Page 31 of Cruel Longing

“It’s important. I think you’re going to want to hear this.”

I blinked. “All right.” I slipped into my sandals. “Let’s go to my office.” Ciro followed me along the corridor. He tugged the sliding doors closed behind us.

“What is it?” I rested the straw bag on the floor.

“It’s about Enzo.”

“What about him?” I couldn’t think of Enzo crossing paths with Ciro lately. Ciro usually stood on the perimeter of wherever I was and never interacted with my staff.

“He had lunch with Luka Novikov yesterday,” he reported.

“Is that all?” I laughed. “He has an assignment from me regarding the Novikovs tech investments.”

Ciro cleared his throat. “It wasn’t a meeting about tech.”

“How do you know that?” I balked at his sharp tone.

Ciro’s eyes narrowed. “I was there. My priority has and always will be to keep you safe. I don’t believe those men were meeting about tech.”

I groaned. “You’re going to have to give me more to go on than that.”

“Because of this.” He held up his phone. I saw a picture of Enzo and Luka. I ignored the extra beat pounding in my chest when I saw the sharp lines of Luka’s jaw.

“Lunch. Yes, I get it.” I glanced at Ciro. “It looks like they ordered steaks.”

He pinched the screen, zooming in to the table. “Look closer,” he instructed. “At what they are doing.”

I peered at the photo again. “Is that?” I yanked the phone from Ciro’s hand. “Those are the tunnels. The plans for the Vieux Carre.” I stared in disbelief. I twisted the phone around, in case I was wrong about what I thought I spotted.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“But why would Enzo have those?” I realized now that they were both staring at the plans on the table, spread out between their place settings.

Ciro shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Why would he share those with Luka?”

“I have no idea.” His lips pinched together.

I leaned against the front of the desk. I returned the phone and crossed my arms. “What do you know?”

“That they are working together on something.”

My eyes quickly flashed from the floor to Ciro. “How do you know they are working together?”

“The Novikov sister was there. It seemed friendly.”

“Katya?” I gawked.

“I need to put full surveillance on Enzo, starting tonight. I had to let you know.”

I didn’t like how sick it made me feel. He was my assistant. My right-hand. The only person I had offered to train. Other than Barbara and Ciro one of the only people I trusted. None of this made sense. I gripped the front edge of the desk. It had to be Luka. What had he offered him? Paid him? Was he trying to tearmy organization apart from every possible angle? And why the Vieux Carre?

“Do it.” I exhaled. “I want daily updates. Twice a day if something comes up that’s useful. I need to know what those two are doing together.”

Ciro nodded. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”

“Katya too,” I added. “What does she have to do with this?”

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