Page 70 of Sin & Secrets

“You really think they’d care that much? You didn’t need to dress me up like this.”

His tongue darts out along my neck. “But where is the fun in that?”

Fuck. I can already feel myself getting damp. And this dress is far too revealing for that to lead anywhere good.

“CAS!”

We leap apart like startled teenagers at the sound of Mia’s voice.

The woman I consider to be my oldest friend marches towards us on the warpath—her fiery red hair streaming behind her like a banner.

But she stops just short of our table, eyes practically bulging at the sight of us so close together.

I cross my legs in annoyance. “Mia.”

“You,” she tries, then starts again. “I was so worried about you.”

“I’m fine.”

My words come out far colder than I intend them to. But that old ache in my chest flares up at the sight of her.

She knew who Rocco was and that Claudio had been a mafia man when we were dating. Yet she kept the mafia and the Guild and all the Italian bullshit from me, even though sheknewI was involved.

She lied to me for almost twenty years. And I don’t think I’m ready to deal with that yet.

Her expression shifts to defensiveness at my tone. “I sent you like a million messages.”

“I know.”

Mia’s eyes shift over to Rocco menacingly. “What have you done to her?”

To his credit, he doesn’t wilt under her gaze. “I told her the truth, Chiavari. Now, I must ask you to leave us alone.”

The slight waver in her eyes at his order tells me everything I need to know.

“You work for him, don’t you?”

She looks back at me in alarm. “It’s not what you think, Cas. Please.”

“You hid this from me.”

“I was trying to protect you!”

Around us, people begin applauding as Danny finishes her set.

“And what an excellent job you did of that,” I reply bitterly.

Mia seems frozen in place, torn between obeying the orders of her don and trying to reason with me.

I save myself the heartache of watching her choose.

“Excuse me, I need the bathroom.” I stand abruptly and march away before she can reply.

I can almost feel Rocco’s eyes on me as I walk straight up to the backstage door instead and slip through.

In my heart, I know how I acted toward Mia was cruel. But her deceit just raises more and more troubling questions. Do her parents know? Are they somehow involved in all this, too?

My father and hers had been friends fromwork.

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