AllFreeNovel
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Least of all me.
The whole fucking trip was a bust.
Not only was Frank the weasel not there, but the apartment was empty. As in vacated. As in the place served either as a front or he was only there for now.
My money’s on the whole ‘for now’ bullshit. ‘For now’ could have been a year or a few months or whatever. But it was clear someone had been there. Just as clear whoever it was left in a hurry, like they’d done it before.
The fridge had food and beer, and the bed had been slept in. A few things remained in the bathroom. There were linens, towels, and some pieces of junk mail that told us nothing. But no clothes. No personal items.
I’ve been in places set to look like that, but no one had been there except to set the stage and maybe freshen it up.
But this didn’t feel like that. It felt like whoever had been there lived there but disappeared quickly, professionally.
It doesn’t bode well.
Mia doesn’t know. And I’m not sure how to tell her. She’ll be pissed off, but she’s not going to take it as any warning.
Me? I’m no fucking closer to working out if this guy was doing the drugs thing on his own or for Russo. But Leo looks like a whole hurricane has settled on him. He hates the Russo family, and I don’t pry. Maybe there’s something to tell, or maybe it’s just they had someone close to his sister.
That’s not my concern unless he makes it my concern.
Mia is my concern. End of story.
Leo peels away from the corner of the bar he’s haunting and presses something on his phone. He comes over to where I stand near the hall. We have every exit covered, but I don’t like being too far from Mia. Something sits wrong in me and doesn’t improve with age.
“Not a fucking thing,” Leo says.
I glance at him. “No one’s seen him or his car?”
“His car’s three streets over from where he has his apartment. It’s definitely in his name, there’s a lease, and it’s paid until the end of the year. But Frank has completely disappeared.”
“Russo?”
They’re very good at disappearing. But why make a move now is the million-dollar question. I need to get home and get working on this. You and Mia are not staying until closing tonight.”
I huff out a breath. “Your sister will want to stay.”
“She got your fucking balls in her handbag, Christian?”
I eye him with sudden dislike. “No. I’m pointing out that she won’t like it.”
“I don’t care. You’re both coming to dinner tonight. Got it?”
“Hey,” I say, “you’re the boss.”
* * *
“What do you mean?”
“Sweetness, what I just said. We’re heading out that door.”
Her frown is full of fire, and it makes me hard. Pretty much everything about her makes me hard if I don’t keep myself reined in tight. “You might be my brother’s whipping boy, but—”
“What is wrong with your family? Just keeping the peace here, sweetness.”
She laughs. “No, you’re doing what you’re told.”
I narrow my eyes. There’s that, but Leo’s got a point. I know why he wants us to come for dinner. Considering he knows I can more than take care of myself, he wants Mia there to protect her.
