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I had met my match with Ariana De Luca, and that made me want to defeat her, fuck her, then destroy her.
Chapter
Eleven
We don’t choose our destinies, but we must do our duties.
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN
ARIANA DE LUCA
Nerves shimmied along the length of my spine, taunting me with each passing second. In all of my years undercover, this was the first cover that had me feeling woefully under-qualified.
And I was under as my real name.
As myself.
Well, as much of myself as I’d ever been.
“Ari.” Graham stuck his hand out for me to shake.
His blue eyes were welcoming, and his cropped dirty blonde hair reminded me of the California beaches I used to sunbathe at during my time at Degory University.
He looked exactly as handsome as he did in the picture in his file, courtesy of the New York DMV.
Hell, everyone who worked here looked like they moonlit as models. It was an unspoken job requirement.
My eyes darted around L’Oscurità, searching for and failing to find Bastian before I planted my palm in Graham’s hand and gave an Oscar-worthy fake smile.
“Nice to see you again.”
Graham had been training me over the two days since Bastian had given me the L’Oscurità Bartending Crash Course: Asshole Edition, and I was convinced he had a bit of a crush on me.
I wasn’t sure why.
I’d done nothing to lead him on, and whenever he’d tried to steer the conversation away from work, I’d done my best to keep us on track.
Graham followed my wandering eyes across the room.
“Still got the first day jitters?” A friendly smile eclipsed his face. His eyes crinkled in a knowing look. “I had them for a month. It’s a lot to take in. Trust me, I was overwhelmed my first few days, too. But don’t you worry.” He let go of my hand. Finally. “I’ll take care of you.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, but Dana had told me, her straight white teeth gritted together, that Graham would train me during my week-long training period.
It was clear that my presence here irritated her. That might have been a potential problem, but I had the advantage of knowing everything about her that her file had to offer—which was a lot.
The only trouble Dana could offer me was drama. That was nothing compared to the dangers the Romano family posed.
I was tempted to ask Graham if any of the upper-level Romanos were around, but I settled on a short, “Thanks.”
Patience was the name of this game.
Most undercover work existed in tandem with patience. Legends were supposed to wait for something to happen, and until then, we lived the lives we were assigned as if they were our own.
Some of my fellow legends had even started families while under.
It wasn’t supposed to happen, but when the bureau expected us to live as our legends would, it included dating, and dating included sex and—sometimes—love. Or babies.
You didn’t need love to make babies, and I was living proof of that.
