Page 91 of Wicked Tricks
“Go on, get,” she gestured toward the door and I smiled, and kissed her on the cheek before rushing out the door. I ran down the front steps to my car, past Ren who was lingering by the bushes in front of the house.
He gave me a frown as I slid into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll tell you later,” I called from the window.
I knew what to do, and I wasn’t second guessing myself any more.
23
Chapter 23
Rome
“I’m not telling her,” Bea chuckled, following me up the steep stairs to Lilith’s.
I shook my head as she cowered behind me.
“Pussy,” I mumbled.
I understood Bea’s fear. Diana, a cold, level headed woman - was also notoriously explosive. You never knew what would set her off, but this time, I would have placed a monetary bet that she would. As we reached the top of the staircase, our path was blocked by two men trying to head down.
I instantly recognised them as Antoni’s men.
One I didn’t know, but I definitely knew Robert. I pursed my lips and straightened my shoulders, waiting for his shit-talking to begin. Instead of his arrogant smirk, his mouth was pressed tight and his eyes stayed trained on the floor, not even stealing a glance at Bea or I.
I narrowed my eyes at them.
“Excuse us,” the other one said, turning to the side and allowing us to slip past.
They then left silently.
I stopped at the top of the stairs, watching Robert leave without a single smart-assed comment. Something was definitely going on.
What were they doing here?
I was only further filled with dread and suspicion, wondering what else they had come to take from us. We had been expecting the backlash from The Family since they found out about the operations, and I was honestly surprised to find Lilith’s intact in the first place. We had all heard the stories of other businesses in town that had crossed the Santino’s, and their businesses rarely lasted much longer without incidents of broken windows or bones.
I rushed to Diana’s office, and her door was cracked open, when it was usually closed. No one else was in the club, the bright lights were on and it was silent, instead of thumping with music. Bea and I shared a worried glance before I pushed the door open, and peered inside. Diana stood there with the safe wide open, surrounded by the same duffle bags full of cash that Vera and her men had only just taken from us. I entered the room slowly, listening to Diana hum happily to herself as she stacked the cash neatly into the safe.
“What’s going on?” I said, startling her.
“Oh, fuck!” she jumped, reactively throwing the wad of cash in her hands across the room “don’t do that!”
I walked over and picked it up, inspecting the bags. The guns were not there, but the cash was. Bea joined us after she decided that it was safe, and she looked around the room with the same confused look.
“They returned the money?” I asked.
Diana nodded, “yes, thank god.”
I let out a sigh of relief as the weight lifted from my shoulders.
Though it was Sierra that got us into the trouble, I still felt partially responsible. If it wasn’t for my outburst, we could have remained under The Family’s radar, instead of becoming a point of interest for them.
If I was able to control my temper, I never would have gone to his house that night to threaten them. In a twisted way, I didn’t regret it, because then I never would have met him.
Though our lives were already connected and intertwined in a strange way already through the way we both chose to live, I was certain that we could have gone the rest of our lives without ever knowing who the other was.
Before, I would have been fine with that.
