Chapter 2
DOMINIC
It only takes Sofia three days to stop asking where things are. She’s a quick learner. Either that, or she’s trying to prove that she doesn’t need any help. Either way, I admire that about her.
Most new hires ask too many questions. They want reassurance, guidance, and proof they belong. Sofia doesn’t. If she doesn’t know an answer, she takes the time to find it. If someone gives her the wrong one, she checks it against the work until she has a solution.
I had the instinct when I hired her that she’d be good at the job, but I never expected her to be this good. That’s why I trust my instincts.
Unfortunately, she’s also become the shiny new toy on the executive floor.
She’s young and pretty, not that I’ve paid much attention to her looks.
Half the men in VP positions keep finding reasons to swing by her desk for a look.
Associates who should know better linger with files that could’ve been emailed.
Arthur Klein calls me twice in one afternoon to ask if “the new girl” is taking messages.
I roll my eyes and remind him he doesn’t need more bad press where young women are concerned. And she’s not a girl. Going by her graduation date, I’d put her at twenty-five or twenty-six, though she carries herself like someone much older.
Rafe walks in without waiting for Sofia to announce him. He barely glances at her desk on the way past, like she’s an inconvenience between him and my office.
He closes the door behind him.
“I see the new assistant’s still working out.” He chuckles.
I barely look up at him. “Is that supposed to be a dig at her or at me?”
“Definitely at you. Your last assistant lasted what? Nine days?”
“Ten.” I smirk. “But it was a rough ten days. I assume you didn’t come here just to harass me.”
“Well, I suppose that depends on what you consider harassment.” He sighs, dropping a thin file on my desk. “Calderone’s lender is pushing into Astoria.”
I glance up from the property acquisition file. That gets my attention. “What business?”
“Small restaurants. A market. Two repair shops. Nothing terribly important.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because one of the restaurants leases from us.”
Enzo Calderone runs the second-biggest organized crime outfit in New York. Second only to mine. It kills him to always come in behind me. He’s worked tirelessly for years to change that and comes up empty almost every time.
This is a new angle. Stupid, maybe, but I’ve never considered him particularly smart.
“What’s the name of the lender?”
He opens his own file and peruses it for a second. “Marino,” he finally answers. “Benito Marino.”
“Is that a real name, or an alias?”
“I’ve never heard of him.” He shrugs. “But his signature is on a bunch of legal documents, so he has to be at least somewhat legit.”
“Put someone on him,” I instruct. “We need to know what we’re up against if Calderone is trying to edge us out of our own territory.”
“You got it, boss.”
He says it casually, but his expression stays tight. He has more bad news, and he doesn’t want to tell me. I’ve known Rafe long enough to know when he’s holding back on me.
“Just spit it out,” I tell him.
“The Newark shipment missed its window,” he finally admits.
I let his words settle a moment. A delayed shipment has the potential to be disastrous. It can stall all our other processes for days, even weeks. This is not something I want to deal with right now.
“Did it even go through customs?” I ask.
“Not yet,” he answers shortly. “It’s disappeared from the logs. No one can find it. A shipment like that doesn’t just go missing.”
“I’m well aware,” I answer through clenched teeth. “Who knew the route?”
“Too many people for us to find conclusive answers without an extensive investigation,” he answers warily. “I’ve got the time if you want me to focus on it, but I’m worried it’s the beginning of bigger problems.”
I nod, and consider this for a second.
“Sniff around, but definitely find the root of the issue if you can. I agree, this could spiral into something worse, so trust your gut.”
Rafe leans forward. “If Calderone’s involved somehow, he’s braver than either of us have given him credit for. It might be time to send him a little message.”
“Brave is not a word anyone would use to describe Enzo,” I mutter. “He’s stupid and arrogant. But if we strike without being a hundred percent certain he was involved, we leave ourselves exposed. That’s the last thing I want.”
He nods. “Understood.”
Just then, there’s a knock at the door. Rafe looks toward it.
“Is that your assistant?” he asks.
I shrug. “I don’t have x-ray vision, Rafe, you tell me.”
“Bold choice for her to knock when you’re in a meeting.”
“She’s been keeping me on a schedule,” I tell him truthfully. “She’s managed me better in three days than any of my assistants did over the last year.”
He narrows his eyes and studies me thoughtfully. I call to Sofia to come in, and she opens the door carefully. She steps inside with a folder pressed to her chest and stops short when she sees Rafe.
“I can come back,” she says carefully. “You didn’t have a meeting on your schedule.”
I gesture toward Rafe. “This is Rafael Santoro,” I say. “He’s been my closest friend for two decades, and he does some business for me. He’s also incredibly rude, so don’t take it personally if he never says hello.”
“I resent that,” Rafe answers with a smirk.
“Did you say hello to my assistant?” I ask him.
He looks down guiltily. “Hello, assistant,” he mutters.
“Sofia,” she corrects firmly.
“Oh, I like this one,” he tells me.
“What is it?” I ask Sofia.
“The Callahan closing packet,” she answers efficiently. “Legal sent the updated version, but page forty-two still references the old entity name. I flagged it and sent it back before printing the rest.”
Rafe’s brows lift. I hold out my hand and she crosses the room to give me the folder. Her expression is calm, but her fingertips are ink-smudged. She must have been fighting with the printer again.
“You caught this before Legal did?” I ask.
“I caught it before you signed it.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No,” she says. “But that’s what matters.”
Rafe stifles a chuckle.
Sofia glances at him with a look that’s not altogether friendly.
“You’ll get used to him,” I promise. “He’s around a lot.”
“Shall I pad your calendar by a few minutes in case your meetings with him run long?” she asks, ignoring him completely.
“Yes,” Rafe answers at the same time I say, “That’s not necessary.”
Rafe looks delighted. “You’re an observant one.”
Sofia’s gaze flicks back to me. There is something almost amused in her face, but she tucks it away.
“I’ll be at my desk if you need anything else.”
When the door closes behind her, Rafe looks at me for several seconds.
“Shut up,” I tell him.
“I didn’t say anything at all,” he says with a smirk.
“Maybe not verbally, but your face is saying a hell of a lot.”
“She’s good at what she does,” he answers, throwing his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“She is,” I agree.
“She’s also not bad to look at.”
I let out a deep sigh and try to decide the best way to navigate this conversation.
“Her looks are irrelevant,” I finally tell him.
“For now.” He shrugs. “Though I’d suggest you try to keep it that way unless you want a scandal on your hands.”
“I think it’s time for you to go,” I tell him.
He gets up and casually strolls out without another word.
I open the folder and look at page forty-two. Sofia is right. Legal missed the entity name. So did the analyst who reviewed it before Legal. So did the senior associate who sent it up with his initials on the approval line.
“Her looks are irrelevant,” I mutter to myself.
She’s a good assistant, and that’s all that matters to me. I hired her because she’s good with details and keeps a cool head in a crisis.
It takes days for us to locate the missing shipment, and when we do, it’s been ransacked. Calderone doesn’t take credit for it, but that means fuck all. He’s always playing chess. He’ll come out of the woodwork to take credit if he feels the time is right.
The following week, I meet with a few new investors.
The meeting is a disaster, and I walk out of it ready to tear someone a new asshole.
It’s nearly eight p.m., and I’m shocked when I get to my office and see Sofia still sitting at her desk.
I thought she’d left hours ago. I told her not to wait for the meeting to be over.
She has her shoes kicked off under the desk, one bare foot tucked beneath the opposite calf.
Her hair has come loose from its knot, falling around her shoulders in a way she’d probably fix if she knew anyone could see her.
A half-empty container of noodles sits beside her keyboard.
She’s glaring at her computer with focused fury.
“No,” she mutters to herself. “Dominic can’t be in Brooklyn and at a breakfast meeting in Queens at the same time. What the hell were you thinking, Peter?”
I stay frozen where I am, just watching her work. She’s so locked on the task at hand that she doesn’t even notice me standing there. She clicks on something, starts to drag it, then groans in frustration.
“That’s not going to work either. Fuck!”
I watch her lips form the word, and immediately picture her screaming it for another reason. A vision floods my head: her hair down, skirt bunched around her waist, bent over my desk as she screams my name. I have to clear it at once.
Sofia is, undeniably, attractive. I knew that when I hired her, and up until now I could ignore it. Fuck Rafe for being right.
She is the best assistant I’ve ever had. I don’t want to jeopardize that.
She looks up and startles. “Oh. You’re done.”
“I am,” I confirm, my mouth suddenly feeling dry.
She blushes under the weight of my gaze, but I realize, thankfully, that it has nothing to do with the way I’m looking at her and everything to do with how she’s lost her polish in the late hour.
“What are you still doing here?” I ask her. “I thought you would have gone home hours ago.”
She points at the screen. “Finance added a hotel review to your schedule. It’s created a disaster for all of next week.”
“Leave it,” I tell her. “It’s still going to be there for you to fix tomorrow.”
“I’m not going to have time to fix it tomorrow,” she tells me in a tight voice.
She doesn’t sound stressed, exactly. More like, she’s inconvenienced. She’s also staring at me like I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, and I should just leave her to her work. That’s probably true enough.
Two days later, Rafe is in my office again discussing a new shipment plan. Sofia comes in without knocking and slides a report casually on my desk before turning around and walking back out. I can’t help but watch her as she goes.
“‘Her looks are irrelevant,’” Rafe parrots to me in a mocking tone.
I look up at him in annoyance. “That hasn’t changed,” I tell him honestly. “What’s your point?”
“My point is, don’t even think about it. You’re noticing her now. In a way you weren’t before. Don’t fuck up a good thing.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” I mutter, fighting the urge to flip him off.
“That’s usually what men say right before they fuck things up.” He chuckles.