“Get me all the details you can. I knew something was off about those blueprints.”
I freeze. Wait, he noticed that too? And how did Urso figure that out? That shouldn’t be something easily found. Worry trickles. I resist the urge to charge forward and grab the phone to demand answers. Urso and Zeno might be computer whizzes or whatever, but every Bratva faction has one as well, and if they’re hacking into things they shouldn’t be, someone is going to find out about it.
The very same someones that are waiting for us to show up.
Fuck. This is exactly why I didn’t want any of them involved.
“Fine. Look, I need to find Rori. The sooner we can get out of here the better. This shit is a mess. No, I don’t need anyone to come charging in to help. I have it in hand. Yeah, Romanov is a prick and I don’t trust him, but I’ve been in worse situations than this. Tell Papa and Pietro to stop fretting. I have it under control.”
Like fuck he does. Does the man’s arrogance ever end?
He hangs up, puts the phone away, and looks around him. “I know you’re here, Rori. Are you going to stop with the ninja spy shit and come talk to me?”
Ninja spy shit? Asshole. The dick can’t do half of what I do, considering his size. I really want to hit him. Or throw a knife athim again. That was fun. Maybe this time he won’t have the time to dodge it.
“Rori, I’m tired, and this is the only time you and I are going to be alone enough to hash this out.”
Does he think that’s an incentive? I’ve been purposely trying to avoid him so we don’t have to talk around in circles.
“Hades,” Alonzo calls, giving a quick command. I slide my eyes to where Hades is lying still in the brush, watching Alonzo. His ass doesn’t even wag, completely focused. Looks like I don’t have to worry that the bond between them is stronger than ours. Alonzo tries again, and I barely restrain my smile. “Damn it, Rori, just come out and talk to me like an adult. I’m not doing this cloak-and-dagger shit with you. You owe me that much.”
I owe him? Wrong choice, motherfucker. I think it’s time for him to realize what kind of person he’s up against.
I move silently in the shadows. I hope he’s ready, because this stupid ninja spy shit is about to come back and bite him in the ass.
27
ALONZO
I know she’s there,but I try to keep my frustration from making me do something stupid. I can feel her eyes on me. Like all the times she watched me in our room at Nico’s, or when she thought I didn’t notice. It’s a different feeling to know the woman who’s burrowed under your skin is looking at you instead of an enemy.
A sizzle of electricity across my skin, neck prickling, and excitement burning in my gut. I used to think it was anger, distrust, but then I took my head out of my ass.
Mostly. After it was too late. Now I want to fix it, and she’s being difficult. I get it, she wants me to pay, and at this point, I’m willing to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness, but I can’t do that if she won’t fucking talk to me.
“Rori.” I sigh. “I want to talk to you. We need to move past this. I can’t let this all go to shit and you not forgive me.”
“All I hear is you, you, you, Alonzo,” she says. I whirl around, but I see nothing. No movement, not even the wind blowing. I look up into the trees, but only see shadows. “Then again, whatshould I expect? Everything has always been about you, hasn’t it?”
Wait, how did her voice come from behind me so fast? I spin, but again, nothing. How the hell is she doing that? Unease filters through my frustration. I ignore it, instead focusing on what she said.
“You know I don’t mean it like that.”
“There’s that, I, again.” She gives a soft tsk, once again in a different position. I’m going to get dizzy if she keeps moving like that. “You just can’t help yourself, can you, Alonzo?”
A brush of something moves across my back, and I whirl, every sense on alert. I catch a flash of something moving to my left. I curse when I realize it’s just a rabbit running, but it gives me a direction to look.
“I…fuck.” Damn her and her mind games. This is a waste of time. “Aurora, I’m going to tan your ass the minute I catch you. I’ve apologized. Do you want me to crawl? Beg? Tattoo it on my forehead? I’ll do whatever you want, but we need to have this out.”
“Is that right? You’re willing to do all of that? You don’t love me, Alonzo. You barely tolerated me, remember? Seems a bit extreme.” A crash through the forest ahead of me has me rushing toward it, but movement from the corner of my eye stops me.
“If that’s what it takes for you to see that I want you, then yes, I’ll do it.” And I’ve never meant anything more. “All that shit that happened before? It was a mistake. I never should have treated you that way. I should have told you the truth that it scared the shit out of me that you got under my skin so quickly.”
A dry laugh above my head, and another movement to my left. How the fuck is she doing that? It doesn’t sound like a rock or anything falling. Is she just hopping through the trees?
“So this is your way of gaining absolution for your sins? If you want a clear soul, find a priest, Cattaneo. A few Hail Marysand you’ll be all set.” I turn in a circle, trying to pinpoint where her voice is coming from this time, but the echo in the clearing isn’t helping.
I’m getting dizzy with all this turning. I’m in the middle of the clearing now, and done with this game. Is she trying to prove something? “I don’t need a fucking priest. I need you. Do you really think that if I didn’t want you, didn’t care for you, that I would put myself in the middle of this bullshit? That I’d be fighting so hard to talk to you? That I let that…that I letthemdrop me in the middle of all of this? I could be home with my family, heading home to my own fucking bed. But I followed you. I came after you because I refused to let this happen to you.”
