Page 93 of The Woman with the Wallet

“On a scale of one-to-ten, how frustrated do you think Venezio is after a full day of Chuck?” I asked as Miko plugged in his code.

“Knowing Venezio, he won’t say anything, but you’ll see it in his—“ he cut off as we moved into the apartment.

And there was Chuck.

And Venezio.

But someone else as well.

“Cosimo,” Miko said, voice tight.

Cosimo?

Miko’s boss?

Shit.

I got a feeling things had just gotten even more complicated.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Miko

If I had been thinking clearly, I would have probably known to expect this.

There was no way I could run away from a meeting with Cosimo and not expect him to get suspicious.

I guess I figured it might be a phone call or a request for another meeting. Not a surprise drop-in.

But there he was.

Sitting on my couch in an apartment he’d never been in before, beside a tense-looking Venezio and a starstruck Chuck, who, I imagined, had been running his damn mouth since my boss showed up.

“So,” Cosimo said, looking past me toward Max. “You must be Max.”

“That’s me,” she agreed.

“Chuck here has been telling me all about you.”

Great.

“I bet,” Max said, giving Chuck a hard look. And the guy had the good sense to duck his head, knowing that he’d probably fucked something up.

“I’ve been doing some digging around,” Cosimo said, making my stomach twist. “Turns out Nero is on an out-of-state job for you. And Venezio here said he was doing a job for you. Gav mentioned you asking for Zeno’s address. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, I got word that Salvatore did an emergency job for you today.”

Fuck.

“So, now the question is: What the fuck are you keeping from me, Miko?”

This was exactly what I had been hoping to avoid. But, objectively, some part of me knew that the more people in the Family I brought into this clusterfuck, the more chance there was of Cosimo or Lorenzo finding out what I was up to.

All I could do now was cop to it.

Apologize.

Pray Cosimo would understand.

“I was working on a job,” I admitted.

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