Page 6 of Tainted Princess
“You’re loyal, Francesca,” she went on, using my name like we werepals. “I can respect loyalty. But you have to know, this doesn’t end well for anyone unless you talk. We know all about your movement within the De Marco family; how you are present at most meetings, flitting in the background with coffee and cakes. A perfect little homemaker, aren’t you?”
I raised one eyebrow at her, but otherwise said nothing. Poor Agent Caroline, thinking she knew who I was. I shifted my gaze back to Eric—fuckingEric? —and watched as his face reddened.
That bastard. Five years he had been in our circle, at my father’s side. Just tonight, my father had called him son, and this was how he repaid him? By spilling the secrets he vowed to protect?
I was struck suddenly by the fact that Agent Morrison was a Made Man. Typically, the act of carrying out a contract killing was what prevented law enforcement from making their way into our ranks; they were usually too law abiding to go through with killing a man, regardless of what he had done to deserve it.
If Agent Eric Morrison was Made, that meant his halo wasn’t as shiny as he pretended it was.
I tucked that bit of information away for later and continued to stare at him.
And he continued to say nothing.
Pussy.
Agent Anderson had no problems running her mouth, though.
“You know, Miss De Marco, Agent Morrison and I have been working on this case together for a long time.” Reaching out, she placed her hand on Eric’s back, caressing him in a way that made my skin crawl. Five hours ago, I was engaged to marry him, and now she had her hands on him? “What’s it been, baby?”
That brought me up short.Baby?
“Almost six years now, isn’t it?” Her hand—her left hand—stopped making gentle circles on his back and drew up over his shoulder, showing me a modestly sized diamond.
Well, wasn’t that just fucking interesting?
Eric looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
I kind of hoped it did.
“Oh!” Caroline said, her bushy eyebrows going up dramatically. “That reminds me. I’ll be needing your ring. It is Bureau property, after all. Purchased with tax dollars as part of Eric’s cover.” She looked down her nose at the engagement ring propped up on my folded arms, glaring at it like it was trash instead of two carats on a platinum band.
Staring at Eric—because he refused to look at me, the fucking coward—I drew it off and tossed it carelessly on the table, where Caroline snatched it up like a fucking magpie.
“It’s so sweet that you thought he was yours. But you really should know, Francesca,” she stood and leaned across the table, towering over me, her smile so evil she might as well have had horns, then continued, “every time he’d walk away from you, he was coming home to me.”
“Jesus, Carol,” Eric breathed, looking at her imploringly. “That’s not necessary.”
Smug smile still in place, she stood and crossed her arms, waiting for me to speak.
I finally did.
“I want my lawyer.”
She ignored me, continuing to stare at me with her watery brown eyes. “I guess that’s one good thing about your Family’s bullshit patriarchal rules: brides have to be virgins, don’t they? So at least I know he’s not been tainted by your filthy syndicate pussy.”
The balls on this bitch.
“Fucking hell, Caroline,” Eric choked out. “Stop it already.”
Caroline gathered her folder—and my engagement ring—and headed for the door.
“Agent Anderson,” I called out, and she turned, looking at me expectantly.
As if I’d fold that easily.
“I may still be a virgin,” I said, venom in my voice. “But myfilthy syndicate pussydidn’t seem to matter to him when he was begging me for it.” Her eyes narrowed as she glared between me and Eric, who had his elbows on the table, his head in his hands, groaning. “It didn’t seem to matter in the slightest when I was sucking his cock until his legs gave out, either, did it,Enrico?”
I watched, extremely satisfied, as good ol’ Caroline’s nostrils flared, her fingers clenching around the folder in her hand until her knuckles looked ready to pop. But she didn’t say a word as she left the room and slammed the door behind her.
