Page 17 of Deception & Desire

“YOU CAN’T HIDE IN THERE FOREVER!”

I can hear someone shuffling behind it and wait another moment before pounding against the wood once more.

“I HAVE A MASTER KEY, YOU KNOW. I WILL MURDER YOU IF I HAVE TO GO GET IT.”

I don’t have a master key, but Iamthe manager, so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities.

Suddenly, there’s a resigned sigh and a click, and the door swings an inch inward.

Teo gives me an exasperated look through the crack. “There is no master key.”

I ignore him and push through the door.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” I state as soon as I get far enough inside to spin around and face him.

He mutters something suspiciously, like, “Can you blame me?” and then closes the door again. He takes heavy steps back toward the desk, where he seems to have been poring over several documents.

Teo picks up a thin file and hands it to me. “Here. You may as well see what you accomplished.”

Curiosity momentarily overriding my anger, I take the file and examine it. I stare at the name signed at the bottom for a beat too long. “It’s happened, then?”

“For the first time in recorded history, the Italian mafioso of Brooklyn and Manhattan have committed to an alliance. If people knew of the importance of such things, they’d probably hang that,” he gestures to the file, “in a museum.”

I snap the file closed and place it back on the desk. “You must be proud of your legacy,” I say sarcastically.

“Yourlegacy. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for your…”

I save him the trouble of finding the word. “Sacrifice?”

“I was going to saycommitment.”

“That’s funny because the last time you asked me to commit to the Guild, it didn’t involve blackmailing me with my father’s life.”

Teo does a double-take at me. “Iwhat?”

I’ve known Teo Vitale for a long time. Too long, really. The genuine surprise on his face causes my anger to cool briefly.

“I’m only going to ask you this once.” I hope the seriousness of my tone infers that I expect an earnest answer. “Did you or did you not threaten my father’s life if I did not go ahead with the marriage?”

Teo does not drop my gaze for even a second. “I did not. I would have never.”

There’s a moment of silence as I assess his words, his intonation, his most minor facial expressions.

Leon Natali may have claimed he hadn’t threatened my father’s life. But I don’t know him like I know Teo. And there is nothing about Teo Vitale that indicates that he’s lying to me right now.

The realization hits me a second later.

Leon had lied.

He’d lied, and then I’d slept with him.

The dam my anger had built against the onslaught of my misery began to crack. I blink away the tears in my eyes.

“Right,” I say, deflating away from discussion of the don. Suddenly, I’m very aware that I had threatened his life only a few moments ago.

Teo is watching me infuriatingly closely. “Did he threaten you?” His voice is cold, measured. Calculating.

I shake my head. “It was just something my father said.”

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