Page 49 of Scorned Beauty
“When you say got killed…”
“He was shot as he was coming out of his law office and the cops already classified it as a mugging and it’s not.”
“Okay, why do you think it’s not?”
“I just know.”
“Lucy, I need more than ‘I just know.’ Jesus, you’re a lawyer?—”
“Technically, I’m not.”
I jumped to my feet and sighed. “Come on. I think I’ll need caffeine for this.”
As we settled in the kitchen with our espressos, I asked her to continue.
“Wade was working on gathering evidence against Congressman Tomlin.”
“Lucy,” I groaned. “Of all the problems you bring to me?—”
“He’s corrupt, Dom.”
“Most politicians are, especially the powerful ones. We have a couple of them who work for us too. And weren’t you supposed to be a fixer, not the one to start a scandal?”
“Sometimes you fight fire with fire. My client wants to discredit Tomlin because of a bill they wanted to pass in congress, but it led me to Wade. He gave an interesting seminarabout corporate corruption at Georgetown and we’d been friends ever since.”
Fascinating that my sister was interested in corporate corruption when that was the lifeblood of the modern mafia. Sometimes I wondered if she was actively trying to put me out of business. I should pay attention to what she was doing. I’d always considered her crusade against the “mafia way” harmless, but she wasn’t an idealistic college student anymore.
We were eyeing each other like a game of chicken. She was trying to get a confession out of me whether Tomlin was one of ours and I was just bluffing. He might not be one of ours, but he was definitely Grigori’s guy and the Zahkarov bratva had bankrolled the congressman’s campaign through one of their shell companies.
“So, are you worried that whoever killed Wade is coming after you? Is it because you’re simply associated with Wade?”
“I have the evidence.”
“Jesus fucking hell.” I slid off my perch on the barstool before I gave in to the urge to throttle my sister, which reminded me of Sloane. I received a text that her bodyguard was in place. Just a temporary guy. She would need to be watched twenty-four seven.
“Where is it?”
“It’s a who.” She rounded the counter and stood before me with pleading eyes I hadn’t seen since she was a child. “His witness has the evidence. I need you to keep her safe.”
Sloane
Billy was back.
It had been two weeks since I ended it with Dom. Following our confrontation, the De Luccis had closed ranks, and the Rossis had closed ranks with them. I wasn’t self-absorbed enough to think it was about me because I’d heard chatter about something big going down. I’d never felt more alone in my life and I was depressed enough that I welcomed my brother’s company.
It seemed Anton had informed Grigori about my defiance at the hospital and found new ways to torture me. I was exhausted enough after my ER shifts, but Grigori seemed to have me back on his on-call rotation. And it was not only cleaning. A few jobs were assisting their mob doctor in surgery. I couldn’t say I hated the work, but I was wary of what they had in store for me.
Especially since Grigori actually handed me money. It happened after one of those surgeries. Billy was helping me clean up all the blood in the basement when Grigori entered. Anton was with him.
“How’s school?” he asked.
I stopped mopping and looked at him, startled by his question. He raised a brow.
“It’s going well.”
“You’ve been an asset to the organization, Sloane, and I think it’s time we talk about your future in it.” At this, Anton scowled, but quickly straightened his face. It appeared he wasn’t on board with Grigori’s plan.
“What exactly are we talking about?”
