AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nods in understanding, but I know she’s anxious.
By the time I reach my phone, the call went to voicemail. Shit.
A second later, a text pops up on the screen from Dante.
Come to the compound ASAP.
Double shit.
“Everything okay?” Katya asks from her position on the couch.
“Yeah,” I choke out. “Fine.” She frowns at me. “I need to go into work. Important meeting just came up.”
“Do you think…?”
She doesn’t have to finish the sentence for me to know what she’s asking. Do I think it’s about us?
“No,” I tell her, though I’m not so sure. I’ve taken off at odd hours the last week, and I know Dante keeps meticulous notes on all of that shit.
“For a made man, you kind of suck at lying,” she sasses.
I grin at her and shake my head. “Whatever the meeting is about, I can handle it. Oh, I’ll bring home breakfast for us since I screwed up the muffins.”
Katya nods, though I can see the tension in her eyes. She’s worried about me, and I can’t say that’s ever happened before.
I clean up and change into a suit in record time. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get back to my woman. I know she’ll be anxious the whole time I’m gone.
“Everything will be okay,” I tell her before kissing the top of her head. She’s still on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket. “Watch some TV and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You better be,” she says, trying to sound tough.
I give her one last kiss, keeping it brief, otherwise I’ll strip both of us naked and take her again. There will be time for that when I get back. Hopefully.
CHAPTEREIGHT
KATYA
As soon as I hear Valentino’s car pulling out of the driveway, I hop off the couch and sprint to the guest room I’ve been staying in. Rummaging around in the pile of clothes I came here in a week ago, I search for the nondescript notebook I stole from my father’s office before sneaking out last week.
It was a last-minute decision, and I knew it was risky, but now I’m glad I made the effort. I’m positive he has no idea it was me, even if the timing matches up.
When my father wasn’t yelling at me or teaching me a lesson with the back of his hand, he ignored me. I could be in the same room, sitting at the same table, and he would have no idea I was there. He didn’t see me unless there was a problem. I spent most of my life resenting him for his heartlessness, but in this case, it worked out to my advantage.
I overheard him multiple times arguing with his second-in-command about keeping records. My father was insistent that there should be only one copy of the most important documents, and it would be handwritten. Otherwise, according to him, anyone could get their hands on it. No matter how many times they tried to tell him things were more secure than ever online, he never caved.
Pride comes before the fall, as they say. And what a fall it will be.
“Yes,” I whisper to myself when my fingers graze across the cover of the small notebook. I tucked it in my bra for safe keeping, and luckily, was able to keep it hidden.
My stomach twists itself into knots at the thought of keeping a secret from Valentino. I hope when all is said and done, he’ll understand why it had to be this way.
I quickly throw on a pair of leggings, a tank top, and a zip-up hoodie, slipping the notebook into the pocket of the oversized sweatshirt. I make my way downstairs, pausing in the kitchen where I saw a change jar tucked away in the corner of the counter. Dumping half of it out, I pick through the quarters until I have about twenty-five dollars. I’m hoping that will be enough to get me to the Di Salvo compound using public transportation.
A bus ride, a subway venture, and another bus ride later, I’m about a mile away from the compound. At least, I hope. My father has a section in his notebook for addresses and phone numbers of enemies, including the compounds of all the rival families in the city.
I’m not quite sure what my plan is, only that I have to do something. Valentino said he could handle the meeting on his own. He also said it wasn’t about us, but I saw the doubt in his gaze as he told me both of those lies.
He’s trying so hard to protect me, but who is going to protect him? I wish he would have talked to me about a plan for handling this instead of leaving me to take care of it himself.
