Page 48 of Rise of Temptation

A knock sounds on the door right after I duck under the desk, and Enzo says, “Come in.”

I can’t see who it is, but he’s out of breath. “Boss. I just got a text from Max about a group of Russian soldiers with some possibly teenage girls. It’s not confirmed that they’ve been trafficked, but it’s the middle of the night and all things considered—”

“Thanks. Text me the details,” Enzo says, cutting him off.

They all stand up to go see what’s going on, and I crawl out from under the desk. “I want to come,” I say, knowing they won’t let me but wanting them to know I’m not okay with it.

“No.” Enzo heads for the door with the other three hot on his tails and then he stops abruptly and turns around. “You two,” he says, pointing at Sal and Joey. “Stay with her. I’m not sure what’s going on, but something about this feels off.”

He and Frankie turn to leave, but his furrowed brow and cryptic statement have me on edge. “Wait!” I shout, running down the hall to catch up with them. “Is it… Are you guys… I mean…”

Enzo raises his brow and smirks at me. “Are you worried about us?”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “No,” I say, crossing my arms. “Just. Umm. Be safe, okay?” I look at Frankie too so he knows I’m talking to both of them, but he turns on his heel and walks out the front door.

“We’ll be fine,” Enzo promises. “Just stay with Joey and Sal.”

I bite my lip and nod, and Enzo’s eyes darken with lust.

“And behave yourself,” he warns. Then he follows Frankie out the door, and it clicks shut behind them.

I turn to my babysitters and find them leaning against the wall on either side of Enzo’s office door. “So… Do you guys wanna fuck on his desk?” I offer.

They both stare at me blankly, and I drop my shoulders with a groan. Apparently, they’re still mad at me for keeping my identity a secret.

“Fine. I’m going to work out.” I leave them behind and make a beeline for the gym, determined to burn off some of this nervous energy. I know Enzo and Frankie are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but I’ve never seen Enzo look anything less than confident and professional when going to work. It puts a bad taste in my mouth, and I need a strenuous distraction until he comes home.

Chapter 36

Elise

I’m in the living room watching a movie with Sal and Joey when the front door opens and slams shut.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Joey says to Sal, and they both stand up, fully prepared to leave me here with a pissed-off Enzo.

“Don’t you dare,” I warn. “You know you want to hear what happened.”

“Frankie will tell me,” Sal says, shrugging.

“Sal will tell me,” Joey adds.

Sal laughs. “Not a chance. You can stay here and hear it from the boss.”

Before Sal can make his escape, Enzo storms into the living room and sits in the empty recliner. I smirk at Sal; the argument I accidentally instigated worked and now they both have to stick around until Enzo’s done raging.

“Someone is fucking messing with us,” he fumes. “It was just a bunch of low-level soldiers with some drunk fucking college girls. College. Adults. Are our people completely incompetent or just stupid?”

“I’d like to think we’re neither,” Sal offers.

“We’re going in circles with all the bad tips. It’s all going nowhere. Someone is using my fucking club, and I should be able to fucking figure out who it is and how they’re doing it. So what are we missing?”

At the risk of drawing attention to myself, I offer up a suggestion that I know none of them will like. “Bad tips, to me, seem like an indication of an inside job. I know you’ve considered the possibility that one of your guys in the other organizations has been found out. But have you considered that someone here might be working for the Russians or the Irish or whoever is doing the trafficking?”

I keep my eyes on Enzo, so I can’t tell how Sal and Joey reacted to my question, but I can see the moment when Enzo’s head almost explodes in rage. “Of course I’ve fucking considered it!” he yells. “Don’t try to tell me how to run my own organization.”

His bad mood is souring my own, and I respond angrily. “Don’t get mad at me for asking a question. If you’d fucking loop me in on everything, I wouldn’t have to wonder if you’ve considered all of the obvious possibilities. But I have to go through all of those first before we get to the more complicated scenarios. Maybe this will teach you to keep your end of the deal instead of hiding things from me.”

“You haven’t proven to be all that useful yourself, little miss agent,” he sneers. “You’ve gotten one helpful piece of information from your office, and we haven’t even been able to do anything with it besides stretching our resources thinner to cover both organizations.” A mean look crosses his face, and he adds, “At least you’ve been useful in other ways.”

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