Page 55 of Chasing Danger

Aslanov regarded D’Angelo with a sarcastic curve to her lip. “What? No tearful reunion? You’re a rather cold lover, aren’t you.”

In contrast to her almost teasing tone, D’Angelo’s expression never shifted. “I never let pleasure get in the way of business. I’ve killed people for less.”

“Oh?” She gestured to the person standing behind me. “Then you won’t mind if I just dispose of him.”

The gun pressing against my head gave a click as it was cocked, and the metallic sound echoed right through my skull.

Still, D’Angelo didn’t even look at me.

He wasn’t really going to let them kill me, right?

Up until now he’d fought to protect me. He wouldn’t have done that if he could so easily throw me away.

Right?

It was at that moment I realized how short my relationship with D’Angelo had been. We’d only known each other a few weeks. That wasn’t long enough to really get to know someone, let alone develop an actual commitment. Technically, what we had could still be considered a fling.

Someone so important and powerful wouldn’t compromise himself for a mere fling. I was stupid to think otherwise. He protected me because it was the easier option, but now that I’d become an actual liability, he had no reason to protect me any longer.

Tears dripped from the corner of my eyes, soaking into the gag wrapped around my head. Forced to breathe only through my nose, I felt on the verge of hyperventilating as my lungs constricted from grief.

Still, D’Angelo continued to only pay attention to Aslanov, who was now fully smiling at him. After a moment of silence where nothing happened, he sighed deeply. “I’m not here for games. If that’s all you’re interested in, I’ll deal with someone who actually knows how to get business done.”

Then he turned away from Aslanov and sat at the table across from my grandmother.

“Ma’am.” He gave her a slight nod.

My grandmother’s face finally creased into an actual expression as she looked him up and down. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“Oh, I was,” D’Angelo assured her with the hint of a smile on his lips. “But I think I’ve figured it out now. You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you? Based on the timeline, it’s probably been about forty years since you were put in place. That’s a long time for a sleeper agent to stay dormant. I’m impressed.”

Sleeper agent?

I’d only heard that term in old spy movies that Rowan sometimes watched when he wanted something other than monsters.

Did that mean... my grandmother was working for the Russian Mafia?

Or, no, it meant she’d been a part of the Russian Mafia from the start, and all this time had only been pretending to be an ordinary citizen.

The moment right before I passed out returned to my mind. I’d been in the kitchen, speaking with my family about my night job, and my dad’s involvement with the Italian Mafia, and the fire. Then I’d suddenly passed out.

No.

Nana had served everyone tea, but now that I thought about it, although she poured three cups, I never saw her take a drink.

She’d drugged me, then handed me over to the Russian Mafia... because she was secretly a member of the Russian Mafia as well.

My head spun, and I swallowed several times to stop myself from throwing up. I had a bad feeling that if I threw up with the gag on, my captors still wouldn’t let me take it off.

With her hands folded on the table, my grandmother was the very image of a polite lady. “It’s your fault I was left dormant for so long. If you hadn’t come along, I could have gone home a long time ago.”

“Ah.” D’Angelo nodded as if what she said made sense. “I wondered about that. You were put into position here when tensions between our organizations were high, but then my parents secured peace by getting married. So, you’ve maintained your persona as an ordinary citizen ever since, just waiting to finally be put to use.” His grin turned sadistic. “Like an old toy waiting for its owner to finally play with it.”

My grandmother sneered at him. “Enough. We all know the situation now, so there’s no use repeating ourselves.”

D’Angelo bowed his head ever so slightly. “My apologies. I just want to make sure everyone was on the same page.”

For the briefest moment, while his head was bowed so no one could see his face, he glanced in my direction.

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