Page 57 of Sweet Sin

Savannah nudges me. “Excuse me?”

I turn to her. “Savannah, do you have a better idea?”

“Not that the two of you aren’t charming, but yeah, I have a better idea. I’ll tell them who I am. I’m a parole officer working for the county. They’ll give me the information.”

“They will?” Leif asks.

“I have a certain amount of charm too, you know.”

I take her hand. “And you think you can handle this?”

“I’ve handled it before. All I have to do is flash my ID.”

“All right. You try first then.”

Leif and I stand back, while Savannah strides to the information desk.

She stands talking for a few minutes, smiling. Then she opens her purse, pulls out her wallet, and flashes something.

She and the information clerk continue talking, laughing, and smiling.

How she can smile is beyond me, but I get it. She’s playing a part—and it’s clearly not the first time she’s played it.

All this time…I was looking at Vannah as someone sweet and innocent, someone who needs a white picket fence.

And then it turns out she comes from the damned Mafia.

Of course, that doesn’t mean she herself is Mafia. She wants out. She’s explained all of that.

But growing up the way she did, she clearly learned this act she’s putting on. I learned in prison to read people. Sometimes I read them better than they did themselves. I knew when someone was hiding something…but Savannah’s background slipped right by me. I was blinded by my intense attraction to her, by our explosive chemistry, and by the fact that she’s a parole officer.

I should have seen it. I should have seen it all. And maybe I did… Maybe that’s the real reason I asked Lance to investigate her.

Is she playing me? Is she…

No. Absolutely not. What we have—whatever the hell it is—is fucking real.

About ten minutes later, Savannah returns and walks right by us.

Leif and I wait a few minutes and then follow her outside the hospital.

“What did you find out?” I ask.

She’s shivering now. As if she’s breaking down after putting on the act. “Giancarlo’s alive. His prognosis is good.”

I heave a sigh of relief. “Thank God,”

“And Mrs. Shaw’s going to be fine.”

“Thank God,” I say again. “What about Abel?”

“Abel…”

“Just tell me, Savannah.”

“He… He had a brain bleed last night, Falcon. From the head trauma. They missed it on the first MRI, and then they didn’t get to it in time. He…” She covers her face with both hands. “I’m so sorry.”

I rake my fingers through my hair. “Fuck it all.”

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