Page 55 of Gin & Trouble

Data didn’t lie, and the data on my screen painted a rather damning picture. She’d accessed everything from my private software, to my family’s personal financials, to dossiers on our legal business associates and other crime families.

Was she looking for something specific or feeding information to her brother?

I struggled to reconcile Francesca Abruzzo, mob princess, with Julia Carpenter, the woman I’d fallen in love with. They might as well have been two separate people.

What am I missing?

After two hours of digging into every possible angle as to her motives, I gave up and called her office line.

“Julia Carpenter.” She seemed distracted or guilty or both, but her voice cut straight through me.

Marco was right. I’m not thinking straight.

“It’s Dante. I need you to come upstairs. I found a glitch I can’t solve.”

“I’m really swamped. Can it wait until later?”

The clickety-clack of her fingers on the keyboard pissed me off. I logged into her PC to see what had her so distracted.

Why is she looking into Harrison Meriwether? What the hell else is she up to?

“It can’t wait. Be here in five.” To make sure she did as I’d asked, I remotely locked her computer and disabled her security clearance. Childish? Maybe, butMiss Carpenterand I had a lot to discuss.

She gasped. “Crap. I got a blue screen of death.”

“That’s the glitch.” I disconnected the call and walked to the living room to wait.

Five minutes later, Julia walked through my front door in her baggie sweater and glasses. Her hair was an absolute disaster, piled on the top of her head and held in place with a scrunchie. Her normally rosy complexion had dulled and shadows circled her eyes—and yet, she was still the most beautiful woman on the planet.

I found myself in an epic battle between my brain and my heart. Logically, I wanted to lay into her. To demand the truth and turn her over to Marco. Emotionally, I was bruised and angry and wanted to beg her to tell me none of it was true.

Standing in front of me, it was hard to believe she was some sort of mafia operative. She seemed so frightened or sick or stressed. I desperately wanted to believe I was wrong about her.

“You still haven’t gotten your things from your place?” I had no idea why I’d asked such a stupid question, other than I needed to buy myself time to figure out how to confront her.

Julia met my gaze for a nanosecond before glancing around the room. Seemingly anywhere except me. “Iris didn’t come into work, and she’s not returning my calls. I’m really worried about her.”

I bit back a smart assed comment about fake addresses and lying to friends. “I’ll have someone from HR call her.”

“Before we get to work, there’s something I need to tell you.” Her voice thinned halfway through the sentence. Whatever she had to tell me had her on edge. More on edge than a missing best friend.

“Have a seat.” I motioned to the couch, but sat in the adjacent chair to keep some distance between us.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and folded her arms. “I think I need to stand.”

“Suit yourself.”

“This isn’t how I imagined this would go, but here it is.” She paused, drew a breath, and blew me away. “I’m in love with you.”

The battle waging inside of me ended with a nuclear-freaking-explosion. I’m talking full on mushroom cloud, mass death, and complete destruction. I’d wanted to hear those words from her for months, but I didn’t trust them.

I didn’t trusther.

She held up her hands. “Don’t say it back. Not until you hear what else I have to say. I need you to let me finish before you respond. Okay?”

The tears forming in her eyes about did me in, but I nodded.

“My name is Francesca Abruzzo.” She looked everywhere except at me. “I lied to get a job here because I was trying to find information I could use to blackmail your family.”

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