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“Grazie, fratello,” Gabe said, running his fingers through his shaggy, dark hair. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell them for the past half hour.”
The table grew quiet as Tommaso set four drinks down in front of us—a whiskey, neat for me.Perfetto.We nodded our thanks, and Tommaso returned to the bar.
“So, there’s no way we can use this?” Sandro looked at the folder on the table and then at me like I’d told him I just killed his dog—which Sandro didn’t have. No animals growing up because Lorenzo had no use for them.
It was at times like this that I almost felt something akin to guilt for the way I thought about him and Caio. Neither of them were even old enough to legally drink, and here they were, trying to figure out how to take down an empire, all to impress our un-impressable father. They should have been chasing tail and getting drunk at frat parties, or whatever the hell it was normal nineteen-year-olds did.
“No,” I said, sweeping the file folder off the table and flagging down a waitress to throw it out.
“So, what now?” Sandro asked with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face, but there was a nervous glint in his eyes. Yet another failed attempt to impress Lorenzo Costa.
“Go on, get out of here,” I said to the three of them together. “I’m working an angle, and I’ll let you know if it pans out.”
I needed to buy more time, and my brothers needed a night off from worrying about impressing Lorenzo.
Gabe got to his feet and headed for the door. Without question, Caio and Sandro tailed behind him.
We were not stealing business from a grieving widower. Not until I’d gotten to the bottom of Isabella’s murder. If I was wrong about the Lucas, then the man was fair game.
I signaled Tommaso for another drink and leaned back in my chair as the three made their way through the crowd.
A distraction was what I needed. Something to take the edge off after dealing with Belemonte and my brothers’proposal.I glanced around the room, taking in the usual sort of women who frequented the club. I spotted a group of three whose brand-new purses looked freshly bought with Daddy’s Credit Card. If they knew what went on downstairs, they wouldn’t touch this place with a ten-foot bedazzled pole.
I considered the women who worked downstairs. They did the job well; clean, easy, and simple. Exactly what I needed right now.
And then I sawher.
A dark-haired beauty who stood alone across the floor in a dress that skimmed all of her curves. Her lips were painted in bloodred. Her ebony hair fell loose in waves down her back. Her sapphire eyes blazed even from afar.
She looked left and right, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear every now and then. She shifted the weight of her legs from one foot to the other.
A kitten in a den of lions.
Her eyes roamed over the crowd, like she was searching for someone. Maybe a friend she was meeting? Her eyes met mine. A split between a second. Her lips parted just a little. I could imagine the tiny gasp that she let slip.
I stood up and crossed the floor of gyrating bodies toward her. She didn’t look away, but she looked more like a deer caught in strobe lights than anything. A small smile touched my lips. As I came closer, something seemed to tick at me.I feel like I’ve seen her before.My memory was reliable because I needed it to be, but I couldn’t place her anywhere. It was strange. A man just didn’t forget this kind of beauty.
When there was only a finger’s difference between us, she flashed me a smile that made the hardness growing in the middle of my legs harder to ignore.
Chapter Nine
Raven
He was like a jungle cat with its eyes on its prey, stalking forward with jaws wide open. At least, that’s what it felt like. In reality, the man coming toward me was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. Tall, broad-shouldered. Even dressed in a suit, it was clear he was all chiseled planes underneath. He had short, dark hair with just enough length to it to look perfectly styled. His emerald eyes somehow seemed to be penetrating through me.
And he was heading straight for me. Maybe it would have been less intimidating if he’d actually been a jungle cat. I’d feel no less urge to turn around and run, but at least I wouldn’t have felt like a fool for doing it.
I had no doubt this was not a good idea. In fact, it was the worst idea. About as good an idea as hopping into a shark tank with bloody fish tied around my neck. Nico Costa. A knife was his weapon of choice. He’d used it to carve up dozens of men, maybe hundreds.
He stopped right in front of me, not so close he was touching me, but close enough I could feel the heat radiating from his body. It should have repulsed me. It should have scared the heck out of me. It shouldnothave been sending a strange tingling sensation through my body.
“You look lost,signorina,” he said, throwing me for a loop.
“I’m exactly where I want to be,” I crooned then cringed inwardly. Maybe I was pulling up my inner Greta better than I’d thought.
He flashed me a grin that made my insides clench. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I’m Nico.”
“I’m Raven,” I told him, ignoring the strange breathiness in my tone.
