Page 230 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

I narrowed my eyes. “Nice? Flirty? First, you’re determined to keep me away, but now …”

He drank the rest of the contents in his glass. “I’m being nice to you because you have a secret, and I want to know what it is,” he said. “And I think that it has something to do with that cop at your place last night.” He pushed himself off the bar and headed toward the door. “I was going to tell your daddy about it … but I thought we could keep that little secret to ourselves.”

“So, you’re going to blackmail me. How mature of you.”

Of course he was going to use it against me. He was a stronzo after all. A big one too.

I followed him to the door.

“I am.” He tossed me his keys. “You’re driving.” He winked. “In case we need a getaway driver again.”

Once we got into the car, he gave me the address. We were meeting somewhere in northern Jersey. The drive was long and dreary. Alessandro was his boring self the whole time, barely speaking a word.

“Thanks for helping me out yesterday,” he suddenly said, breaking the hour of silence.

I arched a brow and looked over at him.

“The Sicilian Mafia is not only after me now, but you too.”

I flipped him off and turned into the lot where the meeting would be.

Once I parked in the darkest corner of the lot and cut the lights, I grabbed my purse and rummaged through it. “Who are we seeing tonight?”

“The cartel,” he said, gazing in the rearview mirror, his hand grazing over the gun in his lap. “Why don’t you put on that red lipstick you love wearing? Those men love something to look at.”

Rain pounded against the windshield. “Is that why you brought me?”

He flashed me a smirk. “I brought you because you dug your finger into my fucking bullet hole until I agreed.”

I smiled innocently at him and grabbed my lipstick. I gazed in the mirror and puckered my lips, layering it on.

A woman in heels and lipstick was a force to be reckoned with. That was what Mom had always said. And if I had to wear that all to strike a deal with the cartel, then I would. Anything for this business. Anything to prove myself to this family. Anything to get to the top.

Alessandro watched me from the passenger seat, his eyes dark and his gaze terribly inviting. He looked at me like he was thinking about something.

He eyed my shirt. “You should unbutton the top button on your shirt,” he said suddenly.

I paused. “You think they would like that?” I asked, my voice nearly a whisper.

“Sì.”

His eyes flickered to my chest as I unbuttoned the first button of my shirt.

He clenched his jaw. “One more.”

“One more?” I unbuttoned the next one, showing off a bit of cleavage.

He swallowed hard, and I pressed my knees together slightly.

Headlights blinded us through the windshield, and Alessandro snapped his head away.

Three Escalades rolled to a stop about twenty feet away from us and cut their lights.

Alessandro tilted his head and stuck his gun in his waistband. “That’s our cue.”

A man stepped out of the car and walked in front of it. I opened my door to step out, but Alessandro grabbed my upper arm.

“Take your gun. These guys get wild.”

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