“But he made me sit there, anyway,” I softly add. “So you can report back and communicate what an obedient pet I was.”
“Obedient? You’re still here, hassling me.” He rummages through a cabinet as he speaks, and then places an empty shot glass on the bar top, pours a yellow liquor into it, and pushes it toward me. “If we’re doing this, best drink up.”
“Limoncello?” I shoot back the shot before he can answer. It’s tasty, a refreshing blend of alcohol, lemon, and sugar.
“Describe your relationship with Ciro Cigorelli.”
I choke on empty air at his icy tone. “My relationship?” My eyebrows pinch hard enough to give me a headache. “Ciro was my best friend’s boyfriend and my boss.”
He studies me closely. If I were standing, I’d be shifting on my feet. “You deal coke for him?”
My lips part with a gasp. “You’re the second person to accuse me of that, and my answer’s the same—no.”
“The police discovered a small fortune’s worth of coke in his office.”
I shake my head. “I promise you it wasn’t there the day I met you at the casino. The day Ciro…”
“Had a date with a cement truck?”
“Yes.” A shiver races up my spine. Despising the man is one thing and relishing his murder another. “And he’s responsible for Alessandro’s injuries?”
He drums his fingers on the bar top. “Partially.”
“The other person’s Conti? Who has fled?”
“Correct.” His fingers still. “And there’s one more traitor …you.”
I glance around. A few men stand guard on the lawn beneath the balconies. Otherwise, we’re alone.
I wish he were an Uber driver and not a mafiosi. He could dispose of me, and, like Ciro, no one would miss me.
Except my grandparents.
Except Alessandro.
Wrong, Riley. He’d miss tormenting you. That’s all.
“I never betrayed him.”
“Emily says otherwise.”
I need another shot. “She’s lying.”
“You have shit friends.”
My eyes widen. “You believe me?”
“Give me one good reason to, and I just may.”
“I loved him.”
Tommaso reacts much like Alessandro did. Like I rattled a hornet nest with one switch of a stick, sent the swarm buzzing, and caught him in the middle of it all.
They say the truth sets you free. I hope so, because I’m over being Alessandro’s prisoner.
Tommaso stares me down as he weighs my words.
“Ciro discovered our …affair. He used me to get to Alessandro, right?”