Page 47 of Corrupted Temptation (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 2)

A moment later, he slid a sidecar in front of me. “You seemed fond of them the other night, si?” he said, though there wasn’t any question in his tone.

“Si, Tommaso. Grazie.”

Tommaso smiled again, and I couldn’t help but feel a fondness for this intuitive man who looked more like he should be serving up tax advice than martinis.

I took a long sip of the orange drink. Liquid courage they called this. I took a big gulp. “Could I ask you something, Tommaso?”

“Of course,” he said, putting down the empty glasses in his left hand and resting his forearms on the counter to turn toward me.

I braced myself inwardly, taking in a big inhale.“There was a man here the other night talking with Nico. His name is Dominic Luca.”

“Si,” he said slowly.

Uncertain if I’d heard the undercurrent of reservation in his tone wrong, I pressed on. “I was just hoping you could tell me if he comes here often.”

Tommaso’s eyes narrowed just a little.

“He’s an ex,” I lied in a hurry.

God, it felt weird to call my brother my ex.

“Oh?”

“I didn’t want to make a habit of running into him, that’s all,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and hoping it looked less rigid than it felt.

I couldn’t tell whether Tommaso was buying my story or not. I wasn’t that great of a liar even though I’d spent the past eleven years lying about everything from my name to where I was born.

“You can rest easy,” he said, losing the creases at the corners of his eyes. “It was the first time I’d seen amanof the Luca family in Onyx.”

I looked down at my drink, as if trying to shield myself from Tommaso’s X-ray-like gaze. “I’m glad to hear it.” I forced the words out of my dry throat. “Grazie.”

“If I may be so bold,signorina. The past is the past for a reason. It’s meant to stay behind you, not lead you.”

I nodded, but his words reverberated in my head over and over again. They drowned out the music blaring around me. They weren’t all that different from what Greta had been telling me. In fact, they sounded very similar to what my own logical mind had been screaming, but I’d been wallowing in hurt and anger too much to hear it. Until now.

“Don’t worry,signorina, you’ll find your way,” he said with a confident nod.

I couldn’t help but notice—first, Nico and now, Tommaso. Did I have a giantLOSTsign on my forehead?

“Grazie,”I said, mostly because I couldn’t think of what else to say.

“Buona sera, Signor Costa,”Tommaso said, glancing past me.

I froze as the most delicious shiver rippled down my spine.

“Buona sera, Tommaso,” a man’s voice greeted from behind.

The voice wasn’t quite as deep as Nico’s. It was gruffer.

Slowly, I spun around, mentally trying to morph whoever this man was into the man I wanted to find standing behind me. My eyes widened slightly as my mind made a connection.

A few nights ago, I would have been glad to see this man.

Dario Costa was already looking at me, glancing over my body, the twinkle in his dark eyes undeniable.

“Buona sera, signorina,”he said with an almost boyish smile.

Dario was handsome, not quite as tall as Nico. He was in perfect shape, and his dark eyes glittered with something lighter than the dangerous glint in Nico’s eyes. It seemed all the Costas had been blessed with good looks.

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