“I’m not, though,” I said, shaking my head as I pulled back to look at him.
“Babe, you are,” he said, shaking his head. “If Eren didn’t make plans for his money and his businesses, you are a threat. You need to know that. This could be dangerous. Going in blind won’t be doing you any favors. You are a threat. And your best course of action is to make yourself seem like you aren’t capable of even understanding the information he might give you.”
“Play dumb,” I said, hating the idea, but seeing the logic.
“And passive. Can’t imagine that is going to be easy—“
“You’d be surprised,” I said, shaking my head. “I imagine it will come right back to me as soon as I am in that apartment again.”
“Hey,” Brio said, folding up to sit beside me as I moved to the side of the bed. “You’re not weak or dumb or passive,” he assured me. “You’re playing the part. Because smart women let men underestimate them. And then show him just how stupid that was once they have all their plans in place.”
“I don’t have any plans,” I insisted, getting to my feet and grabbing the robe to cover myself up, feeling like I needed to separate the intimacy of the sex from the cold, hard reality of my near future.
“We’ll work on the plans,” he assured me, gathering his pants and underwear, then making his way toward the bathroom.
“How? If I’m being watched.”
“You leave the how to me,” Brio said from behind the door.
When he came back out, he was dressed save for his shirt. Which he quickly found and slipped back on.
“Order dinner from Enzo’s Pizza tonight,” Brio demanded. “When you get your food, there is going to be a cell phone with it. My number will be inside it. Text me as soon as you are sure you’re alone, so I know you got it.”
My head felt like it was struggling to go from sex to all this technical crap.
“Okay,” I agreed, nodding, my gaze going to the floor.
“Enzo’s Pizza,” he repeated as he slipped into his shoes.
“I got it,” I agreed.
“And you text me. I’m waiting for it.”
“I will.”
“Hey,” he said, stopping in front of me to reach out and snag my chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing it up until our gazes met. “It’s all going to shake out.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. I know that.”
“But you don’t.”
“If it doesn’t shake out on its own, I’ll shake it out,” he said, a fierce sort of determination in his voice and eyes.
With that, he pressed a kiss to my lips, made his way to the door, and was gone.
“Lock it, Ezzy,” he called from the other side.
I moved across the hotel room, practically feeling him on the other side until I slid the lock into place.
Then he was gone.
And I was reeling about what the future might hold.
I could say one thing, though.
I really hoped Brio would be a part of it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Brio
I was just making my way back to my place after getting the delivery guy at Enzo’s to put the phone in the box with the food for Ezmeray.
I felt him before I saw him.
He was leaning up against the wall of the building, picking at his nails with a knife.
It didn’t take a genius to know it was a threat, without it being an actual threat.
“Closing in on our little agreement, man,” Salvatore said, gaze flicking up to mine.
One killer to another, I wasn’t scared of Salvatore. I wasn’t really scared of anyone. That was the whole point of doing what I did, in a way. You familiarized yourself enough with pain and death, and it lost its hold over you.
That said, I liked Salvatore.
I didn’t want to lose his respect because of something like this.
Besides, he was right.
I had to handle it.
I’d just been a little distracted.
“Need a shower and food and I’ll head over to Lorenzo’s place,” I said, giving him a nod.
“You smell like perfume,” he said, brow lifting as I moved up the steps.
“Okay,” I said, shrugging.
“You’re fucking the Polat woman, aren’t you?” he asked. “That’s what this is all about. Saw her, took a fancy to her, and had to kill the man who was keeping her from you.”
“Part of that is true,” I agreed.
“Which part?”
“Think that’s an explanation I owe to Lorenzo, not you.”
I didn’t like to pull rank. It wasn’t my style. That being said, Salvatore was old-school. He knew how shit was. And since he knew how shit was, he damn sure knew that he had no right to be talking to a capo like he was talking to me.
Even if we all knew he was going to be made soon.
Soon wasn’t right then.
And right then, he was being disrespectful.
“It’s one thing to keep me honest, man. It’s another to question me. Or my loyalty,” I added, taking a step toward him.