Page 38 of The Secrets We Keep

She took her coffee and a package of chocolate hazelnut biscotti to the table and sat, stretching her legs out underneath. A few minutes to herself, and then she’d go back out into the fray of people who wanted to stop by and introduce themselves to the new girl or ask questions or just chitchat in her general vicinity. God, she missed working from home.

Biting into the biscotti, she chewed slowly, her eyes closed as she savored the peace and quiet. Whatever she ended up doing after this, she wanted to do it from the quiet of a home office. People were exhausting.

The sound of voices drifted in through the open door, and she sighed as they got louder. She was just popping the last of the cookie into her mouth when Ciro stepped into the doorway, smiling when he saw her, followed closely by a man who stole her breath.

Drago. Raffaele Drago. One of her uncle’s top capos. But she was more likely to see him at her uncle’s estate, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt with a gun on his hip. What was he doing in a perfectly tailored suit at the office? And why the hell was he talking to Ciro?

They both stepped fully into the room, and she gripped the edge of her chair when Ciro paused by the table. Ciro extended his arm toward her, and her heart pounded painfully against her sternum.

“Raffaele, this is Anna Marino. She’s our newest hire in development. A very skilled coder.”

Drago gave her a polite smile, and when no recognition flickered in his eyes, she relaxed slightly, loosening her hold on her chair to shake his hand when he offered it.

“Nice to meet new talent,” Drago replied smoothly. “Hopefully they’re giving you enough to keep you busy.”

“Of course we are,” Ciro replied with a cheeky wink in her direction. “Right, Anna?”

She smiled. “Absolutely. Speaking of,” she added, pushing back from the table. “I should probably get back to it.”

“Of course,” Ciro replied, stepping back so she could cross to the door.

She wondered if either of them could hear her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest. She was almost to the doorway when Ciro stopped her.

“Actually, Anna. You might be able to help us out with this. You specialize in writing defense programs, right?”

Sienna took a deep breath and forced a polite smile onto her face before turning. “I do. That’s mostly what I did in Germany.”

Ciro nodded, and Drago looked intrigued. “I thought so. There’s a proprietary project we’re working on for a subsidiary, and we need to reverse engineer their systems.”

“To find the holes?”

Ciro and Drago shared a look. “Yes,” Ciro replied. “Exactly. We want to know where the weaknesses are so we can fill in the gaps and prevent any data leaks.”

“Oh.” She smiled at them both. “I can definitely help with that.”

“Wonderful,” Drago said, clapping Ciro on the shoulder. “Ciro can bring you up to speed. Hopefully you can get started sooner rather than later.”

“Ah, yeah. Maybe. They just dumped another project in my lap this morning, and then—”

Ciro waved a hand in the air, cutting her off. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll arrange it. I’m sure Isa can do it. I’ll come find you later to chat details.”

“Okay. It was nice to meet you,” she said to Drago before turning on her heel and leaving the lounge.

Sienna resisted the urge to run back to her desk, pacing herself through the rows of cubicles, the sound of typing and low conversation and the hum of machines barely audible over the blood pounding in her ears.

She hadn’t come face to face with anyone who’d killed her family. Not yet. Not until today. She’d been so focused on her uncle and cousins she hadn’t even considered the possibility of what she’d do if it happened.

There was no doubt in her mind that her uncle had tapped Drago to lead the hit on her family. There was no one her uncle trusted more. And he must have done so well he’d gotten himself promoted from murderer to businessman.

“It’s your lucky day,” Jack said when she rounded the corner and stepped into her cubicle.

“Yeah? Why?”

“Boss just stopped by. Said to tell you to go home. And that you can work from home for the rest of the week since you came in today.”

Drago and Ciro moved into her line of sight, walking the other route from the lounge, and her skin prickled. She needed to get out of there before she lunged toward Drago and buried her nail file into his eyeball. She wanted to twist it until he shrieked the way Pietro had.

“You’re a lifesaver, Jack.”

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