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“Then let’s get this the fuck over with.”
Less than five minutes later, Romeo and I are standing opposite Lorenzo Moretti, who’s seated behind the mahogany desk in the library. He glares at us, his jaw ticking, and my entire body bristles with pent-up rage and annoyance—the latter aimed only at myself. I can’t believe I made such a monumental mistake that I’ve found myself on the receiving end of this man’s contempt. I respect the fuck out of him, and I know that he respected me too, and to have lost that is even worse than the fact that I’m damn sure I’m about to lose my position in his workforce.
“You two do what you needed to do?” he asks gruffly.
I reply first. “We did.”
“Any loose ends to tie up?”
I shake my head. “Everything was clean, Boss. Keres is gone.”
His response is little more than a snort. Then silence. Soul-crushing, god-awful silence.
Romeo speaks first, never able to tolerate this kind of tension for long. “So what now, Boss? What do you need us to do?”
“What do I need you to do?” The words drip with disdain and tear a fucking welt across my chest.
I can practically feel the anger radiating from Romeo, and I pray he doesn’t say anything that will result in me having to do something dangerous. Like jump over this desk and stop Lorenzo Moretti from killing him. Because I fucking would. I have no fucking idea how we’d get out of this mansion alive afterward, but I’d risk everything for him in a fucking heartbeat.
“I sure as fuck don’t need you clowns looking after my wife or my sister anymore now, do I?”
“What happened to Mia is on us, but it would never happen again,” I assure him.
“Damn fucking right it wouldn’t. I wouldn’t trust you two with their safety if you were the last men on earth.”
Jesus, that hurts way more than I thought it would. But I guess it hurts a damn sight less than a bullet in my head, which is no less than we deserve. I want to ask what that means for the two of us, but I can’t find the right words, so I stay quiet and let Lorenzo fill the silence.
His eyes lock on mine, and he stretches his thick neck. “You’re both relieved of your responsibilities to this family.”
Motherfucker.
“You’ll be given six months’ pay, but as of now you no longer work for me or anyone in this house.”
Is this some sick joke? Six months’ pay? I glance at Romeo who looks as puzzled as I am. Severance pay in the Moretti world is usually a broken bone or two. Letting someone leave with all their bones intact is the most generous severance package I’ve ever known them to give anyone.
My palms grow sweaty as my eyes dart around the room. Something isn’t adding up, and I find myself waiting for someone to charge through the door behind us and throw a bag over each of our heads.
When that doesn’t happen, I fix my gaze back on Lorenzo, and his eyes narrow as he scrubs a hand over his beard.
Romeo clears his throat. “So we can leave?”
Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here.
Lorenzo cocks his head and eyes us both with curiosity. “Before you go, I have two pieces of information that might be of interest to you.”
My interest piqued, I stay rooted to the spot while Romeo rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Yeah?”
A smirk tugs at the corner of our former boss’s mouth. “She thought I was going to kill you two for failing me.”
That thought crossed my mind too.
His eyes twinkle with amusement. “She asked me not to hurt either of you. And then she offered herself up in your place.”
I glance at Romeo, and he offers me a faint shrug. Keres was so desperate to get out of here and go to her little Greek island. She didn’t even say goodbye, so why the hell would she sacrifice her freedom? It doesn’t make sense. Not unless… No, I can’t think about that. Her loss is too deep, too visceral. It hurts like a hole in my chest, a hole that nothing but her presence in my life can fill. “And the second piece of information?” I ask.
He doesn’t even attempt to hide his smirk now. “She didn’t go to Greece.”
Chapter
