4. Paolo
Chapter 4
Paolo
I tapped my finger on Assassin Annihilation, in the App Store, and watched as the circle slowly spun over the app while it downloaded. I never understood why anyone played games on their phones—especially the ones where you had to keep dumping money into it just to win. But what I thought didn’t matter I would do anything for a mission.
Once the game finished downloading, I clicked on the app. A ninja jumped across the screen before it asked for my username and password. I opened the email CJ had sent out to the team instructing everyone to download the app to increase our alliance in the game. The internal chat on my phone had been dinged a hundred times with employees at AA Security already in the game and encouraging others to download. I was the only person in the company that didn’t embrace technology. I felt like my phone was always listening to me. During my time working for the Russo Family, they had people who used tech, but all I ever needed was a hammer, a pair of pliers, and my fists. That’s how I got answers out of just about anyone … or they’d die.
Rolling my eyes, I typed in the email and password. ‘Enforcer’ was the username CJ gave me. It was also the nickname a lot of people at AA Security called me. I didn’t care. It’s who I was for years. After I followed the prompts, I finally logged in. On the first screen, I had to start training my ninja and building my village. Two minutes in, the game already asked for money—or I could wait and let my village slowly grow. Like hell I would pour money into this game. I set my phone aside while my ninja kicked a beanbag to build its strength.
The door to my office swung open and Antonio strode in. He’d already lost his suit jacket he wore earlier, his tie was gone, and his sleeves were rolled up, showing tattoos on his forearms.
“So, what did Dr. Renolds say?” Antonio growled.
“I’m not dead yet,” I countered.
I was not ready to tell my boss that I pretty much got a death sentence. Dr. Quinton Renolds didn’t want to give me results over the phone—he wanted me to come in for more tests. I refused and told him if he wanted to give me any information, he had to give it to me then or I wouldn’t call back. He even cussed at me about being a stubborn asshole. After a few minutes of going back and forth he told me that the test he ran on my blood had markers that could indicate I had lung cancer. He needed me to come in for a biopsy and more tests. The doctor claimed if it was cancer and we didn’t do something soon, then it could spread or might have already. I told him I’d come in later—but that was a lie. I wouldn’t be going.
Antonio narrowed his eyes. “Stop fucking with me. What did the doctor say?”
“Isn’t there some type of HIPAA thing where I don’t have to tell you jack shit about my medical?—.”
Antonio sank down in the chair and leaned forward. Over the past year, I’d seen plenty of people crumble under Antonio’s stare, but when you really didn’t care anymore—when you knew you deserved whatever comes—intimidation didn’t work.
Antonio sighed. “If you wanted to work for a company that doesn’t really care about you, your health, and your privacy, you should find a different fucking place to work. Because if you don’t give me answers about what’s wrong with you and what we need to do to help, I won’t stop, Kat won’t stop … We’ll get the information anyway.”
I had no doubt they would hack the clinic or show up at the doctor’s office and torture him until he talked. I exhaled.
“How about a deal? You give me until the end of this mission, and then I’ll go back in and meet with the doctor for whatever tests he wants.”
Antonio leaned back, crossing his arms. “There’s something you’re not telling me, and I don’t fucking like it. But fine—one month. I’m not giving you until the end of this mission, because I don’t know how long that could take. You have one month. If you don’t go back to the clinic, I’ll borrow one of the syringes my wife keeps in the safe—she thinks I don’t know about them—and I’ll knock your fat ass out. Then I’ll drag you to the doctor’s office.” He motioned toward my phone. “Now, have you downloaded the game?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you joined the alliance yet? It was in the email. CJ created it and our ninjas have to join. Our alliance is supposed to go up against other alliances.”
From what the instructions said I had to be a level seven ninja before I could join the alliance. Mine was still only at level two.
I shook my head. “I can’t join until my ninja is level seven. My fucker is nowhere close. He is taking the slow and steady track.”
Antonio’s brow creased. “Why? This is important.”
“Because my ninja’s still training.” I held up my phone showing the skinny cartoon character dressed head to toe in black. The stereo type the movies created about ninjas dressing in black was not true. They were spies for Japan and dressed like everyone else to blend in. But I figured my boss wasn’t the person to have that particular argument with.
“Skip that shit.”
“I’m not skipping it. It costs money.”
“Use the company card. We need you in the alliance ASAP.” Antonio pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. His ninja was already three times the size of mine.
I wanted to argue that it was stupid to spend money on a game, but it was hard to argue with a billionaire.
Before I could take my ninja up a level Kat walked into my office with the most breathtaking woman I’d ever seen. I didn’t remember the last time someone truly knocked me off my feet—if I’d been standing, that was—but here I sat, speechless.
Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight pouring through the window. Her long black hair still dripping wet, made her white t-shirt almost transparent. Somehow, even devoid of makeup, it was the most beautiful face I’d ever seen. When our eyes connected, her cheeks turned a soft pink, and she faltered for a second. Kat led her to the seat across from me. A faint scent of strawberries made my mouth water.
“Hi, I’m Sonali. I assume you’re Paolo?” she said.
“Yeah,” I managed, while Kat elbowed Antonio in the ribs. Kat was smiling like she knew something I didn’t. I shook my head. There was no way I could ever have this woman. I didn’t deserve someone so pure.
“Okay,” Antonio said. “Paolo has the game downloaded. He is going to level up his ninja. The game is actually pretty fun. This is the first time the CIA’s given us something I actually enjoy.”
Kat nodded. “Well, I already pissed off some people on our server. They didn’t understand why this new group just popped up and advanced so fast. My goal by the end of the week, is to have AA Security the main alliance on the server. I do plan to send it out to everyone at Club Sanctorum too.”
Sonia frowned. “Sorry, I’m confused. What are you all talking about?”
Kat explained, “Paolo is working on a mission in Houston for the CIA. You are going with him, because we thought it would be safer for you there rather than Fort Lauderdale. His mission revolves around the developer of Assassin Annihilation and something going on in Server 333. You are welcome to join our alliance.”
Sonia’s eyes widened. “Wait, the man we were talking about earlier told me to download Assassin Annihilation. He mentioned that exact server and said we could talk there.”
A wave of jealousy hit me before I could stop it. “What man?”
She lifted a brow. “His name is Sawyer Ledger. I met him at the cemetery and will reading today. He told me I should head back to Paris or come to AA Security. He said if I ever wanted to talk, I should find him on that same server.”
Kat was already typing on her phone. “I’m letting CJ know. Did he give you his game name?”
“Yeah, it was Ninja something, but I don’t remember.”
“All right,” Kat said. “That won’t help us find him in the game. We will continue the search for him with the other information you already gave CJ.”
Sonia shrugged. “He downloaded it on my phone. I haven’t really done anything else.”
Antonio started pacing. “Use Paolo’s company card to power up your ninja. Any person that contacts you that you think is strange, let Paolo know. If his name comes to you, make sure to tell us immediately.”
Sonali wrinkled her nose. “Why do I need a credit card to make my ninja strong?”
I grunted. “Because nothing in these online games is free. The developers swim around in pools of cash while people spend all because they want to be the best even if it costs them everything.”
Kat smirked. “Probably don’t want to talk to Callie that way when we do need her on our side.”
The upcoming meeting with Callie Westmore wouldn’t be our first time meeting. We’d met before at my brother’s house when he had friends over. She’d been talking about her Elven game and the amount of money it brought in each month. I told her that I thought it was a scam, and she rolled her eyes.
Antonio exhaled. “So, we were all on the same page. You two are going to lie low in Houston, figure out what’s going on with this game, and find out why the CIA really wants us involved. We know it is not guns running through this app—there’s something else. And the part that worries me is how the man connected to Sonali is using the exact same server the CIA wants us in. We need to find out who this guy is?—”
“And kill him?” I asked.
“Let’s hold off on that until we know the full story,” Antonio said. “The body count is way too high this year, especially after the experiment Kat did last week.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “How else was I supposed to test to see which supplier had the best acid?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. The only reason he said that was so his wife wouldn’t end up in prison for the rest of her life. The stories about Kat sounded so unbelievable people assumed they couldn’t possibly be true. But I knew better. It had been the talk of the office for weeks—she took down a man who’d kidnapped and molested thirteen children. Instead of handing him over to the police, Kat shot him herself. Antonio had wanted to dump the body in the Everglades, but Kat insisted on running an ‘experiment’ with a few barrels of acid at their house. It turned out she was testing the potency of each supplier’s acid to determine who was selling diluted product.
“Acid is acid,” Antonio groaned.
“You are wrong,” she argued with a shrug, “barrel one and two dissolved those parts within a day and my main supplier Burnie his acid took the longest. He has some explaining to do this weekend.”
Sonali looked between Kat, me, and Antonio. “Are you joking?”
Antonio sighed. “Let’s just say everything you hear about my wife is a ‘joke.’ We’ll leave it at that.”
I cleared my throat. “The pilot just texted—the plane’s ready. Anything else you need?”
Antonio narrowed his eyes. “Remember, you’ve got one month, no matter where in the world you are, to see a doctor.”
Sonali looked at me. “Wait, are you sick?”
“No,” I lied. “Let’s go.”
I waited by my office door as Kat and Sonali hugged. Afterward, Sonali walked toward me, and I caught that strawberry scent again. She was on the shorter side, maybe five six—at least eight inches shorter than me. We headed down the hallway. Before we made it into the elevator, Naomi Sterling stopped us. I was pretty sure she had a crush on me, but I saw her more like a little sister.
“Are you sure you don’t need backup, Paolo?” Naomi asked. “I’m not on a case right now.”
“I’m good,” I started to say, but before I could finish, Sonali stiffened beside me. I didn’t know if it was because she was going to be alone with me or that Naomi rubbed her the wrong way. Before I could react, Naomi wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her head to my chest.
“I’m gonna miss you while you’re gone. Make sure you call,” she said, clinging to me.
I patted her back awkwardly. “I—uh—yeah. I’ll call.”
Sonali murmured, “I’ll give you two a moment.” She walked a few steps away, but I noticed her glancing back at us. The hug was lasting way longer than I liked, so I gently pried Naomi’s arms off me. “I have to go.”
“Yeah, but I like being in your arms so much. Please call me when you arrive.”
“I am on a mission. If I have time I will call.” I grumbled.
Sonia was looking at her phone, though I saw her eyes flick my way. “Ready?” she asked.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”
We stepped into the elevator. A few months earlier, someone had stopped the door alarm in this very elevator, and twenty minutes later, Antonio and Kat stepped out looking … well, like they’d done more than ride to a different floor. I’d overheard Antonio comment about there always being ‘something’ about elevators, and I never really understood it until that moment. The small space trapped Sonali’s strawberry scent, and I could almost feel the heat from her body. I wasn’t sure what it was about this woman, but I suddenly wanted to protect her.
She was still glancing at her phone and peeking up at me every so often. I hadn’t taken my eyes off of her, not caring if she caught me staring.
“I think we need some ground rules,” I said.
She sighed. “I’ll do whatever you ask.”
“That will make protecting you easier. Stay next to me at all times—it’s important. And if I tell you to duck, run, jump—you do it immediately. Don’t second guess me.”
She scrunched her nose. “This must be what the Zayla was talking about.”
There was no doubt in my mind that many of the women in the office including Zayla could protect themselves. Mostly because of the training they had gone through. Except Sonali hadn’t done any training.
“I can only imagine what the women in this office told you. But it is important you listen to me and don’t second guess a word I say.”
Her blue eyes connected with mine and she chewed on her lip for a second. I wanted her mouth on something else, but I had to stop that train of thought.
“Okay,” she replied.
I wasn’t convinced. Something in her eyes told me that, when push came to shove, she might not listen. We exited the elevator, and I pulled the keys to the company Range Rover from my pocket. As we approached, a shadow stepped out from beside the vehicle. I couldn’t see the man’s face, but from his stance it was Lance, my past had shown up. I spun back to Sonali.
“Get back in the elevator. Go upstairs and tell Antonio that my past is here.”
I couldn’t let them see her. If the Don found out about Sonali, they’d go after her too. We were already dealing with enough. The mafia hadn’t reached out to me in months—they let me walk away, albeit at a price. Their showing up now couldn’t be good.
Sonia hesitated. “But you don’t have backup.”
“I told you to do everything I say,” I snapped. Her eyes narrowed. “Just go upstairs and tell Antonio my past is here. He’ll know what to do. Go.”
She didn’t move fast enough for my liking, but I jogged toward the car before Lance got any closer.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Lance?” I demanded.
He took a drag of his cigarette, tossed it on the ground, and crushed it underfoot. “Is that any way to greet your brother?”
“You are not my brother. We weren’t even friends in the mafia.”
Lance was a nephew of Vincenzo Russo and thought he was untouchable. When I had my meeting with Vincenzo about leaving the family it was Lance who threw the biggest fit demanding a piece of my flesh. Seemed now he was running errands for Russo.
“The Don requested your presence for dinner.”
“Then why didn’t he call? The hell if I am going to New York.”
Lance smirked. “He’s actually in Fort Lauderdale for a couple of days. He wants you to meet him for dinner tonight. Says there are things you need to discuss.”
Before I could reply, a soft hand slipped around my arm. “Honey, we had plans tonight,” Sonali said.
Lance lifted a brow. “She’s not your usual type.” He said it just to provoke me. I never brought the women I slept with around the family. He had no clue what my type was. “Anyway, the Don would love to see your new side piece, so bring her. Oh, and apparently, he has info about that woman you’re looking for—the one who can ‘cure anyone.’”
I felt Sonali’s nails dig into my arm. “Why would the Russo help us with anything?” I asked.
Lance shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to come to dinner and find out.” He headed for a matte-black G-Wagon. “Meet at Enzo’s.”
Enzo’s was a family-owned Italian restaurant near A1A in Fort Lauderdale. I’d been there plenty of times with the mafia. Also, with Antonio. It was the Ross family’s favorite place to eat and had a back room they used for business. With that, Lance climbed into the G-Wagon and drove off.
Sonali tried to pull her arm out from mine, but I grabbed her wrist keeping her in place. Her skin pebbled under my touch. “What part of ‘go back upstairs’ did you not understand?”
“I didn’t like that you were about to confront someone alone.”
I swore under my breath. “If you weren’t a client, I’d throw you over my knee and spank your ass until it turns bright red.”
Her pupils dilated. “I don’t think your girlfriend would like that very much.”
I opened my mouth to tell her I didn’t have a girlfriend, but I was cut off when the elevator doors opened again. Antonio stepped out with his gun raised and Kat right behind him.
“CJ’s program alerted we have company in the garage,” Antonio said.
My guess, Lance covered his face when he came into the building and waited. Not removing the covering until he approached me.
“He’s gone. But this one just invited herself along to dinner with Vincenzo tonight,” I sighed. “He wants me at Enzo’s for dinner. He has information on the person who can ‘cure anyone.’”
“Fuck,” Antonio groaned.
Kat grinned. “Oh, this is so exciting. Can I come?”
Only Kat would find a dinner meeting with the head of the mafia fun. Vincenzo was a man who tended to be ten steps ahead of his enemy and what worried me was he might already know what Sonali looked like.