I smiled with a nod. “Thank you, sir.”
“Daddy,” Callista said, enveloping her indignance at the situation in a single word.
He reached out a hand and tapped Callista’s head gently. “Don’t worry, pumpkin. You aren’t going to have to go into the Costa household.” My dad dropped a poisonous gaze to me. “Your brother is going to personally oversee hispetand make sure that she doesn’t fuck up this time. Right?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”
“You will be the liaison between us and Denise. Find a safe place to meet every week and make sure you’re checking in with her every day. If she fucks us again, I’m holding you responsible.”
My dad didn’t subscribe to the concept that a parent should never harm their children. Love us though he may, Anthony Carducci was known for one thing and one thing only—putting himself above all others.
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He looked over at Arturo. “You look about ready to jump out of your skin. You got something to say?”
Arturo had to drag his glare from me back to my dad. “Nope. I don’t see how this plan could go tits up at all.”
“Your sarcasm is noted,” my dad responded, then he waved a hand at me. “Go. Tell her she got lucky this time, but it willnothappen again.”
There was no need to tell me twice. I shot up from the table and rushed from the room, ignoring the way Callista and Arturo both tuned up the second I was out of the room, and I made my way down to the kill room. Outside the door, I stopped and typed a quick text to one of my lowers. The Carduccis had a number of safe houses scattered throughout Illinois for money movement, and I wanted one of them secured for Denise.
When the orders had successfully been given, and once I knew a place was being prepared for our arrival, I opened the door into the kill room.
Denise was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, aloof as if she wasn’t in the same place where my dad had killed hundreds of people, and she looked up at me when I entered. “Let me guess? They sent you back here to do the job?”
“Not quite. You just became the first person to ever enter the kill room and leave alive.” I shut the door behind me and walked across the room to her. “I sold my dad. You’re safe for now.”
Denise stood up. “What do you mean?”
“You still want to take down your mom, right?” I asked.
Denise crossed her arms. “Yes. What she’s doing is wrong.”
“That’s what my dad wants too. That’s why you’re going back into the Costa household. You’re gonna tell your mom everything, except for what we had to do with it, and let her believe you’ve turned the tides in her favor. Steer her toward taking my dad out, and when she’s about to strike, we’ll take her out.”
Denise knit her eyebrows together. “How is thatevergoing to work?”
“Because you’re going to keep us posted on everything every step of the way.”
“I wanted to be less tangled up in this web with my mom, not more.”
I stepped up to Denise and put my hands on her arms. “Look, what do you want from me? He was gonna make you eat bullets. I did what I could to protect you.”
Denise watched me for a second. Her eyes drifted across my face, and though I wasn’t sure what she was searching for, there was a serenity that made me feel like all hope of being together wasn’t lost. I leaned in a few centimeters, and when Denise didn’t pull away, I closed the distance. I touched my lips to hers, and my entire body went hot. My hands folded down Denise’s arms and started to wrap behind her back when she suddenly wedged her arms between us and shoved me away.
“What the fuck?” She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “Is this what you think? Ioweyou now or something?”
Shit. “What? No. I just thought—”
“You thought you’d pull a little bait and switch with your dad and get into my pants? How cheap do you think I am?”
Had I completely misread the mood? “No. Denise. I like you, and—”
Denise scoffed. “Sure, you like me. Like what I can do for you, just like everyone else.” I opened my mouth to say something, but she held up her hand. “Just fucking forget it. I’ll give your little plan a marginal effort. Don’t come crying to me if it doesn’t work.” She walked up to me and leaned in with a vile glare. “And stay the fuck away from me.”
“I can’t do that,” I replied, harsher than intended, but I was frustrated and hurt. “I’m your Carducci liaison. You and I are going to be seeing a lot more of each other from here on out.”
Chapter Three:Denise
