CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SIENNA
I took a sip of my coffee, the heat sliding down my throat as I logged into Tower D’s system. Three new translation contracts waited in my inbox, actual work to keep my hands and mind busy. Perfect.
The less idle time I had today, the less chance I’d have to think about the bounty on my head or the fact that somewhere in this city, the Irish mafia was plotting ways to make me disappear.
I clicked on the first contract, a lengthy business agreement that needed translation from Italian to English. Good. I loved having actual work to do when I was here. The worst days were the empty ones when Eve and I ended up sneaking away to go shopping.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved those days too. The freedom, the normalcy of doing something as mundane as trying on clothes without looking over my shoulder every five seconds. But busy work was good. Especially now.
It wasn’t safe out there in the streets anymore. The bounty on my head had gone from serious to life-altering. One million dollars to deliver me alive to the O’Callaghans. That kind of money turned friends into enemies real quick.
Made strangers look at you a little too long, their gazes calculating what they could do with that kind of cash. Terzo had called us last night with updates. He’d handled the cover-up for the Abelis, making it look like the Ruspoli family had done what went down at the warehouse.
Terzo’s contact had whispered about a new power in town, and Terzo feared it was the O’Callaghans themselves. No longer content to work through proxies and bounty hunters, they might have decided to come handle the problem, me, personally.
This morning, there’d been a note in the box on my door from Rome letting me know he’d driven by the address Terzo had given him and placed his hacking devices near Daniel Abeli’s property. Close enough to hack into the man’s systems. He hoped to have something concrete before lunch.
Honestly, I hadn’t even known Rome had an office at Tower D until Stefano told me yesterday. Shows how much I knew about the place I worked. If it didn’t involve my little translation department, I usually didn’t worry about it.
I picked up my coffee cup again, taking another long sip as I tried to focus on the work in front of me. A knock at my door pulled me from my thoughts.
“Who is it?”
“Girl, it’s me.” Eve’s voice.
“Come in.”
The door swung open, and Eve stepped in with Secretary Yang following close behind.
Yang was a 40-something Korean assassin.
She’d worked for the old don before becoming Eve’s secretary and unofficial bodyguard at Tower D.
Yang bowed her head in my direction, and I returned the gesture, a smile pulling at my lips.
My attention shifted to Eve, and I could tell immediately that something was different. She was practically vibrating with energy.
“And how are you, my best friend?” I asked.
“I’m good as hell, my best friend,” she said, reaching out to shake my hand.
I frowned. Why the hell was this heffa shaking my hand like we were closing a business deal? And that’s when I noticed the rock on her ring finger.
“Eve,” I whispered, shock making my voice catch.
“I said yes,” she beamed.
Pure joy radiated from her face. She was in love. She was happy. And between the time we’d dropped them off and now, she and Enzo had made up, and she’d realized she was indeed wifey material for a don.
“I’m so happy for you,” I told her, rising from my seat, planning to go around the desk and hug her.
But my side drawer was open, and as I moved, I smashed my shin right against it. Pain shot up my leg.
“Fuck that drawer,” I hissed.
Rather than walk around, I crawled on top of my desk, papers scattering as I scrambled over it to get to my friend. The moment I was in range, I pulled her into a tight hug, and she squeezed back just as hard. We were both crying like idiots, tears streaming down our faces.
“Enzo and I had a long talk,” she said, pulling away to wipe her eyes.
I wiped my own as she continued.
“We had a lot of things to work through. But at the end of the day, this is the man I’m obsessed with, and I’m the woman he’s obsessed with. We will make this work or die trying,” she told me.
Any other human would hear that and think, that’s some toxic shit. But I completely understood where she was coming from.
“When is the big day?” I asked, admiring the way the ring looked on her finger.
“I have no idea,” she laughed. “What I do know is I need you to be my bridesmaid.”
“I’d be honored, Eve.” And I meant it. This woman had become my sister in every way that mattered.
“I plan to ask Uncle Pietro to walk me down the aisle,” she told me.
I gasped, picturing the old man’s face when she asked him. “That would make him so happy,” I said. “You have to sit down and tell me how Don Deluca proposed,” I insisted, perching on the edge of my desk.
“Girl, he took me to the old don’s house, and he cooked for me,” Eve said. “Turns out, he’s been practicing cooking so he could make me a meal and show me that I didn’t have to worry about starving as long as I had him.”
She burst out laughing, her eyes sparkling.
“I was a little jealous of how good the meal was,” she admitted.
Aww, the don was so sweet. Beneath all that deadly power and authority beat the heart of a man who would learn to cook just to make his woman smile. These Italian men might be savage killers, but damn if they didn’t know how to love their women.
“And then,” she started, but the rest of her sentence was cut short as my office door burst open.
I turned, ready to curse someone out for interrupting, but paused when I saw Terzo standing there. Eve lifted her hand, trying to show him her ring, but the look in his eyes stopped both of us cold.
His usual easy smile was gone, replaced by a tightness around his mouth that set off immediate alarm bells in my head.
“Grab your things,” he told us. “I need to get you two out of here.”
Rome entered the office behind Terzo. Damn. This had to be bad. Terzo told Yang to take Eve to gather her items, then escort her to the back stairwell, down to the parking garage, and not to talk to anyone in the office or hint that anything was wrong.
Yang nodded, her face betraying nothing. “Come with me,” she said to Eve, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Eve looked to me.
“Don’t worry. I’ll escort Sienna,” Terzo said. “Hurry.”
“Wait,” Eve said. “What’s going on?”
It was Rome who answered, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “I’ve been listening in on the chatter at Daniel Abeli’s house. When Terzo stopped by my office to see if I needed any help, that’s when some crucial info came across.”
He took a breath, his words coming faster now.
“Daniel is indeed working with the O’Callaghans.
Though Terzo was able to frame another family, the O’Callaghans didn’t buy it.
They told Daniel that they wanted you and Eve today.
They confirmed that the women in the videos were the women they were looking for.
The O’Callaghan don said he wanted both women with him within the hour.
He said he would take you both to France by boat in three hours. ”
Well damn. The O’Callaghans weren’t fucking around anymore.
“At the end of the call,” Rome continued, “Daniel started calling around, putting together a team, promising them part of the bounty. I don’t know how many people he’ll show up here with. I just know he’s on the way. And he knows you’re here, because he’s been keeping track of your schedules.”
“We need to get you out of here now,” Terzo said, his usually playful demeanor completely gone.
“Get your stuff, Sienna,” she told me. “Then we’ll go to my office to get mine. I am not leaving your side.”
Awww, Eve! I raced around my desk, grabbed my phone from the drawer, and then my purse.
“Come on,” Terzo held the door open, scanning the hallway beyond.
“I’ll bring up the rear,” Rome said, pulling a gun from inside his jacket. The tech wizard was apparently more than just brains.
My mind was a whirlwind of activity as I plastered a smile on my face, not wanting to alarm any of the staff in the cubicles as we headed from my office to Eve’s. Terzo being here wasn’t a shocker, so that shouldn’t alarm anyone.
As long as we kept it cool and left before Daniel and his men arrived, no one here should be hurt. I was sure they had some motherfuckers watching this place who would see our cars leaving.
I hoped those bitches followed us. We weren’t leaving because we were scared. We were leaving because innocent people should not get hurt because of us. I unlocked my phone as we walked, fingers flying over the screen.
“Have you talked to Stefano or Enzo?” I asked Terzo, keeping my voice low.
“Neither of them answered their phones. I left them voicemails,” he whispered back. “I knew they planned to look into some of the other chatter Rome had told them about to see if it was connected to the Irish Mafia. In the voicemail, I told them I was taking you all to the spot.”
“The spot?” I asked, confused.
“It’s a place they told me to bring you to if anything happened and we all got separated from them.”
Well, damn. They’d planned for everything. My Beast was nothing if not thorough when it came to my safety. I wasn’t surprised he’d set up contingencies I didn’t even know about. We’d just made it to Eve’s office when one of the most irritating businessmen at Tower D strode over.
Eve and I couldn’t stand Jonathan Walthall’s bitch ass. Just two weeks ago, Eve had slapped his weak ass when he’d made a comment about her being just eye candy for the company. And now, he was approaching us with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Good morning, boss lady,” he drawled, looking at Eve.
Ignoring him, Eve entered her office, followed by Yang. I remained outside with Terzo and Rome. Both men had moved to stand in front of me, shielding me from Jonathan, who was asking why they were meeting with the boss lady so early in the morning.