Page 23 of Captivated

Lucian gave Joe a pointed look and said, “Exactly.”

Right in that moment, Joe decided Lucian Marcello was probably the most dangerous out of all the Marcello brothers. The man was like whiplash, and he wasn’t very fucking easy to figure out. Which meant it would be hard to predict any of his upcoming moves, and he probably liked to keep it that way.

Yeah, dangerous.

But …

Joe respected those kind of men, too.

He was one, after all.

“That problem—what is it?” Joe asked.

A look passed between the two men, and Joe felt the strangest urge to ask them to knock that shit off. The short amount of time he had spent in the Marcello brothers’ presence was enough to tell him this silent conversation thing was a regular occurrence.

And he didn’t like it at all.

Lucian resumed his spot beside the window, while Dante moved behind the desk, and took a seat. Joe stayed in the middle of the room right where he was, and didn’t move.

“Well?” he asked.

“One of our men was found dead in his apartment today,” Dante said.

Shit.

Joe rocked back on his heels, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Sorry to hear that.”

He didn’t know the guy—Dante hadn’t even given a name—but it didn’t matter. Death was death, and death still deserved respect. Or so Joe had been taught growing up. A good man apologized and showed the proper respect for someone passing, as long as that person was deserving of it.

Dante nodded, and glanced over at his brother. “Beaten to death, it seems. We only found out when he didn’t check in with Lucian as he should.”

“Why would he be checking in with Lucian?” Joe asked.

“He’s my oldest daughter’s enforcer,” Lucian said quietly.

Joe stiffened a bit. “Liliana.”

“Yes.” Dante scrubbed a hand down his jaw, and leaned back in his chair. “So here is where our problem becomes apparent—we believe this might be connected to the little issue we hired you to take care of.”

And there it was.

Joe took the opening. “And why do you believe that?”

He shouldn’t have thought the two men would be so naive as to fall for his little trick. They didn’t even think about stepping into the trap, really.

“That’s not your concern,” Dante said quickly, “but it puts us in a bad position. We now have a woman without an enforcer, and since it may be connected to the rest, we have to consider other things.”

“So, get her a new enforcer,” Joe said, cocking a brow.

One part of him thought, Why the fuck is this my problem?

The other part thought, Have somebody on that fucking woman right now.

He didn’t know what to think of himself right then.

Lucian passed Joe a look that felt dead as the man said, “It’s not that easy. Liliana is a grown woman, and well into her own life. While she isn’t a silly girl running around New York unprotected, I have done my very best to let her live as normally as possible. It is the very least she deserves, considering everything. And that includes her guards. She never sees them—should she see them, she doesn’t recognize them. I don’t want to concern my daughter when she has a stressful few months coming up with her ballet company, and everything else on her shoulders.”

“And what does that mean, exactly?” Joe asked, looking to Dante for an answer.