“Understood, Mr. Valerio.”
His dark eyes hold mine for a beat, then drop to my mouth and back up so fast I almost convince myself I imagined it.
“Good.”
He steps back, and I can finally breathe again, though I'm not sure if it's relief or something else that loosens my chest. “Maria will get you set up. I want daily reports.” He returns to his desk, already reaching for papers.
“And Mr. DaCosta?”
I pause at the door.
“Welcome to the family.” He doesn't smile when he says it.
I manage a nod and press my lips together in something that should pass for a smile.
He holds my gaze for a moment longer. Then he gives a subtle nod of his own, and I’m dismissed.
I walk out of that office on legs that feel like they belong to someone else. Esperanza is right there, waiting.
“I’ll have your credentials ready within the hour,” she says, already moving down the hallway. “Come on, I’ll show you to your station.”
I follow her, keeping my breathing even through sheer force of will. We pass the guards again, and I give them a polite nod, sliding the mask of David DaCosta back into place.
The elevator ride down feels longer than the one up. Esperanza fills the silence with talk of security protocols, access schedules, something about rotating passwords. I nod at theright moments and make appropriate sounds of acknowledgment. But my mind is elsewhere, replaying every second of that conversation with Valerio, analyzing every word, every glance, every shift in his expression.
Something about it doesn't sit right. I just can't figure out what.
The doors open to the sub-level. Esperanza steps out first and leads me to a glass-walled office tucked beside a reinforced door.
“This will be your workspace,” she says, nodding at the office. “And that’s the server room.” She gestures to the reinforced door. “Everything you’ll need access to is routed through there.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll leave you to get started. Mr. Valerio expects your first report by end of day tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
She walks away, heels clicking on the concrete. I wait until I hear the elevator doors close before I let myself sag against the wall, all the adrenaline that kept me upright in Valerio’s office draining out of me at once. My hands won’t stop shaking. And fuck—I can still smell traces of his scent on my clothes.
I close my eyes and Marco’s broken face flashes behind my eyelids, and the rage floods back into my veins all over again. I really should have killed the bastard and damned it all to hell.
Welcome to the family.Like I want any part of his blood-soaked empire.
I'm going to burn it all down, starting with him.
TWO
A week into my new job, and I’m elbow-deep in the Valerio family’s digital guts when the headache hits.
It starts at the base of my skull and crawls up to my temples, bringing with it a flush of heat that has nothing to do with the stuffy server room I’m working in. I freeze mid-keystroke while copying surveillance footage to an encrypted drive.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” This can’t be starting.
I press the heels of my palms against my temples, breathing through it. The suppressants should be holding. I took a double dose this morning, same as yesterday and every day since I walked into this building. With an alpha like Valerio around, I can’t afford to take any chances.
After a moment, the heat recedes, and the pounding in my skull fizzles to a dull ache, leaving me shaky and covered in cold sweat.
I glance at my watch. Eleven AM. The pills should be good for another six hours at least.
