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“Where is he?” she pressed. “I was told Mr. Big was coming. He personally handles these types of situations.”
I took a step toward her, and she took a step back, her eyes darting to the door and then to me.
“You’re looking at him.”
“Bullshit!” She balled her hands into fists. “I know what Mr. Big looks like. He looks like a mixture of one of those head guys in New York, the one who always had a cigar hanging from his mouth, and the guy from the drink in New Orleans—Big Shot. You’re not him.” She looked me up and down, her eyes lingering on my crotch. She blinked and then met my eyes, not ashamed in the slightest. “You’re not a bull, more like a lean jaguar.”
That was a fucking good way to describe me. “You’re looking for the old Mr. Big. My grandfather. And unless you’re able to reach out to the other side, you’re not getting in touch with him. Right now, he’s sitting on my grandmother’s mantle—turned into the thing that fell from his cigars. Ashes. And Mr. Big was his name. You can call me Mr. Bigatti.”
She looked flabbergasted. Absolutely stunned.
“What happened to your face, Ms. Kallistos? Your arms?”
She unconsciously touched the spot on her arm and opened her mouth, but I gave her this warning before she spoke.
“Don’t lie to me. Unless you don’t care if a man’s life is taken for it.”
“I’m not even going to comment on it. Because the truth speaks for itself. All you have to do is look at my face and arms.”
“You could’ve done that to yourself.”
“You have cameras all over this place. Pull the video footage of the last hour or so.”
She was right. I did. I used them to my advantage or shut them off at will. But I also believed her.
“Contrary to what you probably believe, people are not born to deceive or to hurt, Mr. Big.” She gave me the meanest look, like I was the one who stole from her fucking pocket. “It’s a choice.”
“Maybe they’re just born to steal then?” I took her left hand and she tensed. So did I. It felt like a lightning bolt streaked through my pulse and shocked my veins. “Just as I thought. Sticky fingers.” My voice was almost hoarse from the shock.
“It’s not stealing when it’s owed.” I couldn’t tell if she was shivering from the cold, the pent-up aggression…or from the same shock. “And if anyone has ever told you that Big doesn’t fit this—” she waved her free hand around me “—they lied to you. Because you’re a big fucking bully. Adults are a different story. But kids? I draw the line. I’m a big advocate for them.”
I was missing something big here. Maybe something huge. Or she was taking me for a ride with her anger disguised as righteousness. Maybe she was pissed that she’d been caught and was picking at straws to weasel her way out of this.
She wasn’t fucking ducking anything, though. She didn’t go on a rant about how she was innocent. She’d admitted she stole from me because I owed her.
The truth hit me in the gut then. “You wanted to get caught.”
“Again, I wanted what was owed to me and my family, and to talk to Mr. Big. How else was I supposed to get an audience with him?”
“The floor is yours, Aphrodite.”
Her face pinched, like I’d insulted her. It seemed like everything I did rubbed her the wrong way. I’d never met this woman in my entire fucking life. She didn’t know me. I didn’t know her. And up until I’d found out she’d stolen from me, I had nothing but glowing memories of her in Paradiso. Like I said, though, we were falling fast.
The wings were still attached to her, though. It pissed me off.
She’s just a woman, Tullio. You’re thinking with your dick. Set the head on your shoulders straight. Get rid of her.
That thought pissed me off too.
We were engaged in an intense stare down. I didn’t know whether to pull her forward, stick my tongue in her mouth, and fuck how she felt about me out of her. Or punish her by shackling her left hand to mine—for eternity.
Leonora Bigatti.
Mrs. Big.
The grin on my face made her take a step back, but our hands were still connected, and she couldn’t go far.
Get used to it, Aphrodite.
