Chapter Eight
“Miss Sofia? We should head back. The boss won’t like it if he finds out we’re at a bar owned by the Rossi Familia,” Alex said in a low voice.
Sofia ignored him and took a small sip of her beer. Alex looked at her, exasperated. He was one of the younger associates in Maxim’s employ. Hence, he was easier to manipulate.
That was the reason why she had agreed to take him as her personal bodyguard. That and he didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. If Lev insisted on going with her, it would’ve been a disaster in the making.
Like she requested, Alex had forgone his suit and wore jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie instead. Underneath the hoodie, he’d worn a white shirt with the wordsI heart Giland Cityon it. Sofia wore a matching shirt and jeans.
Both Alex and Sofia were posing as boyfriend and girlfriend. Just a couple of clueless and out-of-town tourists who strayed into the wrong area of town. At least that was the effect Sofia wanted.
“Miss Sofia,” Alex said urgently, brown eyes pleading.
“Hush you. And stop calling me miss. You’ll give us away. Use the fake names we agreed on,” she whispered fiercely back.
“Fine, Lisa. How long will we be staying here?” Alex asked. “I had enough drinks.”
“Just a few more minutes,” Sofia said.
Sofia glanced at the corner of the bar, where Giovanni Rossi had gotten up from his table to shake hands with two men in dark suits.
Giovanni Rossi was the middle son of Fabio Rossi, the Don of the Rossi Familia. Giovanni also happened to be Fabio’s right-hand man.
According to Mark Smith, the private investigator she hired, Giovanni was also in charge of hiring fixers to clean up his family’s messes. That meant there was a high chance he was the one who ordered a hit on Aurora.
Sofia thought it careless of Giovanni to conduct a meeting with his associates in such a public place. Then again, Giovanni must be overconfident because he was on familiar turf.
Alex had a point though. If Maxim found out what Sofia was up to, he would immediately spirit her home and keep her locked up, then say it was for her own safety.
Hell, she knew without needing to look around that a couple of gazes were fixed on Alex and her. Some of them would be Rossi men, probably ordered to watch out for suspicious customers.
If they found out who she really was, Sofia wouldn’t just be endangering her own life but also Alex’s. The poor guy was just doing his job, although he would protect her if need be. Maxim assured her all his men were loyal.
Sofia still hadn’t been caught so far. Besides, someone had to do something about her sister’s death. Her father seemed to have forgotten Aurora’s murder entirely.
She pulled out her phone. Sofia had pressed the record button on her voice recording app before feigning interest in her social media apps. She painted a bored expression on her face.
“Talk to me,” she told Alex. “Pretend we’re talking about something mundane.”
“The matter has been settled,” Giovanni was saying.
Honestly, it was hard to pick out his exact words. The bar was only half-empty, but the game from last night played on the multiple TV screens mounted in the room.
“Oh. Okay. What do you want to do? See a movie? The superhero movie I told you about the week before is finally showing. I read from online critics that it has amazing early reviews.”
“Tell me about it,” Sofia said.
The two men in the corner who had been paying attention to them finally looked bored and started playing cards again.
Wow, she thought. She was actually pulling this off with Alex.
“Has Lorenzo Bianchi finally figured out who’s responsible for putting the hit on his daughter?” one of Giovanni’s guests asked.
Giovanni snorted. “Lorenzo is losing his edge. The Bianchi Familia suspects we had something to do with it, but they have no evidence.”
“Did you put the hit out, Giovanni?”
“I won’t confirm or deny it,” Giovanni said in such a lofty voice that Sofia knew he was guilty as sin.