Page 13 of Assassin Bride of the Don

I tucked my gun back into my holster and watched as Mia pressed her body into his. I couldn’t stop my mind from flashing back to the way her thighs had wrapped around me and held me in place as I had fucked her. Now they pressed into this man, and I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous as she touched him.

“The hard way it is,” she said as if his attack hardly phased her. She reached to the side of his cluttered counter and grabbed a small knife, barely the length of a finger. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re either going to tell my friend where the money is, or you’re going to lose a finger.”

“Who the hell is your father to be teaching you this shit?” he spat.

Mia’s smile only widened. “Pete Genovese,” she said, and I watched in utter amusement as she cut the tip of his finger off with one slice. He screamed and thrashed, but she hardly reacted. “But I don’t work for him anymore. Now I work for the Colombos.”

“You were kidnapped!” he cried, and as she lifted the knife again he shouted, “I’ll tell you where it is. God, I’ll tell you!” He began relaying instructions as Mia held him there, and I moved through his house, grabbing a large wad of cash he had hidden beneath the springs of his pull-out couch. I could feel that there was far more than necessary here, but I pocketed all of it.

“My rent money’s only part of that, man,” he complained, sagging against Mia.

“Next time don’t fuck around, and this will go much smoother.” Mia pushed off him and backed away, coming back to my side as he pulled his bleeding finger to his chest. I hadn’t given her a single instruction, but somehow I found this far hotter than anything else she could’ve done.

“Don’t give me shit again, or I’ll bring her with me next time, and she won’t go easy on you.” Mia didn’t say another word as we walked out of the apartment and down the hall. It wasn’t until we reached the elevator and the doors closed that I glanced at her with a raised brow. “What the hell was that?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Me being useful.”

I didn’t even want to think about how hot it was to see her be so useful, so I closed my mouth and shook my head. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bring her on these jobs more often because of how useful she proved to be or because of how hot I felt for her when she did reckless shit like cutting off a man’s finger. She would certainly be a fine partner.

11

MIA GENOVESE

I’d spent far less time in my room when Vincent decided to come and bring me to debt collections. None were as interesting as the first document I’d worked on back in the bedroom, but leaving and doing something had felt like an improvement to the boredom that constantly plagued me. This place and these people had me constantly questioning myself and what my role was here. I knew they had originally planned to use me to get to my father, but the longer I stayed here, the more I wondered if their plans had changed. Vincent hadn’t said anything about my father trying to retrieve me, and it endlessly frustrated me that there was no news. I knew my father had taken all the main people off the ground in hopes that I’d follow through with my mission, but what if that wasn’t the case? What if he decided he didn’t care about me the way I’d thought he did? He’d always been so focused on my task that I couldn’t even remember the last time he’d told me that he loved me.

My door opened without a knock, and I turned over in bed, eyeing Caterina where she stood. “Do you want to come and eat dinner with us?” she asked, leaning against the frame. I hadn’t been invited to dinner in the month I’d been here, and I wondered if this was some kind of innuendo or ulterior motive.

“Someone usually brings my dinner here,” I told her, pushing myself up in bed.

She sighed and shook her head. “Listen, Vinny has no idea what to do with you, and I feel like he won’t be making up his mind anytime soon. I’m not going to let you sit here and rot in your room without company when you’ve never done anything to deserve that kind of treatment.”

I didn’t know how to feel about Caterina, especially when she’d been nothing but kind to me. However, I had seen what she’d done during the fight on the west side, and I knew she could beverydangerous. More than that, though, I didn’t know what to think or feel about any of this, and I was afraid that joining them for dinner would be a mistake. I couldn’t betray my dad, even if he’d betrayed me. I had to follow through and do what had to be done, but if I saw them act like a family again—if I realized it wasn’t a fluke—I didn’t think I could follow through.

“Come on,” Caterina said, leaving no room for debate. “Luca made it, and he’ll be offended if you don’t come.”

I followed Caterina through the winding halls and into the kitchen where Alessio sat, one leg propped on another chair and one relaxed against the floor. He looked at Caterina, his eyes grazing down and back up her body for a moment before they fixed on me. “The fuck is she doing here?” he asked.

Caterina shot him a glare I never would’ve never challenged. “She’s eating dinner with us, and if you have anything to say about it,don’t.”

Alessio glanced back and forth between us and didn’t say anything more. Luca, on the other hand, moved around the kitchen, a dishtowel over his shoulder. I had heard what Caterina had said, but I hadn’t expected him to be the one actually cooking dinner. He noticed me standing there and grabbed another plate from the cabinet, setting a fifth place silently. “Thank you,” I said, framing it as more of a question than a statement. He didn’t say anything, but he nodded and gave me a small, barely discernable smile.

I turned my attention to where Vincent sat at the table, giving me the devil’s eye. I had a feeling Caterina had decided on her own to invite me to dinner, especially judging by the glances they each shot at me. “I can go back to my room,” I suggested, biting my lip and taking a step back.

“Sit down,” Caterina demanded, and I immediately took her order.

“Damn, Cat,” Alessio said. “We’re just wondering why she’s here. She isn’t exactly part of a family dinner. She’s leverage.”

“She’s a human being,” she said, and I watched as she took a seat at my side. Vincent sat at my other, watching the entire scene with a closed mouth. “And you’d do well to remember that.”

Nobody dared to challenge her or say anything more as Luca brought the food to the table and sat it in the center, taking his seat. Everyone sat there silently, and I knew this wasn’t normal for them. I remained silent as everyone dished out their food. Caterina went last, doubling the portion that everyone else took. “I know for a fact you aren’t going to eat all of that,” Alessio said, gesturing to her food.

“I know for a fact that you know how to mind your own damn business,” she retorted.

“Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Luca asked, and I nearly spit out my drink of water as I held back my laugh. I eyed the large man, and I wondered briefly if he was as tough as he looked. He wasn’t nearly as tall as Alessio or Vincent, but his bulk more than made up for it. His bald head and tattoo-covered scalp was enough for me to take a second look and wonder.

“Are we going to have a normal conversation tonight, or should we all just go to bed early?” Vincent finally asked. “Because I’m not sitting here and listening to you all fight like children after the day I’ve had.”

I expected at least one of them to look skittish. If my father would have spoken to anyone like that, nobody would’ve said a word, knowing he’d be liable to end their lives. But Caterina shot him a look. “Okay,Dad, then what do you want to talk about?”

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