Page 13 of The Secrets We Keep

“In any case, the new one is very good, and I think she might stick.” She tucked her tongue in her cheek. “No wayward sons to speak of. Or daughters,” she added, a note of jealousy in her voice.

Luca shook his head. “I might be able to find the time this weekend. I’ll text you. But really, Carina. You have nothing to worry about.”

She reached up to pat his cheek, giving him a patronizing pout. “If you say so, brother. Whatever’s bothering you, I know you’ll sort it out. I’ve never known anyone quite as good as you at solving a problem. I’m serious about dinner. I expect to hear from you.”

Luca watched his sister’s driver open the back door of the black town car and wait for her to get settled before driving away. There was no problem to solve. He had no reason to drive back to Catania any time soon. He knew the truth now. Or enough of it to satisfy him. He’d leave Sienna to her problems, and he’d focus on his own.

His hands would be busy enough rebuilding Gallo Industries once they assumed control of it. No need to complicate matters further. Maybe he really did need to go out and get laid.

Glancing up at the building towering over him, he thought of Maeve on the top floor. He should text her, ask her out for a drink, and finally give her the ride they’d both been dancing around for weeks. Scratch the itch, get it out of his system, and get his head back in the game.

Staring at the phone in his hand, he slipped it into his pocket with a sigh, climbed behind the wheel, and headed for the casino.

Chapter Seven

Sienna swiped her badge on the keypad at security and watched her face and alias flash across the screen. The guard looked from the screen to her face and back again and pressed a button to let her through to the bank of elevators. Gallo Industries was guarded like a fortress.

She’d been surprised to see how tight security was on her first day, with everyone needing to be approved by armed guards before they could access the elevators. You couldn’t even get to the executive floors without the right access card or an escort. An important thing for her to know and something she’d have to factor into her plans.

Bypassing the elevators and the line of people waiting for them, she took the stairs to the second floor. The elegantly decorated reception area was empty when she stepped out of the stairwell, and the receptionist greeted her with a smile.

“How’s your first week going so far?” Angelina wondered. “Settling in okay?”

“It’s good. Everyone has been very helpful.”

“Good. If you ever need anything, just let me know. I know they tend to push deadlines harder the closer we get to Christmas. Everyone trying to make sure they don’t have to work over the holidays.”

Sienna didn’t want to still be in Sicily by Christmas. It was her mother’s favorite holiday, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to fight off the flurry of memories seeing Catania at Christmastime. Hopefully, her targets would be dead long before she heard her first carol.

The elevator opened behind them, and the other three people on her team stepped off. Ciro was tall and lean, and he had flirted with her heavily since day one, even though he had a wedding ring on his finger and pictures of his wife and children all over his desk. His infatuation might come in handy.

She wished she could say she wouldn’t flirt with or manipulate or fuck a married man just to get what she needed to finish this, but it would be a small price to pay to get what she came to Sicily for. It’s not like she’d ever see him again after this. His infidelity would be between him and God.

Behind Ciro was Jack, an Englishman who had been lured away from the competition with a sizable bonus package he didn’t mind bragging about to anyone who would listen. Sienna would have loved to tell him her deal was much better and her pay likely higher too, just to watch his ego deflate, but she needed him to keep thinking she wasn’t competition. He would be more likely to overlook her that way.

Finally there was Isa, the only other woman on the team. Sienna had been trying to feel her out over the last few days, but Isa didn’t seem all that interested in forming a friendship or even a polite working relationship. Whenever Sienna approached her to ask a question, she kept her answers as short as possible.

She’d have to be careful around Isa. Jealousy could derail her plans as easily as anything else. And Isa certainly seemed to be jealous of something, whether it was the fact that Sienna was younger or she’d even been hired in the first place, Sienna wasn’t sure, but she would not let this woman get in her way. Even if she had to constantly force herself not to slap the sour look off Isa’s face.

They weren’t the only four people on the floor. IT was a big department for a company this size, but her team specialized in app development, not the internal tech needs of the company. Every time she overheard a story in the break room about some stupid thing one of the on-call techs had to deal with, she sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

Their job was to maintain and develop applications for both internal and external use. She’d been hired to help build an app for a new package delivery service they were hoping to launch sometime next year, branching out from commercial shipping and freight to consumer package delivery.

She’d spent most of the first week in meetings, and in her spare time, she explored the systems the company used to maintain its operations. They were impressive, to say the least, and they gave her access to a wealth of company data.

But it was too early to dive into that yet. She had to pace herself before she went looking for the information she needed. Everything she did from her desk and the laptop they gave her was monitored—every keystroke filed, every word she typed cataloged. It appeared her uncle was very suspicious of his employees.

She didn’t know yet if logging in when she wasn’t supposed to or in an area she wasn’t cleared to access would trigger an internal alarm, and until she knew that for sure, she couldn’t risk logging in and getting caught. She’d have to be patient.

Ciro looked her up and down and gave her a wink as he crossed the lobby toward his desk. Blushing, she jogged to catch up with him, ignoring the way Isa rolled her eyes as she headed for her own cubicle.

“You look very dapper in that suit,” Sienna said, storing her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk and smiling up at him when he leaned his shoulder against the wall of her cubicle. “Is it new?”

He ran a hand down the front of his jacket and over his suit pants, and she tracked its path with her eyes because she knew he wanted her to, letting her gaze linger on his crotch before snapping back up to his face. She bit her lip and ducked her head, and he chuckled.

“I’ve never seen a woman blush as pretty as you,” he said, and she rolled her eyes with her back turned. “How many more times do I have to ask before you say yes to a drink with me after work?”

She dropped into her chair and swiveled toward the three large monitors arranged side-by-side on her desk. Glancing at his crotch again, she let her gaze linger long enough to make his cock stiffen and then lifted her eyes to meet his, biting her bottom lip.

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