Page 61 of The Secrets We Keep

Drago studied her, his eyes searching her face, and it sent a chill down her spine. She needed to get out of there. If he recognized her, she’d be dead before the morning, and Luca and his family might very well have to begin their assault again.

“Drago, no need to scare the poor girl,” Ciro said, moving to stand next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “We asked for her help, and she’ll give it. Won’t you, Anna?”

“You asked for her help,” Drago snarled. “I want an update by the end of next week. Or I’ll take matters into my own hands.”

He pinned her with another searching stare before turning and disappearing into the crowd of people. Sienna sagged into Ciro’s side when her knees wobbled before righting herself again.

“Sorry. I thought it would be okay to shuffle things a bit. I didn’t mean to make him angry.”

“No, no. He’s just upset about something else entirely. I’m sure he didn’t mean to take it out on you. I’ll speak with him.” Ciro paused for a beat. “Are you all right?”

“I think so.” Sienna took a step away and gave him a bolstering smile. “I do want to help in any way I can.”

Ciro reached up to brush a strand of hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear and trailing his fingertips across her jaw to her chin. “Of course you do.” He looked off in the direction Drago had disappeared and lowered his voice. “Truthfully, the part of the system we most want to concentrate on is the client records.”

Sienna nodded her head knowingly. “That makes sense. You can never be too careful with your buyer data.”

Ciro smiled. “Exactly. And once you help us crack this, I’m going to take you out to a nice dinner to celebrate. And I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Dinner sounds nice.” She leaned into his hand when he rubbed it down the length of her arm from shoulder to elbow. “But you should probably know I never skip dessert.”

She turned for home and left him grinning in the middle of the sidewalk. Ciro was much easier to distract than Drago. And she had a twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach that she might have said exactly the wrong thing to dial up the suspicion that was clearly already hovering around the edges where she was concerned.

She needed to be more careful. She was of no use to Luca and the Bianchis if she was outed as a mole and lost her access. And Drago would hardly stop at getting her fired.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Adjusting his cuff links, Luca looked up at the sound of heels on the tile floor, smiling at the Bianchi women. Well, Emilia wasn’t a Bianchi yet, but she finally had a ring on her finger. A pretty little diamond that seemed to suit her perfectly.

“Emilia, you’re a vision,” Luca assured her, grinning when she blushed.

“What about me?” Carina wondered, turning so the sequins on her dress caught the light.

“Perfect as always.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Carina replied. “Too bad you can’t bring your mystery woman with us to the party.”

Luca’s eyebrows shot up, and Carina shrugged.

“Alexei told me. And I told Emilia.”

Emilia blanched and held her hands out in front of her. “I haven’t told anyone. Not even your brother.”

“Really? I would have told Alexei right away.”

“Told me what?” Alexei asked, tugging at the bowtie of his tux and looking as uncomfortable and out of his element as Luca had ever seen him.

“About Luca’s mystery woman,” Carina said, reaching for Alexei’s hand and pulling it away from his neck. “Leave that alone. I just finished tying it.”

“I should sit this one out. I look ridiculous,” Alexei grumbled.

“You look delicious,” Carina assured him. “Just think, if you behave yourself and don’t stab anyone, you get to undress me later.”

“I bet I would get to undress you even if I did stab someone,” Alexei challenged, wrapping an arm around Carina’s waist and hauling her onto her toes.

Emilia chuckled, and Luca pretended to gag. “Please. You’ll make me lose my dinner.”

Dom and Matteo appeared at the end of the hall, and Emilia froze next to Luca.

---