Page 20 of Owned By the Mafia

We fall into silence, and I start sending encrypted emails to the contacts that can help me. I don’t notice until he’s right at my desk that Callum has gotten rather close. I glance up at him curiously.

“You okay?” My gut tightens slightly.

“You’re a very beautiful woman, Dina,” he says softly, giving me a charming smile.

I smile back. “I’m flattered, Callum, but I really need to concentrate here.”

He moves a little closer and puts a hand on the back of my chair, leaning over me. “You know, perhaps there are other ways to unite the people on our level.”

I push my chair out, forcing him away, and I stand so we’re on more equal footing. “Sorry, Callum. You have gotten the notion that I am interested in a romantic relationship, although I’m not sure from where. I can assure you that I’m not interested in pursuing any relationship right now. I’m focussing on my career.”

“What about you and Robbie?” he says suddenly as I sidestep to get around him. I pause for the briefest moments.

How does he know about Robbie and I? My heart beats hard in my chest, but I maintain my calm. “What about us?”

“I know you were together years ago. What is it now? Five years ago? You were twenty-five?” He looks at me intensely, and I get the creepiest feeling from him. I don’t like Callum, and I don’t trust him.

“What? When we were working on negotiations between our families? That’s all that was, nothing more and nothing less. I’m not inclined to romantic relationships, as everyone who knows me will tell you.”

I walk to the office door and stand there. “And quite frankly, your forwardness to someone who ranks above you is fucking irritating. How dare you speak to me in such a condescending little tone. I think you should leave. Right fucking now.” I glare at him to prove my point, and he scoffs.

He stops just in front of me, and in a low voice, he murmurs, “You’re making a mistake,Boss.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t utter another word if I were you unless you want those to be the last words you ever speak.”

He walks out, strolling down the corridor. Halfway down, he starts whistling; it’s creepy. I wait until he’s in the elevator before I phone Rudy and tell him to make sure Callum leaves the premises.

After he agrees, I sit back down at my computer, but it takes me a long while before I feel calm enough to resume working. I can’t wholly hyper-focus, though, because I have a heightened awareness of how much danger I thought I was put in with Callum.

The only problem is I don’t know if it was physical danger or if he was just a dickhead. Most men don’t like taking orders from a woman, so it might just be his reaction to that. But my gut still says something was up.

I don’t want to tell Robbie because I know he can go off his rocker with jealousy. It’s part of why we split all those years ago, even if he doesn’t know it.

I jump slightly as Robbie knocks on my door.

“Callum says you sent him away. Did he do something wrong?” I can already hear the anger in his voice, so I smile.

“No, there are just some things I don’t want people to overhear me doing, and I had Rudy and Angelo downstairs, so I thought I’d be alright until you got back.” I stand up and look around. “I don’t know if there are cameras here, so we’re just colleagues.”

Robbie chuckles. “Indeed. Would you like me to drive you home?”

“You just want to get in my bed again.” It’s a small tease, and his charming smile wins me over.

“Not tonight, I swear. I will drop you at home, ensure you get locked in alright, and fuck off back to my own place for the evening so you can get some actual rest.” He leans against the doorframe, and I lick my lips.

“You’ll have to. You’re an absolute distraction.”

“Deal, let’s get going.” He leads the way down and out to his car. It’s a slow drive to my new home, but as we enter the area, I notice black smoke billowing ahead of us.

“I wonder what that is?” I point to the smoke.

“Probably a fire near the park again. Those happen when the weather is this dry,” Robbie comments casually.

My stomach drops, though, as the smoke gets bigger and bigger as we approach my street. “You don’t think?”

“I do, unfortunately.” Robbie pulls into my street, and we see fire engines outside my house as it blazes.

I swallow hard. “Someone is determined to destroy everything I own and probably to kill me.”

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