Page 24 of Shackled By the Mafia Boss

I enter the apartment and she closes the door behind me.

“My space isn’t that much, but I love it just the way it is,” she says as she follows me in.

I look around. I agree Jane’s house is minimalistic. Clean white walls and consoles, a cream-colored couch which matches the monochrome rug in the center of the living room, and a white bookshelf stacked with books.

Walking to the bookshelf, I pick one up and flip through it. I’m surprised it’s not a book on crime or solving murder cases, it’s contemporary romance fiction. “You’re a reader?”

A badass, pretty detective who reads? Totally my type of woman.

She rushes up to me and snatches the book from my hand. “You shouldn’t read that.”

I grin. “It’s a bit too late for that.”

She gapes at me. “Why?”

“‘He leans in and kisses me with a fierce need to devour me.’ Page sixty-five.” I didn’t get the chance to read the entire paragraph before she snatched the book from me.

Jane looks away, her breath hitching and her throat moving as she swallows. “It’s fiction. There’s smut here and there.” Still avoiding eye contact, she walks to the shelf and puts the book back. “Anyway, I didn’t invite you here so you can snoop around my bookshelf.”

I inch closer to her. Electricity zaps through my body. I want to pull her towards me, feel her body against mine. “Why did you call me then? Were you bored or horny? I can help with both.”

“Jesus.” She frowns. “You’re like a horny rabbit.”

“I don’t deny it.” I move closer.

She flattens her palm on my chest and tries to push me back but she’s only five-foot five and I’m six-foot four. She’s fragile, and me, I as sturdy as a ten foot wall. “Too bad you won’t get a chance to sate that need. I called you here because I found something I think is suspicious.”

We both glance at one of the sofas across from us at the same time. She gestures to it. “Have a seat.”

“I thought you wouldn’t offer.” I wink at her and smile when she cringes. Then I sit on the couch, spreading one of my arms along the back and crossing my legs.

Jane takes the seat across from me. I bet she doesn’t know her bare legs are a distraction. “So,” she begins, “If the last war was between the Bratva and you guys, have you ever thought that maybe the Bratva weren’t your actual rivals?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

She purses her lips. “Figured you wouldn’t. Give me a minute.” She returns after a moment with a brown folder. “I found this while investigating…”

Opening the folder, she takes out a photo and passes it to me. My muscles become rigid because the picture is one I’d buried in the deepest, darkest part of my mind.

It’s a picture of Camilla the day she died, wearing the red dress, her eyes open and her blood staining the ground.

Camilla was a whore I visited on a regular basis. I admit her head game was the best and she knew how to bounce on a dick, but she wasn’t just a whore.

I considered her a friend, too.

Discussing thefamigliawas out of bounds of course, but the late-night talks about her favorite food and how she hoped to return to school someday stirred a closeness between us.

I pitied her, especially after I found out the reason she took a job at the Devil’s Casino as a stripper.

My jaw clenches, my chest tightening with fury. What pains me the most is that I’d decided to clear her debt and help her start a new life the night before I received the gruesome picture of her lifeless body.

Shivers creep up my neck, my blood pressure rising. “How did you get this?”

Jane’s flinch makes me realize I just growled.Fuck.

I sigh and my head falls forward. I inhale before raising my head backup. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“Forget it.” She waves me off. “I saw she was a stripper at Devil’s Casino. After questioning a few people, I found out she was your…”

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