Page 24 of Sin & Secrets

He doesn’t respond. He merely pushes open the door and disappears into the fray of theElectrix.

7

ROCCO

It took Teo forty-eight hours to get the information I needed. Then, another twelve for me to put a plan together.

Every second that passed was its own kind of torture. I tried not to imagine what Claudio might be doing to her, what lies she had to come up with in order to follow my instructions.

Lie low.

I should have sent the entire Guild after her right then and there. I should have stayed myself to make sure she was safe.

But a second longer confined in that room with her would have been my undoing. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from doing something we would both regret. My own frustration has been the root cause of my torment these last two and a half days as it is.

I keep thinking of the bruise on her neck thatIgave her.

I’ve never hated myself more. I’m no better than that scumbag, Lazzaro, marking my territory like some kind of animal.

“You can still back out,” Teo murmurs.

I turn to look at the man by my side. He’s a brother in every sense besides blood.

“After all this effort?” I reply lightly. “Why would I do that?”

The VIP table at theCandelabrais adorned with additional perks this evening. I reach over for the decanter of whisky we’ve been slowly sharing all evening and pour us both another glass.

“Because if I have to sit here and watch you torment yourself over it for another second, I’ll call it off myself.”

I can’t help the smirk that twitches the corner of my mouth. Trust Teo to see right through me.

We were children together, friends before we knew the implications of our allyship— just two underbosses taking on the world, side by side, with outrageous plans to join our two families to create the ultimate underworld empire.

I still consider Teo to be my equal, even if the rest of the world does not.

The fire that killed his parents took everything that was left of his birthright. His people scattered to the wind in fear. I still remember the day a shaggy-haired boy appeared on our doorstep, begging for sanctuary.

He’s hardly a boy anymore. My eyes run over his long, shaggy brown hair that is now pulled back from his face in a disorderly bun.

“I didn’t realize you cared.”

“The Guild may have agreed that action must be taken,” Teo warns, “but your father is still in the dark. Who knows how he might react.”

I hide my grimace by taking a sip of my whiskey. “Remind me how much he owes the Guild?”

It had been the early hours of the morning when Teo had discovered that little tidbit about Lazzaro. Hidden under mountains of bullshit, he learned of a loan taken out from the Guild that should have been paid back a month ago.

“One hundred and twenty thousand dollars,” Teo doesn’t need to double-check his notes; his memory is more thansufficient. “One installment of twelve thousand dollars was made three days ago. One installment of seven thousand was made two days ago.”

I do the math. “Leaving one-hundred-and-one thousand.”

“I’d be more comfortable if we knew what he had taken the loan out for,” Teo insists for maybe the fifth time. The paper trail of Claudio’s transactions had ended with a cash withdrawal of all one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

“Coke? Hookers? A personality transplant?” I offer humorlessly.

“In cash?”

“We’ve got him, Teo. That’s all that matters.”

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