Page 28 of The Secrets We Keep

“Mmm,” she murmured. “Still. If you want a sure thing, you really should give Isa a ride.”

Ciro leaned in close as the song ended and whispered against her ear. “I like the game.”

Sienna stepped away from him when the music finished with a flourish and clapped with the rest of the bar. “I really do have to get home. Behave yourself, Ciro.” She glanced at Isa over her shoulder and ran a hand down his arm. “But maybe not too much behaving. I’ll see you Thursday.”

Moving past their table for the door, she sent Isa a wave and settled their tab at the bar. The night air was cool on her skin, and she dug her phone out of her purse as she walked back to her apartment.

“Hi.” Luca’s voice was warm and rich in her ear.

“Hi yourself.” She jogged across the street when the light changed. “You have to promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“That you won’t cut off Ciro’s fingers.”

“What did he do?” Luca demanded, voice rough, and she chuckled.

“I had to dance with him. Just once. But I didn’t let him touch my ass.”

“Good. He might have lost a whole hand that way. Did you get what you need?”

“I did. I should definitely have something for you by Friday.”

“Okay. I think I’ll be able to get there around ten.”

Sienna shivered in anticipation. As much as she used to crave living life with Luca in the open, the intrigue of their clandestine meetings had always been just as fun. And now she had an entire apartment to bring him back to instead of the hotel rooms they used to rent.

She let herself into her building and took the stairs to work off the last of her adrenaline rush from her mission at the bar.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Chapter Thirteen

Luca made notes in the margins of the report he was reading. A question for the managers of the southern casino on why staff turnover rate was so high, a reminder to bring an update about the high-stakes poker lounge nearing completion to Matteo’s attention, a quick tally to check the numbers on their projected revenue for the fourth quarter.

Historically they always turned a higher profit during the holidays, and with them looming right around the corner, plus the strip clubs in the Romano territory now under their control, it was going to be a banner year for the Bianchis. And it would only get better from here.

Shuffling the paper to the bottom of the stack, he read through the next one. He only stopped by the casino to pick up the last of his things and take them to the new office building. Maeve had acquired a second monitor in record time, and everything was ready and waiting for him.

But as soon as he’d walked through the doors, someone had handed him a stack of paperwork, two other people had come to ask questions, and he’d gotten lost in the shuffle of it all. And maybe a part of him was trying to avoid both his brother and Maeve at the office.

It had taken hours and lots of yelling to convince Matteo that details on Luca’s inside source were none of his fucking business. It wasn’t necessary for Matteo to know who it was. All he had to do was trust Luca wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the family or their interests.

He wouldn’t give Sienna away to anyone, not even his own brother. Her safety was paramount in all of this, and she was taking enough risks as it was already. She’d talked herself into the lion’s den, after all.

He didn’t like the thought of her working at Gallo Industries with nothing separating her from her uncle except an elevator. She might look different with her blond hair and her blue eyes and those sexy glasses she hid behind, but it was hardly a foolproof disguise if she ran into them in the hallway.

The fewer people who knew she was alive and that he was communicating with her, the better. Until this was over and Nero and his sons were dead, he was going to keep her all to himself.

He heard noises in the hallway seconds before someone knocked on the door to his office and then let themselves in. Alexei’s mouth ticked up at the corner, and he leaned against the frame, arms crossed over his chest.

“I thought you were moving to the skyscraper and leaving the rest of us peasants behind. Did you get tired of Matteo already?”

Luca snorted. “It’s a tomb over there. And I get enough of Matteo’s scowling at home.”

“He does scowl quite a lot. Reminds me of your father that way. Do you think he actually knows how to smile?”

“I might have seen one once,” he said, and Alexei huffed out a laugh. “But now I’m wondering if I imagined it.”

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