“Yes,” I say firmly. “I do.”
“Good,” he says, approval lighting his eyes before he turns to face the other woman. “Eleana, this is Sasha. She’s one of ours.”
“You’re so beautiful,” Sasha gushes, reaching out and stroking my arm, her accent not quite like everyone else’s. “I love your green eyes,” she continues. “They’re the color of grass on a perfect summer’s day.”
I’m not sure what to make of her, and Kayden laughs. “As you can see, Sasha is a toucher and a talker, with a big personality, which ensures that she’s well known at these events.”
Sasha points at her deep cleavage, and shakes her breasts. “These are why I’m well known.” She waves down her body. “And all of these goodies, too. Do you like?”
The woman has me blushing. “You’re fabulous. And I wish I had your confidence. Is your accent Italian?”
“I am the best French import Italy has ever seen.” She adds, “Je séduis les gens pour leurs secrets.”
I blanch and repeat her words. “?‘I seduce people for their secrets.’?”
Kayden turns to face me. “You understand French?”
“Yes. Or I think I do. Do you?”
“Fluently,” he confirms. “Comment a été votre rencontre avec Donati?”
I repeat his question. “?‘How was your meeting with Donati?’ Kayden, I know French! How? Maybe I took it in school, but that doesn’t feel right.”
“I have a thought on that,” he says, “but we’ll talk about it later. How did it go with Donati?”
“I asked him to keep Gallo away from Giada, and he was trying to manipulate me into promising hi
m a favor when a man in uniform came up to him, whispered something, and Donati left.”
Another interruption occurs as two men join us and start a conversation with Kayden that I of course can’t understand.
Sasha listens a moment and rolls her eyes, stepping closer to me. “They want him to sit on some ridiculous board, which he’ll never agree to join. I need to go to the toilet. You want to join me?”
“Yes,” I say, glad for a few minutes away from the crowd.
She nods and then interrupts the conversation, announcing our departure. Kayden leans down and whispers, “I’ll get us out of here soon,” before Sasha links her arm with mine and leads me past the piano and violin, and then down a hallway that is blessedly free of other guests.
“Thank God,” she says, releasing me, her silliness evaporating along with her heavy accent. “These events are exhausting. Everyone wants something, including us.” She gives me a sideways look. “Be careful with Donati. Aside from his preference for quid pro quo, something about that man bothers me, and don’t ask what, because I don’t know. But I’ve been doing this long enough to trust my instincts.”
“How long have you worked for Kayden?”
“Since he took over France a few years back, but my family is made up of generations of Hunters and Hawks, most of them now dead.”
“So you transferred from France?” I ask, wondering if she’s related to the prior Hawk in that region.
“A year ago, after I stupidly tried to seduce Niccolo’s stepbrother.” She snorts. “That went badly.”
“Who is his stepbrother?” I ask, hoping a name might trigger a memory.
“He runs the French mob.”
“Wait. So the French and Italian mobs are one?”
“Oh no,” she says. “That was the idea when the two families married, but it didn’t take long for the parents to end up dead, while their sons claimed control of their own regions.”
I gape. “You’re saying they killed their parents?”
“Without a blink of regret,” she says.