Page 127 of Demanding Mob Boss

My girl has a mischievous streak I'm just getting to know.

"Yes," I answer Lachlan's question.

De Luca and Shaughnessy agree that taking out Eduardo and his lieutenants and replacing them with players not megalomaniac enough to try to take over major US cities is a good strategy.

We wouldn't know who those people are without Carmen and the information we got out of interrogatingEl Fantasmaand Bernardino.

"You've done a lot more collaboration lately than you used to." Lachlan gives me a look I don't try to read. "Hell, you even offered to keep your alliance with the Walsh mob if Éamon stepped down as the boss."

His nephew approached me, worried we were going to target their mob next. He said his uncle hadn't made a deal with the cartel, but that he'd tried to keep the peace. Too comfortable in his life to fight for his territory, Éamon had been willing to share his streets with the interlopers rather than go to war.

The nephew is hungry with a reputation for brutal reprisal already. He'll do as their new boss.

"It's good for the mob."

"And it keeps our loved ones safe," Lachlan adds with a significant glance toward Anna.

I shrug. It's true. "Keeping them safeisgood for the mob." A mobster with something to lose is a man willing to risk his life to protect it. He's less likely to go off halfcocked too.

That's not a bad thing.

~ ~ ~

When Anna's passport arrives, I know we need to use mercenaries for our attack on the cartel's compound and I can't be the one to oversee the mission.

My girl didn't tell me she was getting her passport, and the only reason she would do it is because she's determined to go with me if I leave the country.

For a trip to Europe to see the sights and maybe visit with my family? That's fine. But I am not taking Anna to Colombia to wage war against a demented cartel leader.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so much, Shaughnessy, De Luca, Drakos and Murphy all agree with the mercenary idea and will help fund it. Someone has to go to Colombia though, to make contact with the cartel members we plan to install as the new leadership.

Carmen insists she can help and I believe her. Just because her family doesn't value her, doesn't mean the rest of her cartel sees her as worthless. Ronan insists on going too, which works.

ANNA

After the night they decimated the street gang trying to move in on the mob and Greek mafia's territories in Chicago, Cian is super busy. He works long hours in his office running the business, but he also spends a lot of time at Lucky Charm and the apartment safehouse.

I know, because he takes me with him. He always leaves me someplace safe while he's seeing to whatever leaves him with busted knuckles and blood spatter on his clothes, but he never leaves me behind.

Tonight he tells me to get dressed up. He's taking me out to dinner. I wear a new dress he bought me. It's purple silk, the same shade as my eyes, with a plunging neckline and full skirt that hits me just below mid-thigh.

He likes the halter neckline because he can slide his hands in and cup my breasts from both the sides and the front. I like that too. Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

After we are seated at a table overlooking the river, he tosses my new passport on the table between us.

So, he knows I got it. I had to pay extra to expedite the processing and then I also asked Lachlan if he could hurry it along. And he did.

"I'm going with you if you leave the country," I inform him. I inhale deeply, reminding myself this is too important to give in on.

His eyes flick to my chest but then zero in on my face again and he just stares at me for a minute, like he does sometimes. He gets lost in me the same as I get lost in him.

"That's what I'm counting on." He winks at me.

Winks! Mr. Oh So Serious.

Desire pools deep in my belly and my ovaries start singing Taylor Swift ballads.

"What do you mean?"

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