruso talking to Ugo and the big boss, Nerissa De Luca. He was saying something about not killing Ronnie and just cutting off his hand."

She gives me a pitying look. "I'm sorry, Candi."

The other dancers look at me with equal concern.

Only I'm not worried.

"That's all kinds of messed up," another dancer says.

I don't say anything. I think I'm messed up too. Because the only thing I feel toward Angelo Caruso is gratitude.

"Candi, that's you," one of the dancers yells and I realize we're already 16 bars into my intro music.

I rush onto the stage and leap up onto my pole with an exuberance I haven't felt in a long time, whipping my hair and smiling at the punters.

Angelo Caruso cut off a man's hand for touching me.

Chapter 8

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