Page 165 of My Sweetest Temptation

Uncle Alessandro dropped the ice pack and sat up. "What the fuck? When was that put there?" He shot out question after question, but I couldn’t think about the answers right now.

"Answer it," I told Lo.

"What if it's attached to a bomb? Like a signal will go off once I answer it?" he asked.

"I don't think he's that stupid. This fucker likes to see us squirm," Luca said.

Lo answered the call. “Hello?”

A beat passed before he handed the phone to me. "It's for you."

I snatched the phone, so over this bullshit.

"What?" I barked into it.

"Now, now, Nico. Is that a way to speak to your future king?" replied a robotic voice.

I glanced at Luca and mouthed, "Track it." But before he could get to work, the voice said, "Don't bother tracking it. It will self-destruct once we hang up, and I won't be on the phone long enough for you to track its location."

"Then why the fuck did you call?" I asked.

"Did you get my message?" he taunted.

"Which one?"

"Oh, shit. Right. I forgot about my little bombers. Poor fuckers. Oh, well. At least they did what I wanted them to do."

"And what was that?" I probed.

"Weaken you."

"I don't have time to play your games," I said in a bored tone.

"But I like the games, Nico, and so far, I'm winning." He laughed.

"Oh, yeah? How do you figure?" I asked, walking toward the window.

"Think about it, Nico. How do I know every move you make? Hmm?"

I gritted my teeth, and I could hear my jaw crack.

A cocky laugh echoed through the phone. "You have a mole.”

The fire within me burned to the point of explosion, and this room would be filled with body parts if that happened. There was a brief silence until he spoke again. "Her name is Gigi.”

"I don't know anyone by that name," I said, confused. Everyone in the room's eyes were on me.

"My bad,” he said with a chuckle. “You know her as Winter."

My blood froze in my veins.

"No," I said, shaking my head. My heart raced, a storm of emotions swirling within me. There was no fucking way she was the mole. She loved me.

The room felt suffocating as my anger reached its peak. I could almost taste the bitterness on my tongue. I looked up to see Luca still trying to track the call, but the frustration on his face told me he hadn’t succeeded.

He chuckled, the sound cold and devoid of any humanity. “Because I’m the one who sent her.”

I paced around the room like a trapped animal. I turned back to the window and stared into the darkness. I clutched the phone tightly against my ear.

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