Page 45 of The Mafia's Fake Wife

Her fingers tighten around the glass. “Casey? What did he want?”

“To make a deal. Your inheritance for your freedom.”

Elena stares at me for a moment, then laughs without humor. “My freedom? I’m not a hostage.”

“That’s what I told him.”

She takes a sip of vodka, wincing slightly at the burn. “What else did he say?”

“Nothing of value, but his visit reminded me we need to talk. I meant to tell you the other night, but then the feds approached you.” I lead her to the living room where we sit across from each other. Over the next few minutes, I reveal everything I knowabout Casey, including the previous two women he defrauded. She seems somewhere between devastated and enraged when I’ve finished.

“You’re still going to destroy him, right?”

I nod. “You still want me to let him live?”

She hesitates for a fraction of a second before nodding. “As you said, dead men don’t learn lessons.”

I smile at her, warmed inside by a surge of pride. “Indeed, and speaking of the feds, they think I run a criminal empire,” I say, my voice calm but edged with frustration. “Contract killings, money laundering, trafficking—all of it.”

Elena’s stomach visibly tightens. “Do you?”

My gaze flicks up, sharp. “Yes and no. I don’t deal with human or drug trafficking, and I don’t kill for hire. I have hired contract killers to settle issues with rivals, but I’m not an assassin. I launder money and sometimes broker information. It was always my specialty.”

She watches me carefully. “So, they want to arrest you?”

“They want to bury me, but they don’t have proof. Yet.”

Elena hesitates before asking, “And what happens if they find it?”

I lean forward. “Then I go away for life.”

I can tell by the look in her eye that she accepts I’m telling her the truth. There’s no point in lying to her now. She’s too deeply in this world.

“Then we make sure they don’t,” she says firmly.

My lips twitch into something almost like a smile. “Good girl.”

She takes another sip of vodka. “And you said Casey is working with Nikolai?”

“Yes. For years, apparently, before he even met you.”

Elena shakes her head. “I was such an idiot.”

“No. You were trusting, and his association with Nikolai had nothing to do with you back then, but I’m sure his focus will change now that you’re my wife, and he’s in deeper than ever with Nikolai.”

She sets down her glass. “What do we do now?”

“We prepare. Casey’s visit wasn’t random. Nikolai is making a move, and he’s using Casey to do it.”

“Using me, you mean… against you, I guess?”

I nod. “Casey has been given more responsibility in Nikolai’s organization because of his connection to you. To us.”

Elena stands and walks to the window. “I hate being used as a pawn.”

“You’re not a pawn,” I say, joining her at the window. “You’re my queen.”

She turns to face me. “Then let’s play this game together. Tell me everything I need to know about Nikolai.”

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