It was a barely-there touch, but a little shiver moved through Stephanie anyway.
Interest twisted in my gut, but there was no way to act on it. First, because she was freaked out. Second, because Ant and Saylor had cameras fucking everywhere.
“I’ll get you a coffee,” I said, standing and turning away before she could agree or not.
Ant had a hidden kitchenette, but I moved out of the office to go toward the staff kitchen instead, needing a minute to rack my brain about what to do next.
There weren’t many members of the Costa Family that wouldn’t be busy this time of year.
Maybe Zeno, since he was usually too distracted by his computer shit to remember to attend family get-togethers. And his brother Gavino, because he was a surly, antisocial fuck who didn’t like leaving his apartment.
The coffee finished brewing, and I poured and prepared our cups before bringing them back to the office.
“What are you doing?” I asked when I came back to find Steph lifting her hands up in the air.
“There’s a vent above my head. My fingers are icicles.”
“This will help,” I said, holding out the coffee for her to wrap her cold hands around.
“Thanks. My feet feel like they have a pulse,” she grumbled, clenching and unclenching her toes.
“Gotta get you some memory foam shoes for the next few days.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, taking a sip of her coffee. “Venezio, why are we here?”
“We needed somewhere to sit down.”
“Sure. But… but there was a coffee place right where we were.”
She was too damn quick for her own good.
“Yeah, but it’s almost Christmas. The place was packed. There was no way we would find seats and you needed to get off your feet for a bit.”
She couldn’t argue with that. No, this wasn’t like being in Midtown at Christmas, but not only were tourists around, but locals were all out shuffling to parties or doing their shopping.
“Why do you have access to this place? Do you work here?”
“No. I just… visit a lot.” That wasn’t a lie. I worked my ass off, earned a lot of money, and needed somewhere to drop it off.
Steph was in the middle of taking another sip when there was a slamming noise out front.
It could have been nothing.
This was a noisy, busy neighborhood.
But something made my gut tighten, made my blood run cold.
It was too close.
It sounded right outside the front door.
Sucking in a deep breath, I stepped out of the office, which gave me a direct view of the camera feed of the front door.
And there he was.
Fuck.
Fuck.
