Putting his arm back to his side, Dante looked up at the falling numbers.
Nadia snapped her eyes to do the same, unable to wait for her release. Her eyes had wanted to drift back, swearing that she felt the icy gaze of his on her …
Don’t ask.
He wanted to.
I don’t care.
He did.
Don’t you dare ask.
He definitely wanted to.
I do not fucking care why she said that.
He definitely did, and if he was going to ask, he needed to do it now before …
Ding.
Oh, thank God.
Relieved, Nadia hurriedly stomped out of the elevator, leaving him in her dust. Well, she hoped, because she wouldn’t dare turn her head to see. Nope, her head stayed firmly forward as she went through the casino. Breathing in the cigarette smoke was a relief compared to the scent she’d had to endure in the elevator. The confined space made her realize, with the slight hint of what smelled like whiskey and his expensive cologne, she didn’t hate the scent of cigar smoke. Nadia was sure that scent would linger in her mind for days.
Finally, true freedom reached her when she swung open the heavy glass doors. Or so she thought.
She hadn’t made it a few steps on the sidewalk, toward her building that was only a few blocks away, when she heard her name being called from that commanding voice.
“Ms. Brooks.”
She was tempted to not turn around, but she found her body stopping and turning to look at Mr. Caruso, who stood beside the blacked-out town car that was parked in front of the hotel casino.
“How were you wrong about me?” He spoke loudly so his voice would travel over the noise of the city to her ears. “Because I can’t imagine what you expected from a man like me.”
Nadia could see his dark features become darker as she stalked up to him. “Yes, I’ve heard the rumors about you, Mr. Caruso.” She made no effort to conceal that she wasn’t scared, whether he was or wasn’t what those whispers were saying about him. Frankly, she just didn’t care what kind of organization he was running, legal or illegal. “But, depending upon who you ask, you’re considered a good man in the eyes of a lot people who live in this city.”
He seemed to be stunned by her answer for a moment. “The company you keep may not be of your best interest, then, Ms. Brooks.”
“The only company I care about are the kids who walk the streets all alone at night and grew up without a fighting chance.” She paused for a moment, her warm brown eyes boring into his cold ones. “I was under the impression you helped a young man in that same position once upon a time …”
Dante’s jaw flexed into a hard position upon hearing just how much she knew about him. Taking Salvatore Lastra off the streets when he had been just thirteen years old wasn’t something a lot of people in Kansas City knew about him. Nadia had clearly done her research, and he didn’t know how he should feel about it … until he did.
She watched his jaw fix into position as every hair on her body stood in fear. Men never made their money by being nice, and Nadia was afraid she had just gone too far, especially with Dante, who didn’t try hard to pretend he hadn’t made his money outside of the law.
“Careful, Ms. Brooks,” he warned in a low tone before the curve of his lips went up in another slow smile, “you may find a secret about me one day that you wish you hadn’t.”
It wasn’t until he reached into his hidden suit jacket pocket and pulled out a checkbook and pen that she relaxed.
Oh, I don’t doubt it.
Watching him scribble on the check, she couldn’t help but think, as soon as she got the check in her greedy little hands, this would be the first and last time she would ever be in the presence of Dante Caruso. She would take all future checks via mail or not fucking at all.
“Thank you, Mr. Caruso,” she said sincerely, uncaring of any amount he wrote in that tiny box. But when he handed it to her, she couldn’t help but notice it was the exact amount she needed from him. One hundred thousand dollars. “Y-you have no idea what this means to us,” she stammered in disbelief, pressing the check to her chest.
Placing his checkbook and pen back in his pocket, he threw open the car’s back door as his smile disappeared. “Well, the IRS was going to take it from me, anyway.”
Nadia wanted to roll her eyes at him, but she could see past what he was trying to pull off. Keeping up his asshole façade must have been tiring.
“I don’t care,” she told him honestly, putting the check in her blazer pocket before holding out her slender hand. “Thank you, Mr. Caruso.”
He stared at her hand for a moment before he took it in his. “You’re welcome.”
All focus had been lost again as his hand touched hers and she went right back to how she felt when she had first seen him in his office. “H-Have a lovely trip,” Nadia told him genuinely this time, not wanting his contact with her dropped anytime soon.
If he felt even remotely the way she did, he was much better at concealing his emotions. “Have a lovely day, Ms. Brooks.”
She felt his grip loosen, and her heart sank until his grip suddenly tightened on hers again, this time in a death grip. Everything seemed to move in fast motion as she was then thrown into the back seat of his car.
However … it didn’t seem to happen fast enough.
BANG!
Two
SPOILER ALERT … The Rumors About Dante Caruso are True
Shit, shit, shit, was all Dante thought as he slammed their bodies into the back seat of the car. He couldn’t explain it. It had just been a gut feeling that he needed to get out of the way, and fast. His instincts taking Ms. Brooks with him.
“Get us the fuck out of here!” he growled.
Amo had already thrown the car in drive. “On it.”
The car being punched forward, which threw the back-seat car door to an automatic close. Dante was thankful that, while he had been talking to Ms. Brooks, Amo was getting into the driver’s seat. One of his soldiers, Vincent, had driven Leo up, and they would all be fucked if he was the one driving them away from this shit show. Amo was one of his few men left who wasn’t stuck up a girl’s ass, so he was one of the only ones he trusted willing to be his guard for the weekend. It was a dark time for the family if his men couldn’t leave their women for a few days to go party on a fucking yacht. God, he really missed the old days.
“Leo?” His fatherly instinct had him yelling out for his son.
“I’m fine.” Leo’s voice came from the passenger side. It seemed to be dropping octaves more and more each day.
Able to focus on the woman in his arms now, he studied her. “Are you hurt?” When she didn’t answer, he nervously began checking her body. It was strange, the fear he felt banging in his chest. He hadn’t felt fear like that since …
What the fuck! Nadia’s heart pounded in her chest. She had wanted to scream, but the shock didn’t allow it. Then her shock turned into even more shock, if that was possible, when she felt Dante’s hands searching her body for a gunshot wound. She could practically feel the relief radiate off him when he realized the reasoning for her silence.