by C. A. Szarek
Scratch that, he was probably relegated to former lover again, after today.
That was a good thing, right?
It was what she’d wanted this morning, wasn’t it?
Somehow the idea of never touching him again, kissing him again, made her ache; not in a good way.
“Granger, did you hear me?”
She met Roger Griggs’ stunning green eyes. “Sorry, what was that?”
“I said, with Captain Olinsky’s blessing, I’ve already sent the hard drives we gathered off to our federal tech squad, and I’m not sure how much time it’ll take.”
“Ah, well if they find definitive proof, they can take as long as they want.”
He smirked. “Not all of us want to be stuck in Vegas forever.”
Maddie managed a smile, and her eyes wandered back over in Gio’s direction. “Come on now, Vegas isn’t that bad.”
“What’s the deal with you and him?”
She whipped back to her colleague. “What? What d’you mean?”
“First, the private conference before we left, and then the weird interaction with him and the chick at the casino.” He dragged his hand over his bald head.
His skin-tone, as well as the hue of those pretty eyes suggested he was bi-racial, but she’d never asked.
Griggs wasn’t bald because he didn’t have any hair, he shaved it all off. In Chicago, their fellow marshals teased him about it, claiming he must have to oil his head to make it shine like it did.
She’d always liked him, and he had an all-business way about him; no bullshit, no nonsense. It usually meant he wasn’t all up in anyone’s business, either.
Looks like the buck stopped.
Perfect.
Maddie told herself to meet his curious gaze head-on. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”
He narrowed his eyes. “His name’s a little coincidental.”
Her heart slid to her toes.
“Just tell me if we have a conflict of interest.” Griggs lowered his voice.
She scanned the room. Everyone on the team was busy with a task. Navarro and Foster chatted at the whiteboard, markers in hand, and Garcia and Inspector Bailey were at the computer together.
Olinsky had gone back to his office after being debriefed, and he’d told them he would update Deputy Chief Patton himself.
Gio hadn’t moved, or stopped his perusal of the little book, the plastic evidence bag in one hand.
The old ledger had never made it all the way inside to be sealed away, and she agreed with that for the moment. She wanted to determine what they’d found, too.
Maddie told herself not to even glimpse his direction. “We don’t have a conflict.”
Her Chicago teammate studied her for a long moment, then offered a curt nod. “I won’t ask anything else. For now. But I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”
“I know.” She winced at the audible defeat in her answer.
“Does Captain Olinsky think it’s a problem?”
“Would he let him remain on the taskforce if he did?” She ignored the heat that kissed the back of her neck and put on her best poker-face. Her question-answer was a lie—sort of. As far as she knew, Olinsky didn’t know about Gio’s tie.
“Would you tell me if you thought there was a problem?” Griggs arched a dark eyebrow and narrowed his vivid eyes again.
Act natural. Don’t take a breath.
“Of course.” Maddie hoped to God her response hadn’t cracked, as she’d suspected. She didn’t need to tell him about her promise to let Gio prove his father and sister innocent. Couldn’t tell him; not now, not ever.
It would confirm there was a conflict of interest with her lover.
“Griggs, c’mere!” April Bailey called to their fellow marshal.
She sent up a silent prayer for the distraction.
The pretty redhead gestured to their colleague, urging him to join her and Hector Garcia at the computer.
“Granger, we’ll pick this up later.”
Oh, please, I hope not.
When she looked at Gio again, frustration tickled beneath the surface.
How could she want to hold him close and shove him away at the same time? Comfort him while she condemned his family?
There was something wrong with that—with her—wasn’t there?
His long frame was reclined at a table, and his shitkickers were perched on the edge, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He still poured over the pages of the book, but his shoulders were as tight as his brow.
He was really bothered by what he was reading, despite his casual posture.
Maddie sighed and approached.
Gio didn’t spare her a glance.
“You have something to tell me, don’t you?” she asked.
He still didn’t look up. “Do I?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Marco Fratelli? Elise’s fiancé?”
Gio closed his eyes and exhaled. “Oh. Him.”
Maddie shoved his feet off the table, but she didn’t feel any satisfaction as his body jarred to an awkward position, and he shot his hand to the table’s edge for balance. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Jesus, Mads, you’re gonna knock me on my ass.” He scowled as he straightened and centered said-fine-ass on the chair.
“Don’t call me that here,” she hissed. “You falling on your ass is no less than you deserve. You knew and didn’t tell me.”
He winced, but it didn’t make her feel any better. “I know you don’t like secrets. Sorry.”
Secrets? Shit.
Guilt smashed into her and almost knocked her out of her skin. Her arms fell to her sides, as her eyes spun and her heart cantered.
Jake’s smiling face danced into her head.
Secrets.
The biggest secret of her life.
Maddie screamed at herself to focus. This wasn’t about Jake. This was about relevant information regarding her case. Something Gio had kept from her.
Work. Work. Work.
“Secrets?” she squeaked, but didn’t give shit, and made herself keep going. “That’s not the half of it. You kept information regarding this case from me. That could be considered obstruction.” She worked to maintain low tones. Didn’t want to drag him from the room for this conversation and risk more whispers about them. Or about how they’d disappeared this morning before the warrant.
“You promised I could prove my family has nothing to do with this. You had to know I’m gonna do it my way,” he retorted, meeting her gaze. His eyes were defiant, not remorseful, and that made her blood boil.
He didn’t move, still maintaining the semi-casual posture, and somehow that made her pulse kick up even more. Like she was just supposed to accept whatever was coming out of his mouth.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you full disclosure has to be a part of that,” Maddie barked.
A hush fell over the conference room, and she didn’t need to scan around to confirm all eyes were on them.
Fuck.
Gio shot to his feet and towered over her. He tucked the book under his arm and narrowed his eyes. “I’m done with this issue, Senior Inspector Granger.”
He strode from the room, leaving wide stares, hanging jaws and a shit-ton of silence from their team in his wake.
Maddie was going to kill him.
Chapter Fifteen
Gian shut the penthouse door quietly with his return. The gorgeous view of the Sin City’s radiance, even though it was only early evening, caught his attention, with its thousands of tourists scattering the strip like tiny ants on the sidewalks. The place was glowing, never sleeping, and he’d always loved standing here surveying his kingdom.
If they were in Big Tony’s penthouse, the only other residence on this floor, he’d be able to see the giant fountain in front of the casino. He’d always liked to watch the water dance. It was calming for some reason. Shame it wasn’t visible from this angle of the building.
“Where the fuck have
you been?” Elise’s demand held a deadly edge he’d never heard before.
He turned away from the lights and gave his fiancée a once over. Tried to appear surprised at her choice of words, but he’d always liked her spunk.
Her hair, normally neat no matter how it was coiffed, was down over her shoulders and looked more than a little windblown, like she’d been running her hands through it over and over. She wore an oversized black silk robe falling off one bare shoulder. She was all ready for bed, much earlier than normal.
A thick belt encircled her tiny waist, but her top peeked through. It was a pale pink, spaghetti strapped nighty she was fond of. It had matching shorts that stopped right below her perfect ass-cheeks.
If he didn’t know why she was upset, his fiancée could pass for rumpled after some fantastic sex. His cock liked the idea, but her expression shouted he wouldn’t be getting laid for a long, long time. Unless of course, he played his cards right with cleaning up this…situation.
“I had something I had to take care of. I’m sorry it took so long.”
“You didn’t answer your phone all day!”
Gian suppressed his odd urge to comfort her, and wipe away the tears forming in her big brown eyes. He donned his best chagrin. “I hate to admit this, but I lost it.”
Her fair brows furrowed. “You lost your cellphone?”
“I did. I’m sorry. I’ll replace it in the morning.”
Elise averted her gaze, but when she met his eyes again, she appeared to be unable to speak. Her bottom lip wobbled. After a few moments, her chest heaved, lifting her awesome tits. “S-something…horrible happened today.”
His heart stuttered and he told himself it had to do with the fucking search warrant she didn’t know he knew about, and not the expression on her beautiful face.
Shattered.
He didn’t like it.
Gian scrambled for words and made himself rush to her side. “Is it your dad? What happened? I’m so sorry I was out-of-pocket when you needed me, tesoro.” He kissed her cheek, and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing in earnest.
He had no choice but to hold her, and he stroked her back, whispering calming Italian endearments. She’d always liked when he spoke dirty in his second language, but of course, that wouldn’t get him inside her right now.
“Wh-where were you?” Elise demanded between sobs, not looking up from his chest. “With you gone all day…considering what happened, it…made me think…you knew what was—”
He rested his hands on her shoulders and squeezed, tilting her away so he could meet her eyes. He needed to pull his acting skills together, stat. Needed to be a concerned, innocent fiancé.
Enough to take an Academy Award.
“What’re you talking about? Tell me what happened.” Gian wanted to demand she stop crying and shake her. However, the urge to comfort her equaled that unwanted urge. He’d deal with that later.
Much later.
Or not at all.
She was a mark and didn’t mean anything to him.
“I—”
When she wiped the tears and running makeup from her face, he let her take a few steps back, but those mocha eyes still implored too much for his comfort.
Like only he could restore order to her world.
“Let’s sit, tesoro. Tell me all about it.” He kept his voice even, and disregarded the skip of his heart. It had to have something to do with all the info she was about to reveal. Now, he’d know for certain just how fucked he was.
His fiancé nodded and allowed Gian to lead her to their L-shaped black leather sofa. It was overstuffed and extra wide. Two people could sleep side-by-side on it.
More times than he could count, he’d bent Elise over the back of the cushion and taken her from behind with the lights of Sin City as the background. His little half-Italian firecracker could be a dirty girl.
Instead of sinking into the plush cushions and relaxing, she perched on the edge and let her knee go to town, hammering up and down until her nerves skittered down his spine.
He took a seat next to her. Grabbed her hands and squeezed. All for her benefit, of course. “What happened, Elise?” Again, he employed that calm tone, sounding more shrink than fiancé. He’d pat himself on the back if he could.
“Cops.”
“What?”
“Not just cops. Feds.” She hiccupped.
“Start from the beginning.” Gian plastered the appropriate shock on his face, and caressed the back of her hand.
“US Marshals showed up with a warrant. They wouldn’t say what it was for, only what they were there to seize.”
“US Marshals?”
Not FBI?
Interesting. Uncle Dino had said the FBI had arrested Fratelli.
Elise nodded. “My brother was with them.”
He made his eyes widen and opened his mouth in a half-gape. “What? That’s terrible. What did he say?”
Her pretty face darkened with instant rage. “Nothing. The jerk didn’t even give me a heads-up. He was just with them, like a freaking stranger.”
Also interesting.
Why had her brother not mentioned he knew Gian wasn’t Marco Fratelli? Strange to keep the truth to himself in investigation like this. Had he figured out who Gian really was?
Had he told the feds?
He cleared his throat, ignoring the quiver in his stomach. “Have you talked to him since?”
“He can go to hell.” She stuck her bottom lip out in a tempting pout, but he knew better than to lean over and suck it into his mouth, no matter how he might want to.
Gian gave into a smirk that was too hard to fight. There was her fire again. He admired it. “I take that as a no?”
“He’s not taking my calls, but Paul said no contact is better for now. He’s the one who told me what the warrant was for.”
“Paul Allemand?”
She nodded. “He made it here after they left.”
“What did he say?”
Elise’s eyes clouded with tears again. “He said he reviewed the paperwork from the cops.”
Gian had to admire her ability to keep from losing it all over again. “And?” he prompted when the seconds ticked by and she failed to speak.
“It’s bad, Marco, it’s so bad… I don’t know what—”
“Elise.” He gripped both her hands and held them in what he hoped came off as a comforting, confident grip. “Just breathe and tell me.”
“Money laundering.”
He reared back and forced a gasp of appropriate horror. “What?”
She nodded. “When I couldn’t get a hold of you all day, I freaked out. My mind went a whole bunch of scary places. I thought… I mean, I know you. I love you, you could never—”
“No,” Gian said with enough hurt and volume to get her eyes back to his face. He frowned and flattened his lips. “You know me better than that; I could never be involved in something like that. I’m not a criminal.”
Elise startled at his emphasis on the last word, then studied him, as if looking for something to confirm his words. Her mouth trembled. “Then…where were you?”
It was his turn to inhale, as if he wasn’t over being offended that she’d thought the worst of him. “I went to LA.”
“LA? Why?”
“There’s an oncologist there that specializes in late-stage cases. I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to give you false hope. I know your dad doesn’t want to be treated, but I hoped if this doctor knew about his case, and I could get him out here to talk to Big Tony, maybe…” He shrugged and made his voice catch, as if he was about to lose it over her poor-cancer-ridden daddy.
“Oh, Marco.” She threw herself into his arms again, and he caught her up, rubbing her back again. “I can’t believe I thought… Oh, God, I’m so sorry.” When she pulled back, she trembled all over. “I’m a shit. I mean…can you forgive me?”
Damn, I’m good.
Gian donned another appropriate expression, instead
of giving into his internal pride and beaming. He should join the Actors’ Guild. He did deserve an Oscar. “Say no more. I understand. I disappeared, and you couldn’t get a hold of me. It’s only natural for you to suspect the worst, especially given what happened. I would’ve thought the same.”
Elise clung to him again, and he patted her shoulders until she stopped shaking. She was crying again, and he didn’t want her to spiral.
He had to regain control. Needed more information about what the feds had seized. “Then I lost my phone somewhere between here and there,” he said with a light edge to distract her, and offered another shrug.
She straightened and wiped her fresh tears away. “We’ll get you a new phone. I love you.”
He nodded. “Ditto. My lost cell is the least of our worries, tesoro. We have to handle what happened today. What else did Mr. Allemand say? What did they take from us?”
Her expression softened, like it always did when he called her his ‘treasure’ in Italian, and when he acknowledged her love for him, but there was more than silly feminine approval in her dark eyes.
Gian could read relief.
Feel her relief.
This was good. It could work in his favor.
“I knew you’d help me fix this.”
“Of course, tesoro. We’ve worked too hard to modernize this place. To make it ours.”
“Maybe it wasn’t worth it. Maybe something like this wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t overhauled the accounting programs and software.”
“Hey now, stop that. We’ll figure this out.” He tilted her chin up and brushed his mouth over hers so she would smile.
She did, but it still had a forlorn edge he didn’t like.
“Did you call your dad?” he asked.
Elise shook her head. “No. I don’t have the heart to bother him with it. I’ll tell him when I don’t have a choice. Not…yet.”
He nodded. Knowing the old man, he’d leave the hospital AMA and storm the police department. It was better for Gian if Big Tony was in the dark. For more than one reason.
He needed her to focus and tell him the rest. “Does Allemand feel like this has something to do with our software?”
Of course it didn’t. Gian wasn’t an idiot. He didn’t plant his numbers where they could be discovered easily amongst the legit financials from the casino. They were hidden, well-placed, as if they belonged where he’d put them. He excelled at making numbers lie.
