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When I get to my office, I find Paulie sitting at the assistant desk in front of my door. He raises an eyebrow at me and stands up.
“Assistant out sick?” he asks, nodding to her empty desk.
“She won’t be coming back,” I tell him, walking into my office and setting my briefcase down.
“How’d you handle it?” he asks as he follows behind me.
Paulie is my right-hand man and one of my best friends. Normally, I would trust him with just about anything. But because of the conversation we had last night, I’m worried about his motivations. He doesn’t want Daniella in the picture at all. With people like him, death is the best way to make sure that happens.
“Paid her off,” I say, not offering him any more information.
“Dominic,” he says with a sigh. “How do you know she isn’t going to take that back to her boss and get you for bribery? Bribing her might as well be an admission of guilt.”
“I’m not asking for your opinions, Paulie,” I tell him, turning to glare at him. He needs to know this isn’t a subject I’ll allow him to pry into. “I took care of it. That’s all you and Gio and whoever else the two of you told needs to know.”
Paulie stares at me for a moment with a stoic expression. Eventually, a smile cracks on his face and he laughs. “Sore subject, huh? I bet you’ll miss seeing her across from you.”
He slaps me on the shoulder as if I’m going to join in the fun of talking about how good Daniella looks. I ignore him and cross my arms, hoping he’ll stop before it really pisses me off.
“Don’t be so sensitive, Dom,” he says, taking a seat across from me. “That’s why you wanted her to work for you anyway. She’s gorgeous. It’s a shame she had to go. I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her. The things I would do to her–”
I’m a patient man, but when it comes to someone talking about my woman that way, I lose it. I storm around the desk and pick Paulie up by the collar of his shirt before pushing him down on the ground. He stares up at me, face turning ashen, while I grit my teeth at him.
“Shut your mouth!” I seethe, pointing down at him.
Paulie scrambles to his feet and straightens out his clothes before turning to face me. “I see I struck a nerve,” he mumbles, giving me a knowing glance.
He clearly has his own suspicions, and my actions confirm them. Paulie knows that the feelings I have for Daniella are real. He pushed my buttons to pry for information, and I gave it all to him. Despite that, I don’t care. I know he won’t do anything to harm Daniella personally, especially not if he knows I care about her. Paulie isn’t the type to get his hands dirty.
“I don’t want to hear you speak about her anymore,” I demand, lowering my eyes to him and not removing them. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he says with a grimace before leaving my office.
I sit down at my desk when he leaves and wait by the phone for Daniella to contact me. The biggest risk for us right now is her getting caught while she steals a copy of the case file. She told me they’re not supposed to leave the office with them usually, and that is being heavily enforced in my case. Luckily, she’s friendly and charming, and I doubt anyone will suspect her of doing anything wrong.
After an hour, she texts me and tells me she’s driving back to her apartment and doesn’t say anything else. I immediately grab my things and head to her.
It’s almost dark by the time I arrive thanks to the winter sun, but I can see the lights she mentioned twinkling in her window. When I see that, I get excited about the surprise I have planned for her later. I send her a message to let her know I’m there, and shortly after, she rushes out of the front door and climbs in my car, nervously ducking down and sliding a pair of oversized sunglasses on to hide her face.
“Discreet.” I laugh, looking at how nervous she is.
“You never know who's watching,” she whispers while she buckles her seatbelt.
I pull out of her street and drive for a few minutes before we say anything else. When we’re far enough away from her apartment, I pull into a crowded parking lot.
“Did you get it?” I ask her, being vague with my words. I trust her, but I still don’t know what happened yet. She could have a wire or her phone could be tapped. The other officer might have had ways to coerce her into adding one. I doubt that’s the case, but it’s better to be careful.
“I got it,” she says as she pulls a folder out of her bag. The name on the front isn’t mine, but when she hands it to me, I can clearly see that it is. “I made a copy and hid it in a decoy folder. I really thought it would be more difficult.”
I laugh with her as I look over the evidence briefly. “Thank you for this,” I say, reaching a hand over to the back of her head to pull it toward me. I kiss her and pull away after a few moments.
“I’m sure you can find some way to make it up to me,” she says with a soft smile.
“Actually, I think I already have,” I tease before I slip the envelope under the seat of my car and put it in drive again. “I’ve got a little surprise that I think you’re gonna love.”
Daniella asks a few questions while I’m driving, but I don’t answer any of them, only throwing her a smirk or squeezing her thigh. I want her to be as shocked as possible when she finally sees it.
We pull up to the parking lot of the light show I’m taking her to, and the excitement shines in her eyes.
