2. natasha
Iskimmed around the corner, my feet barely touching the floor in my hurry, but slammed myself back to the ground when I saw the waiters hustling toward me. They’d been hired to do only what we asked them to, and as far as I knew they were discreet. But that had never meant we could get sloppy.
If they found out who we were, no amount of money would save us. Or our mission.
I forced myself to slow and smile at them as they walked by, praying my expression was as vacant and harmless as I’d been practicing. I’d spent hours in front of the mirror figuring out how to look like I wasn’t thinking about anything at all, and though the expression didn’t come easily to me, I was getting pretty good at it.
I hoped.
One of the waiters looked up and cocked a dark eyebrow, his lips quirking and his head tilting in a way that suggested he was anything but innocent.
Shit. Had he seen me speeding around the corner? Had he noticed that my feet hadn’t actually been touching the ground? I wasn’t still glowing, was I? It happened sometimes, when I got too excited. This was my first time here and I still hadn’t learned how to regulate some of my more... unique talents.
A quick glance at my hand showed me that I was not in fact glowing, though, and when I looked back up at him he’d turned his eyes away from me. The group marched past me without another look and I stalled, watching them until they rounded the corner. Then I turned and ran in the other direction.
I needed to find Antony before the party started. I needed to know what we were doing tonight, and what we were going to do if—and when—our target showed up. Because the last time we talked, I was in charge of bagging him. I was the one with the special orders. And I didn’t have a plan yet.
* * *
I slowed againwhen I got into the main dining room. None of the guests were here—the party didn’t start for another half hour—but the wait staff was milling about, their bodies making the place feel crowded. I still didn’t understand why Antony was holding the main event in this room, which was smaller than the grand ballroom, but that was also not my problem.
He was here to maintain appearances. Act like he knew what he was doing as the head of a New York mafia family. Make connections with the people we needed on our side. And as such, the party was his domain. Food, guests, waiters, and the house to hold it all in...
Antony had done it before, in other times and places, so I assumed he knew what he was doing.
Still, if it had been up to me, I would have wanted more space for the crowds. It would have given us more room for finding our target and separating him from the rest. Would have made my job easier.
Not that Antony cared about that.
I turned my gaze across the room, wondering if Antony was here. He wasn’t, but my brothers were. They stood a head taller than anyone else in the place, their dark hair and broad shoulders close enough to identical that they could almost have been twins. I looked from them to the girls standing in front of them, and rolled my eyes.
Both girls were looking up at the men like they were the most gorgeous things they’d ever seen, their faces caught mid-laugh at something either Mattias or Valentine had said. Probably Valentine, I thought. Mattias was smart but quiet, whereas Valentine was always talking. He’d never passed up the chance to tell someone else what he thought, and he’d never seen a girl he didn’t want to bed.
Mattias hadn’t, either. He was just more quiet about it.
I rolled my eyes again, allowing myself a moment of pure disgust at the two of them. They would both shag anyone that said yes, and then spend the next three days telling me about their experience. Honestly I thought they probably took too much pleasure in it—both the shagging and the retelling. I always gagged over it and they always laughed... and then went and found some other poor girl or guy to serve their purposes.
I should really go over there and give them a piece of my mind now, before they blew the whole night. All it would take was a moment of them not paying enough attention for everything to go sideways on us. We were here to make contact with the man I’d been told about, and if we did our jobs, we’d find him and save him from a horrible fate.
But it would take all of us, and that didn’t leave room for standing around, fucking girls with our eyes.
I spun on my heel and headed in the other direction, though, leaving them to it. I needed Antony, not Mattias and Valentine. Snagging the contact was my one and only job. If my so-called brothers didn’t do their jobs, that was on their heads. Not mine.
Yeah, I know that sounds selfish and self-serving. I get it. But this was my first mission and I was nervous as hell. I didn’t have time to take care of my brothers as well as myself. I was sent here to prove that I could be part of a team like this, and I wasn’t going to fucking fail.
I’d let them fall on their faces in a heartbeat, though. And I’d probably laugh as they fell.
I slipped through the door to the kitchen, which was just as crowded, and looked through the people to find the face I needed. Antony was standing at the stove in all his blond, blue-eyed glory, the glow coming off him almost otherworldly. I paused, my breath caught in my throat. He was nearly godlike in his beauty, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. The cooks were moving around him like he was some sort of sun that might burn them, their eyes downcast except for quick glances up at him. Their cheeks were flushed, their fingers clasped tightly around spoons and bowls.
Yes, every woman in here was thinking about what she’d do if she got him naked.
And not one of them would be brave enough to ask for what she wanted.
This did bring a quick smile to my lips, and I felt my mind calming as I moved toward him. Antony was my mentor and teacher, and had chosen me by hand for this mission, teaching me as we traveled and giving me the tools I’d need to succeed. He was nearly as big a flirt as Mattias and Valentine...
But he was also a father figure to me.
“Antony,” I said, interrupting him as he tested the nearest stew.
“Natasha,” he breathed, dropping the spoon into the pot. He wrapped me in a quick hug, then stood back and looked me over once. “You’re not dressed.”
I waved that off as unimportant. “I need to know what we’re doing tonight.”
At that, he nodded once, took my arm, and steered me into a corner. When he spoke again, his voice was lower. He ran through the people who would be at the party, what their positions were in New York, and whether they were in the underworld or not.
And by ‘underworld,’ I meant the mafia. Not the actual underworld. I was still having trouble getting used to the difference.
“And the Rossi?” I asked breathlessly.
“Not a Rossi,” he corrected. “Someone who works for the Rossis. I have received word that he’ll be here, though I don’t know his name. But you’re to steer clear of him. I’m not sure yet whether he’s the one we’re seeking.”
I frowned at that. “I thought we knew exactly who we were here for.”
Of course, he didn’t have the man’s actual name. I did.
And I’d been told not to tell Antony.
He frowned back. “Yes. There have been... conflicting orders.”
I felt my frown deepen. Conflicting orders? Other than the ones my superiors had given me when they’d pulled me to the side before I traveled here? That didn’t make any sense. The orders came right from the top and I’d worked in the office that generated them. They were always very clear. If Headquarters had given Antony conflicting orders, that was a problem.
“But I thought it was my job?—”
“Not anymore,” he interrupted. “He may or may not be here, and if he is, Mattias and Valentine will take care of it. You’re here to be the bait, not the hook.”
I reared back at that, part furious and part surprised. The bait? I was here as eye candy? Since when? That wasn’t the contract I signed when I agreed to take on this job. Sure, I didn’t have much experience when it came to running missions, but I’d been in charge of organizing them at the head office. We never deviated from plans. Or reassigned roles.
The missions were too important for that sort of flexibility.
“What’s going on?” I asked quickly. “Why is there a change?”
Instead of answering my question, he turned me and shoved me toward the door. “Leave the questions to me, little one. Everything’s fine. But I don’t want you involved. Your job tonight is to observe. If you see anything that doesn’t look right, you come to me. Immediately.”
Before I knew it, I was in the back hall, the door to the kitchen shut behind me.
I stared at it, my mind racing. If I saw anything that didn’t look right? What the hell did that mean? Why was Antony keeping secrets from me?
What did he think was going to happen?
And was he actually stupid enough to expect me to stand back and do nothing about it?
If so, he didn’t know me as well as he thought he did. I might be new, but I wasn’t the sort of girl who sat back and twiddled her thumbs while other people did the work.
I narrowed my eyes at the door—and the figure behind it—then turned and hustled for my room. We had half an hour and I still needed to dress for the party. Once the guests started arriving, I planned to be front and center. I wanted to see the man I needed when he arrived. I’d been assigned to him, and I wasn’t going to let Mattias and Valentine take the glory of bagging this one.
He was mine.
He just didn’t know it yet.