Page 65 of Filthy Little Games

“Right, I’m sure the rich mafia princess will warm right up to me after I give her an expensive ring her daddy could have bought her.”

“Then figure out some way to get on her good side. While everyone else is spying on the other families, you keep an eye on Stella. See what she likes, her hobbies and interests, then try to use that information to win her over. We could use an inside man in the Rovina family. Or woman in this case.”

“Right. I’ll do all the work to win her over just in time for us to find out her family killed Carmine.”

“We don’t know that it was the Rovinas who set us up.”

“All signs seem to point to them, boss,” Tristan points out.

“And if it was the Rovinas, we have to take them out, right?” Dre says.

“Right,” I agree. “Not Stella or Cami, but Saint if he was involved.”

“And Izaiah? Why did you dismiss his involvement so fast?” Dre asks, sounding suspicious.

Fuck.

“Izaiah being a part of it or not won’t matter if he never turns back up.”

“And what exactly are we going to do about these charges hanging over our heads?” Dre huffs. “It’s like you’ve forgotten we’re all headed to prison soon. Who’s going to run shit? How will we keep the Ferraro empire from falling during those three or four years?”

“I’ve been trying not to dwell on it too much, since my attorney doesn’t seem to think we can get out of it. It’s…inevitable.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll find a way to get us out of the bullshit charges,” Tristan declares.

“How the hell are you going to do that, Tristan?” Dre sounds as skeptical as I am. “You can’t kill the DA.”

“Why not?”

“Because we would be at the top of the suspect list!” I remind him.

“Oh. Fuck. Well, I’ll figure something else out. I’m not letting our family’s empire fall apart.”

“Good luck with that,” I tell him seriously before I walk out of the conference room. It’s only been a few hours, but I’m ready to head back up to the penthouse.

While I know I shouldn’t spend any more time with Zara than necessary, I can’t seem to resist. I’m addicted to that woman and feel the need to spend as much time as I can with her before I have to let her go. And I want to spoil her too.

With everything that’s been going on, I had forgotten about the gift I bought her. The one in the box that’s been sitting on a table in the foyer for days now. I’ll give that to her and get her off a few times before I go meet her robber tonight.

21

Zara

Creed, thankfully, comes home earlier than usual around lunchtime. And he’s holding a package, the box that’s been sitting unopened in the foyer.

“Hi,” I say in greeting, unable to help my smile. When I see the man now, it’s an automatic response. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that he’s worked his way down to only three orgasms remaining of the twenty-seven he said I was owed.

“Hey. I bought this for you when we were in the Hamptons and forgot about it,” he says as he pulls out a knife from his pocket and slices open the tape. The box isn’t very big, just about three inches thick and the size of a sheet of paper.

“You bought something for me…and left it sitting unopened on the table for nearly a week?” I accept the opened box from him without getting up from my seat on the sofa.

“Sorry. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

The worry lines between his brow have been obvious, but I don’t ask him what he’s worried about. His brother just died, and he killed an ally’s son and married me in a matter of days.

Instead, I open the flaps of the box to see what’s inside.

It’s a…digital photo frame?

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