“Ex-woman,” Cenzo corrected quietly from his position near the window.
I shot him a glare that would have silenced anyone else. Cenzo simply held my gaze, unimpressed.
“I know exactly what happened at my house on Wednesday,” I continued, turning back to Nicco. “I watched the entire thing.”
Nicco raised an eyebrow. “I know you have cameras in your house?”
“Of course I do.” I didn’t mention that I’d installed them after Labria left, sensing her eventual return for her belongings. “Hidden ones. I saw everything from my hotel room in New York. Labria, her sister, your men. You.” I paused, letting that sink in. “You personally went to oversee it. That’s an interesting level of involvement for the don.”
“Her sister was there?” Cenzo asked, his interest apparently piqued.
I ignored him. “I’ve been tracking her car too. She went back to Maurizio’s townhouse the next day. Today. She’s still there.”
Nicco leaned back in his chair, studying me with those calculating dark eyes that missed nothing. “You’ve been busy, and she claims you haven’t tried to contact her.”
“I’m waiting,” I corrected. “I have a plan.”
“And what about Lolita LaGrassa?” Nicco asked. His tone was casual, but his eyes were sharp. “How thorough were you with her?”
The question caught me off guard, though I didn’t let it show. “What about her?”
“Labria seems to think you fucked Lolita. She claims to have evidence of this, pictures, text messages. She even says she saw you kissing her.”
I felt a flash of irritation. So that was why Labria left. She thought I was cheating on her with Lolita. The idea was almost laughable.
“And she confided all of this to you?”
“I’m the don. People come to me with their problems, and you have not reached out to her. It’s been about a month. What the fuck is going on?”
“She blocked me for the first week.”
“And you’re no longer blocked and you know where she works and where she lives.” Nicco added.
“Yes, but she doesn’t get to tell me what to do.”
Nicco leaned back and studied me. “Well, she seems to think you’re fucking Primo’s daughter, and I couldn’t convince her otherwise. She doesn’t want to hear from me. She wants to hear from you. Well, she did. I don’t know what the fuck she’s thinking now.”
“I flirt with Lolita,” I admitted. “It’s strategic. She’s well-connected in New York. She has her father’s ear. The harmless flirtation gets me information I wouldn’t otherwise have access to.”
“And the kiss at some restaurant?” Nicco pressed.
“A peck after dinner. Nothing more on my part.” I shrugged. “It’s business, Nicco. You know how this works. We use whatever tools we have. Lolita is a lonely woman that should have been married off years ago. I’m the underboss. I’m number two. I use it to my advantage, to your advantage.”
“Did you fuck her?” Cenzo asked bluntly. “Be honest.”
“No.” I met his gaze squarely. “I’ve never slept with fucking Lolita LaGrassa. If I did, I would say it. It’s not like you’re going to rat me out.”
Nicco nodded slowly. “That’s what I thought. But your Black Barbie lawyer believes otherwise.”
“She could have asked me,” I said, feeling a surge of anger. “Instead, she jumped to conclusions, packed her bags, wrote some stupid shit on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick, and ran straight to my cousin.”
“Women don’t usually ask you if you’re cheating when they think they already know the answer,” Cenzo commented. “Especially the smart ones.”
I gripped the armrests of my chair. “She made her choice.”
“So, you’re done with her?” Nicco asked.
Was I done with Labria? Hell no! I killed a fucking CPD cop to protect her. Labria was the woman who’d followed me from Chicago to Vegas? She’d seen me at my most vulnerable and still loved me? At least, I thought she had.
