Page 30 of The Secrets We Keep

“Having fun?” he asked. She wrinkled her nose and pulled an Italian language book out of her purse. “Having fun?” he asked again in English.

She raised a brow, replacing the book and scooting closer. “I am. Italy is beautiful. And I’m making the most of beginner's luck.” She gestured at her chips.

His gaze dropped to the stacks and then darted back to her face. “Really? It looks to me like you’re trying to cheat my casino out of money.”

Her spine straightened, and the blond behind him gasped. Luca peeked over his shoulder long enough to make sure Alexei was behaving himself. He looked annoyed, knowing he wouldn’t get to use any of the tools in his kit tonight.

Luca turned back to the woman in red. “I know you have a friend over there.” He gestured to table three. “Anyone else?”

She shook her head, but her eyes flicked to table four. “No. Just the three of us.”

Sighing, Luca rose from his chair and gripped her arm, hauling her out of her seat. “Leave those,” he commanded when she reached for the stacks of chips. “I was going to let you have a few hundred euros as a kindness for spending time on my island. But since you lied to me, now you get nothing.”

He pulled her away from the table. “Make sure all your friends leave with you, or you won’t like what happens next.”

Her eyes went wide, and she gestured at the tables. The blond in the blue sweater got up, giving Alexei a wide berth, and the guy at table three did the same. Then two more men at table four got up and followed them to the front door.

“That all of you?” Luca demanded, pinning each one with an angry stare.

“It is,” the woman in red replied, breathless. “Please, we’re just here on a little vacation. We don’t want any trouble.”

Luca shoved them through the big glass doors into the chilly night and released them. “If I see you back here, or in any of my other casinos again, I’ll let him do what we do to cheats.” Luca gestured at Alexei, who crossed his arms over his chest and glared down his nose at them.

“You can’t threaten us,” the tallest guy said, sweeping long brown hair out of his eyes. “We’ll go to the cops.”

Luca took a step forward until they were nose to nose. “You’ll go to the cops and tell them what? You were trying to steal tens of thousands of euros from an Italian national?” He fished his phone out of his jacket pocket. “Why don’t we call them right now? You can tell your story, and I can show them my video surveillance.”

The kid blanched and took a step back, hands held out in front of him. “Don’t worry about it, man. We won’t come back.”

“Yeah,” the girl in red agreed. “We swear you won’t see us again.”

They held each other’s gazes for a few more moments until Alexei stepped forward and broke the spell. All five of them took hurried steps back and then turned and jogged across the parking lot to a rented SUV. Luca chuckled as they peeled out.

“I wanted to rough someone up.”

“I know.” Luca slapped Alexei on the shoulder and turned to head back inside. “But we can’t let you kill the tourists. Especially not the Americans. Dealing with the embassy is a pain in the ass.”

Alexei grumbled as they walked back inside. “I liked Dom’s war better than this slow assault on Gallo.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll get plenty of blood on your hands before this is said and done.”

“Will I?” Alexei raised a brow. “I thought Matteo was only going to take out Nero. Do you have other plans?”

“I do. Carina’s not the only one who wants revenge.”

“I’m intrigued. But I have questions.”

“I’ll answer them for you eventually. But sharpen your blades. Because once Gallo Industries is ours, I plan on dropping bodies. And I don’t give a single shit if Matteo likes it or not.”

A slow grin spread over Alexei’s lips. “Music to my fucking ears.”

Chapter Fourteen

Staring at the clock in the corner of the screen, Sienna tapped a pencil against the desk and waited. After successfully cloning Ciro’s badge and key fob, she tested it on her devices. He had a higher security clearance than she anticipated. So high she’d immediately run a background check on him.

She didn’t recognize him, and his paperwork checked out. But paperwork could be faked. Hers had. All you needed was enough money and the right contacts.

But his user logs were clean and didn’t show signs of tampering. He never seemed to stray too far into a server or database he shouldn’t be in, never worked after hours or on the weekends, and regularly took holidays where he’d have no activity on his log at all.

---