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“I don’t trust them, darling—the Costas or the Lucianos. I don’t know them well enough to trust them, but I trust you. You give me your word that Leeri will be safe with the Costas, and I’ll believe you.”
Her eyebrows lifted. She looked surprised. Me too. I could count on one hand the number of people I trusted outside the Old Dogs. Apparently, Greta Agossi had made it onto that short list.
She nodded. “Gabe will keep her safe.”
Deo cleared his throat. “And after she’s served her purpose?” he asked.
“I don’t have all the answers,” she said without turning to look at him, “but we’ll figure it out. I’ll keep her safe, Brute,” she promised with absolute conviction.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “That’s a lofty promise to make, darling.”
Her tongue darted out to lick her plump lips, then her gaze met mine. “I guess it’s about ‘good deeds and all that shit’,” she said.
Chapter Sixteen
Greta
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so tired. The past several days had been one disappointment after another, and it had left me wiped. What I wouldn’t give for my gel-cooled, memory foam mattress.
Actually, scrap that; I’d settle for a sofa, a sleeping bag, or even a semi-dry patch of grass at the moment. Really, I wasn’t picky.
“Trouble literally follows you everywhere, doesn’t it?” Gabe joked, shaking his head at me as he came down the stairs to where I was standing in the front foyer of his family’s estate next to Brute and the traitor. And two tall, broad Costa men who’d clearly been warned to keep an eye on our little party.
“Not true; you know I go looking for it,” I quipped, though it seemed to take an exceptional amount of effort.
I’d given Gabe a call on the way over so we didn’t surprise him—because surprising the Costas at home in the middle of the night was a dumbass move. It was right up there with walking through a landmine-riddled marsh or traipsing around Mexico in search of a scumbag cartel guy’s victims. Oh wait, I guess that was totally something I’d do.
Not tonight, though. Tonight, I was all about playing it safe. Either because this latest adventure had knocked some sense into me… or because playing it safe meant I had some hope of crashing before the sun was fully up. It could have been either. Really, it could have.
“Good to see you again, Brute,” Gabe said when he reached the bottom of the stairs, holding out his hand.
Brute took his hand, shook it, and smiled half a smile. “Good to see you too, my friend. Wish it was under better circumstances.”
Gabe smiled back. “What are you talking about? With Greta in the mix, this is ‘better circumstances’,amico.It just goes downhill from here.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ha-ha, you’re a comedian. We get it.”
“I’m here all night,” Gabe said, taking a little bow.
Ugh.“Is there any chance we do this quickly so I can get some sleep?”
“Buongiorno,” Nico Costa said, coming out from a room down the hallway. He looked a lot like Gabe, tall and broad with dark hair and green eyes. But there was seldom any humor in Nico’s eyes. Just steel. Cold, hard steel.
Shit.My chances of “doing this quickly” just hit rock bottom. Not that I didn’t like the guy. The don of the Costa family was actually a pretty great guy. Pretty great, and very protective of his family. I had a feeling I wasn’t getting out of here without a full interrogation.
“Buongiorno,Nico,” I said, taking a step back toward the door. Really, there was very little chance he’d shoot me in the back if I went running out of here right now.
He nodded to Brute, looked over Leeri with the cold steel flashing in his eyes, then back to me. At least Leeri had the good sense to keep her mouth shut.
“You have a guest for us,si?”Nico asked. “I assume there’s a story to go with this?”
I shrugged. “Would it get me out of here any quicker if I said no?”
His lips quirked in a smile. “No.”
Yeah, that’s kind of what I’d figured.
I shoved away the exhaustion and squared my shoulders, ready to dig in to a lengthy explanation, but Brute opened his mouth first.
