Page 29 of Powerful Deception

Knock.

Knock.

My hand shakes more with each knock that I give. Lowering my hand, I stand there, waiting for whatever is supposed to happen next.

As I stand here, I can feel the hairs on my arms stand up, and sweat rolling down my back. Standing here is freaking me out more than when I was about to walk into Rosetti’s office a week ago.

I almost convince myself to back away and never step foot in this place again, when the door swings open.

A man in a dark suit stands in the entryway, eyeing me as if I were a piece of meat on a dinner plate and he is accessing if I’m good enough to eat whole.

The man is trying to look scary, like the men at Perversa, but this guy has nothing on Dante’s men. Those men can eat this guy ten times over. This man standing in front of me looks like a dodgy banker that steals from his clients.

Is this Gallo?

“Last name,” the man orders, his voice making me jump a bit.

“Vitale.” I say to him, an eyebrow raising in confusion.

He gives me a curt nod before slamming the door in my face. Once again, I’m standing here dumbfounded and not sure what to do.

Do I knock again? Do I really leave for good this time?

No, I won’t leave. I didn’t leave when I was almost shitting my pants standing in front of Perversa and I sure as hell not going to leave now.

I raise my hand again to knock but before my fist makes contact, the door opens once again with the same man standing in the entryway.

“Come in and stand against the wall. I need to search you and also take your phone. We can’t have you recording anything that is said in the room.”

Okay then.

I step into the room and without warning, my front is pushed against the wall closest to the door and the man starts patting me down. A little too roughly if you ask me and when I feel his hand glade against my ass, I know he is doing it for his enjoyment.

I try to push the bastard away from me, but he doesn’t budge. He just pushes me into the wall even more with one hand while the other moves along my body in an aggressive manner.

When a moan escapes him, I realize just how bad of a decision this was. I should have left. I should have never come to Gallo. Who knows what is going to happen to me here.

A scream is about to escape through when the bastard finally relents and let’s go of me, his hands finally dropping from my body. His hands may have stopped touching me but as I turn, I can see his eyes still pursuing me like I really am his next meal.

“Phone.” He orders, stretching out a hand for the device. A hand way too close to my breast.

Without taking my eyes off the man in front of me, I grab my phone from my back pocket and hand it to him.

He takes it and slides it into his jacket before waving me to follow him. Following him down the short hall, I feel more terrified being here than I was walking through Dante’s club. It should have been the other way around.

The man, who I’m guessing is Gallo’s bodyguard, walks up to a door, knocks twice before opening it and waves me in.

Wary, I walk in, sweat coating my hairline, and I meet the beady eyes of another man. I don’t know what I expected when it came to Gallo, but it sure wasn’t this.

A man making his name as a crime boss should look put together. Should exude power but the man sitting behind the desk is nothing like that.

His gray hair is standing in all directions and his suit is wrinkled as if he slept in it.

I expected a whole lot more from Dante Rosetti’s enemy, but I guess that’s what happens when you run your business out of a laundromat.

“Miss Vitale.” I cringe a bit at the sound of his voice, it makes my skin crawl and not in a good way. “What brings you to my business establishment?” The man behind the desk voices, placing folded arms on the wooden top.

“Are you Roberto Gallo?” I ask, trying to keep the nerves running through my body at bay.

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