Finally, it was my turn. I dutifully wrapped my arms gently around Mia, offering her a peck on the cheek and the words I knew were acceptable. “Take care of my niece or nephew. And my brother.”
“I will.” She nodded and patted my cheek, understanding the gravity of my subtle behest. “You take care of yourself. If you want to visit, there’s always a room at the villa for you.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” I smiled at her kindness, though we both knew I never traveled, given my job.
That little dagger in my heart twisted as I faced my twin. We’d rarely been apart, and never for an indeterminate length of time. I grasped the back of his neck and touched my forehead to his, closing my eyes and breathing him in. Our breaths were in sync, and even the pulse at his neck throbbed in time with mine.
“Don’t stay away too long.” It was a gruff plea, though I wouldn’t say more.
When I released him, Niccolò’s eyes met mine. “I love you, too. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
That drew a dry laugh from my lips. “I won’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.”
He grinned and nodded, then ushered Mia to their waiting SUV, where his guard held the door open as Niccolò helped his wife climb in and followed behind. I shoved my hands into my pockets as the car pulled away and disappeared down the drive.
The pain in my chest was fleeting, and it left me with a familiar cold silence. The thoughts wedged in again, and I blinked against the imaginary voice that mimicked my father’s. Shaking my head, I made my goodbyes and got into my car.
It was time for another hunt, for something to heat my blood and make my body come to life. Bloodshed would offer another brief reprieve.
Chapter Two
I’ve got this. I can do anything I set my mind to, right, Dad?
I hoped my affirmations would usher the truths into existence as I opened my laptop and connected to the large tv on the wall. Men and women wearing black polyester suits, much like mine, sat boredly around a table in our team conference room. My supervisor Lyle Madden—a distant, much-removed relation to the professional athlete to hear him tell the tale, though he’d never met the man—flicked his fingers at me to get me moving.
I took a deep breath and pulled up the first slide in my presentation. The picture of the tattooed man on the screen got their attention; the men with disapprovingly drawn brows and the women’s brows raised with interest.
“Cosimo Neretti,” I began, though the notorious Neretti crime family member didn’t need an introduction. I breathed through the hatred that threatened to twist my features. Nobody could suspect my true motives. “Second oldest brother in the Neretti Mafia. He’ll inherit the family business if Dante Neretti should die.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jonathan Harris spoke impatiently. He had good ol’ boy energy in an age where he was expected to work with women without sexually harassing them in the office. “We all know who that is, Black. You can skip the fanfare.”
Madden cut him off with a raised hand. He was imposing even as he relaxed into his chair, his broad shoulders wider than the back and hinting at his gym habit. “Let her talk, Harris.”
I nodded my thanks and continued, “We’ve been trying to get somebody into their organization for years, but they’ve got that shit laced up tighter than a Victorian corset.”
I lost the men with that reference, but Selena Ramos covered a smile with her palm.
“And have you come up with a new idea?” Madden asked.
“I believe so, yes,” I answered, clicking to the next slide. It listed Cosimo’s known interests and activities.
“You forgot homicidal maniac,” Harris pointed out, making a couple of the other guys chuckle. Sure, a guy tells a joke, and they laugh.
“I listed things we can prove,” I said with an edge to my voice. The alleged Neretti enforcer’s body count was rumored to be in the triple digits, but no law enforcement agency could pin a single murder on him. It was statistically impossible for somebody to kill that many people in one city and get away with it, but Cosimo seemed to defy the odds. “I propose we put somebody inside Deception.”
“You want us to pay a stripper to go undercover?” Madden sounded shocked.
“No,” I answered quickly. My palms started sweating from nerves, but the others would notice if I wiped them down my black slacks. “I think one of us should do it.”
“I’m out,” Michelle Lewis said immediately with a shake of her head. “I’m not setting foot inside that den of sin unless we’re dragging Neretti out in cuffs.”
Madden’s expression turned thoughtful, and he turned to my other female co-worker. “What about you, Ramos?”
“Maybe? I’m not exactly the type they’re looking for.” She motioned to her rounded figure, then glanced at me briefly. “Black has the body for it.”
“I’ll do it,” I blurted, then cleared my throat as if it could cover my outburst. “I took a few dance classes when I was a kid. How hard could it be to twirl around a pole in a bikini?”
All the male eyes in the room zeroed in on me, and my face heated as they seemed to imagine me without my clothes on.