Page 16 of Phantom Mine

The blood rushes from my head. I’m suddenly so lightheaded, I feel like I’m going to faint.

A playful twinkle shines in his gaze. “I thought you didn’t want to know?”

“Tell me your last name,” I demand, and neither man misses the edge of desperation in my voice.

The stranger closes the distance between us. Now that I’m standing on the platform, I’m slightly taller than he is and he has to reach up to cup my chin between his fingers.

“You said you knew where you were.” His voice is like molten molasses, thick and rich and delightful, but it no longer charms. It freezes me to my core. “If you know this place, then you know my name,pavona.”

The Italian word, whispered like a term of endearment, hits me like a gunshot.

I shake my head. “I don’t.”

“Leone, Melody,” he purrs, fingers squeezing my chin. “My name is Matteo Leone.”

Frost chills my spine and bottoms out my stomach. Every inch of my insides lines with lethal icicles until I’m so frozen that I can’t move.

He watches my face shutter with eyes that see too much, then simply walks away. His associate follows him out. The door closes behind them with a softclickand I fall to my knees in agony.

It’s so much worse than I could have imagined. I’m so stupid, sofuckingstupid, for not even considering this was a possibility, for beingsurprisedby who he is.

He’s not a Leone cousin or related to the Leones as I thought he might be.

He’s a Leoneson.

This time, when the bile rises in my throat, I can’t stop it. I vomit right onto the stage.

I just spent the last thirty minutes with a man who more than likely murdered my sister.

Chapter Five

Matteo

“What the fuck was that, Matteo?” Enzo asks, stomping after me. “Who is she?”

“Nobody,” I grit out through clenched teeth. “Where are we meeting Emiliano?”

He throws me an irked look. “The rooftop. Which I’ve already told you.” He throws the door at the end of the hallway open. “Don’t tell me she’s nobody, cousin. I haven’t seen you look at a woman in years andthat,” he growls. “That was more than looking.”

“She’s just a stripper, Enzo. Guido was busy and couldn’t take the audition. I was walking by when I heard Amadeo tell her he needed to reschedule, so I offered to help.”

My fists clench in anger thinking about Guido overseeing her audition instead of me. Enzo doesn’t miss it.

“Doesn’t sound like Guido,” Enzo grunts, flicking his searching gaze my way. “Or you.”

Enzo is my cousin, my second-in-command, and my closest friend. Only he can get away with openly challenging me like this, but he’s approaching the limit of what I’ll put up with.

I snarl at him and he puts his hands up as we continue through the maze ofFirenze’smany hallways and rooms.

“Scusa,” he mutters. “I just want you focused on this meeting given what’s at stake.”

His face is guarded as he stares back at me. “You don’t have to remind me of what’s at stake, Enzo. I’ve been working towards this moment my entire life. I know exactly what this meeting could mean for me. For us.”

He nods, accepting the truth of my words without question. Enzo is the most loyal bastard in the entire fucking world. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for me. He’s questioning my focus because there’s no room for mistakes.

“I’ll text Amadeo to take her to the back and introduce her to the other dancers,” Enzo tells me and I grunt, not giving him any other reaction.

Far from Melody’s presence, I can think clearly for the first time in an hour.

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