I whistle low. “That’s—”
“Nothing compared to what he’s stolen from others.” Enzo clicks something, and a new screen appears. Names I recognize, other crime families, some bigger than the Valerios. “He’s been stealing from joint operations. Taking a cut here, redirecting a shipment there. Small amounts that no one noticed immediately, but it adds up.”
“Jesus.” I’m scrolling through the data now, my fingers moving on autopilot. “This is going to start a war.”
“Probably.” Enzo rests his hand on the back of my chair, not touching me but close enough that I can feel the warmth radiating from his skin. “When the other families find out, they’ll assume I either knew and allowed it, or I’m incompetent for not catching it sooner.”
“Are you?” I glance up at him. “Incompetent?”
His laugh is sharp. “Of course not. Viktor’s been with my family since before I took over. He was my father’s underboss first. I trusted him.” A muscle ticks in his jaw. “That was my mistake.”
“So what do you do when the other families find out?”
“Depends on how it comes out. If I present evidence that I discovered his betrayal and dealt with it decisively, they might accept it. If they find out before I can control the narrative…”
He doesn’t finish, but I can fill in the blanks.
It’ll be a bloody war.
I turn in my chair to look up at him. “And you’re showing me this because?”
“Because you’re good at this.” His hand moves from the chair to my shoulder, and even through my shirt, the contact burns. “One week and you’d mapped my entire security infrastructure. You found vulnerabilities my own people missed. I need that skill set.”
My lungs forget how to work for a second.
“I’m not one of your people.”
“Aren’t you?” His fingers brush the side of my neck, featherlight, and heat floods straight to my cock. “You’re in my home. In my bed. Working my investigation…” His thumb traces the line of my throat. “What else would you call it?”
Trapped, I think.Confused. Wanting things I shouldn’t want.
“Temporary,” I say instead. “It’s just… temporary.”
His smile is knowing in a way that makes me uncomfortable. “We’ll see.”
I don’t respond to that. Can’t, really, when I don’t even know what I want myself.
He returns to whatever he was working on, and I force myself to focus on the files.
Morning bleeds into afternoon. The cook brings lunch—grilled salmon with asparagus and risotto, plated like we’re at a Michelin-star restaurant. Somehow Enzo knows I prefer my fish without the lemon butter sauce and asks the cook to bring it on the side.
We eat at his desk while pulling apart Sokolov’s operation thread by thread.
It’s disturbing how easily we fall into rhythm. I’ll spot something in the financials, and Enzo will cross-reference it with shipping logs. He’ll point out a pattern, and I’ll dig deeper to find the source. We don’t need to explain our thinking. We just… work. Like we’ve been partners for years instead of days.
“Here.” I tap the screen. “This shipment. It’s listed as delivered to the Brooklyn warehouse, but the inventory never shows up in our—”I stop.Our. When did I start sayingour?“—in your system,” I correct, but Enzo’s already noticed. I can tell by the slight curve of his lips.
He leans over my shoulder, his breath warm against my ear. “Date?”
“Three weeks ago.”
He hums. “Right when Viktor started getting nervous. I’d mentioned in passing that I wanted to inspect the goods myself, and the next thing I knew, he went off-grid.” His hand covers mine on the mouse, guiding it to click through screens.
The pieces fall together. Sokolov went dark three weeks ago, around the same time I lost his trail completely. I’d been beating myself up over it, convinced I wasn’t looking hard enough. Turns out Enzo scared him underground before I could find him.
Enzo straightens and moves back to his computer. “He knew I was on to him. That’s why he’s been quiet. Probably planning his exit. Or something worse.”
I watch him work, fingers flying across the keyboard, brow furrowed in concentration. There’s something mesmerizingabout the quiet intensity until I catch myself watching like a fucking idiot and look away.
