Page 50 of Wicked Tricks
“Do they know about our weapons?”
I shook my head, “I don’t think so. From what I can gather, he just thinks we’re a group of silly bimbos stealing hundred dollar bills from innocent men,” I fidgeted with my pen, regretting the tone of my voice.
She smiled softly and leant forward, “let them think that, Rome. We know what we are.”
I nodded, swinging in my chair.
“So, have you got anything that we can use?”
“Eh, not really. He took me to what seemed to be a hideout or private bar for The Family in Hawthorn. He told me about a few of the business fronts they own, and mentioned that they’re still in the cocaine racket. Nothing we couldn’t have found out on our own.”
Diana nodded slowly with her lips pursed into a thin line, obviously displeased with the lack of information. We had spent many nights together at Lilith’s, Diana had witnessed that herself. With all the time that I had wasted talking to Antoni, I knew she was expecting more from me.
I didn’t think it was fair.
Diana had a relationship with the old boss, Antoni’s father, and should have known how tightly they operated. This guy was not a regular man, he was a professional - just like us. He knew our tactics, and how our world operated.
It was a losing game.
I should’ve known from the start that these tricks would not be enough for a guy like him.
“And how are you going?” she asked after a pause.
I shrugged, avoiding her eyes, “what do you mean?”
She gave me a look, “well, have you slept with him?”
I considered lying, “yes.”
Diana raised an eyebrow, surprised by the answer.
“Well,” I threw my hands up, “I’ve tried my best OK, I’ve done what I could. I’m sorry.”
“No,” she shook her head, “you don’t get it, Rome. You need to just keep playing along.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore, Diana,” I groaned, “you should have got one of the other girls to do it.”
If she wanted someone to play along and get into his good graces, I was the worst possible person to pick. I was probably the most unlikable and difficult of all the Daughter’s. Any of the other’s would have him eating out of the palm of her hand in a second, and could do it all while playing the role of innocent civilian. I could not hide the darker and dirtier parts of me, it was an armour that I didn’t know how to take off.
“None of the other girls took it upon themselves to get involved,” Diana snapped, standing.
My eyes dropped to the ground.
“We’ve been granted an opportunity here. You know, better than anyone, just how much we need to stay on their good side right now. He will get bored eventually, and then you will be free. But for now, you play along.”
I nodded.
She walked to the door, hesitating with her hand resting on the doorknob.
“You’re not,” she said quietly, “falling for him, Rome?”
“Ha!” I spat, probably a little too dramatically, “you don’t need to worry about that.”
She nodded with a small smile.
Diana left without another word. It was rare that she enforced her motherly role upon us, but when she did, it always stung.
The more that I told myself that I didn’t have feelings, the more my mind forced images and memories from the night before onto me. Flashes of his mouth and hands all over my body, and my skin could almost remember his touch.
