He wasn’t trying to flatter John Lando. The man couldn’t care less about being respected outside of the movie industry. Nico was simply hoping to gauge John’s reaction, see if he closed up or distanced himself rather than offering to help.
“You give me too much credit,” John said. “My time is almost exclusively occupied by my production company. The truth is, Gino Torelli handles most of the family business, an arrangement that works perfectly for me.”
He wasn’t lying. Gino was John’s Underboss, and rumor had it he handled day-to-day family business so John could focus on his movies. It was a weakness with no real consequence; in LA, the movie business reigned supreme. John wielded far more influence as a film executive than he would as Boss of the LA family. It was probably one of the reasons Dante came out west to stage his coup. The U.S. arm of the Syndicate had been headquartered on the east coast since the late 1800s. A takeover would have met with more resistance there, and Dante may have found help harder to find.
“That may be true,” Nico said. “But we both know big decisions always go through the man in charge. And that would be you.”
He held John’s gaze until he broke eye contact, shuffling things nervously around on his desk.
“I’m sorry I can’t help. I haven’t heard anything about Dante being in LA.” He looked up, his eyes unnaturally bright. He might be the worst liar Nico had ever seen. “But I’m having a little party tomorrow night to celebrate funding on a new project. I don’t usually mix family business with movie business, but you should come.”
It was a fatal mistake on John’s part. In an effort to deflect Nico’s questions about Dante, John had opened a door he probably didn’t want open. And while attending a Hollywood party filled with self-important celebrities was the very last thing Nico wanted to do, it would gain him access to John’s house.
“I’d love to come,” Nico said.
John’s face fell a little. “Great, great.”
He scrawled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Nico. “Starts at nine. Ends whenever. And if you end up not being able to make it, I understand.”
Nice try, Nico thought.
“I’ll be there,” he said, standing.
John reached across the desk to his hand. “Looking forward to it.”
“I’ll just see myself out,” Nico said.
He strode to the door and headed down the hall before John could protest, passing the brunette without a word. He was still fuming over the interaction when he hit the street outside. He didn’t know if John was actually helping Dante, but the bastard knew something. And Nico had no doubt that John’s decision to keep quiet had nothing to do with loyalty and everything to do with cowardice.
There were only two possibilities; either John had made the decision to lay down while Dante defied the rules of the Syndicate, or Gino had made the decision and John had gone along with it. Either way, the man wasn’t fit to run the LA family—or any family.
He walked toward Locke’s Porsche, parked at the curb. It was as unsatisfying an outcome as he could have imagined. He couldn’t rule John out, but he didn’t have a solid lead on his involvement either.
What would he tell Angel?
He thought about how she’d looked the night before, eyes wary and sad when he’d tucked her into bed, and felt a fresh burst of admiration for her. She had the heart of a lion. She would fight to get her brother back alive, and he would fight with her. He would burn down the whole city if necessary.
He looked in the rearview mirror, waiting a full minute before a break in traffic allowed him to pull away from the curb.
Fuck, he hated LA.
20
Angel sat back in the dining room chair and rubbed her eyes. Locke had given her the permissions for his server before he’d left, and she’d gone to work the minute the reports from Luca came through via email.
But any hope she’d started with was gone after hours pouring over an endless list of names, places, companies, schools. At first she’d been careful, taking time to really process every hit. That level of detail hadn’t lasted long. There was simply too much information, and none of it struck a bell as something that might lead to David. Not that she was anywhere near finished.
She looked at the page on the computer screen; 37 of 362.
Fighting the urge to scream into the empty room, she pushed back from the table and poured a glass of wine from the bottle she’d opened at lunch. Apparently, Locke wasn’t only a surfer-slash-commando-slash-entrepreneur-slash-greenthumb; he was also an expert on wines. He’d shown her the wine cellar before he left and had even chosen a lovely Riesling to get her started.
She took a drink of the cold, sweet liquid and closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe deeply, empty her mind. She wouldn’t be able to help David if she couldn’t think clearly.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an engine growing steadily louder as it approached the courtyard. A minute later, the front door opened, and she heard Nico’s footsteps in the hall.
“Hey,” he said, rounding the corner into the kitchen. His white shirt was open at the neck, revealing a sliver of smooth skin, and his tailored chinos seemed to hug every muscle in his big thighs. He’d been gone all day, but he looked as crisp and fresh as he had this morning. “How was your day?”
She tried to smile, or at least not to look like she wanted to scream. “It was okay. I started on the reports from Luca.”
“Yeah?” He took a drink from her glass, then lowered his mouth to hers, sliding his tongue, cold from the wine, over hers until she shivered with anticipation. She knew what his tongue would feel like if he took her nipple in his mouth. Knew how delicious his cold mouth would be sucking her clit. He pulled back to look at her, his eyes a little glassy. “Any luck?”
She forced her thoughts away from Nico’s mouth on her body. “Not yet. There’s a lot.”
He walked over to the table and looked at the open laptop Locke had given her. “Is this it?”
She nodded. “I’ve been working all day.”
“Like a needle in a haystack,” he muttered, scrolling over the pages.
“Exactly.” His words caused a fresh surge of frustration to roll through her body. “And it might not work at all.”
He crossed the room and stopped in front of her, slid his hands into the hair at the back of her head. “Hey,” he said softly, “we’re going to figure this out.”
She pulled away and took a gulp of the wine. “What if we don’t?”
“We will,” he insisted.
“Maybe we should have a Plan B,” she said. “Just in case.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What kind of Plan B?”
She swallowed hard, knowing he wouldn’t like what she said next. “Well, Dante wants the New York territory, right?”
Nico shook his head. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m not saying you should give it to him,” she said quickly. She would never ask that of Nico. Would never even want him to do it. The thought of all that power in the hands of someone like Dante—all those people willing to do his bidding—made her sick. “I was just thinking…. maybe there’s a way we could get him to think you were giving him the business. Just for show, until he releases David.”
“That would never work,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I’d have to make some kind of announcement to make it believable, and you can’t come back from something like that.” His voice had risen, and she could see from the set of his jaw that he was angry. “You can’t tell men like the ones who work for me that they work for someone else and then say ‘just kidding’ afterward.”
“Don’t patronize me,” Angel snapped. She took a deep breath. “I’m just saying; maybe there’s a way to fake it to get David back.”
He met her gaze. “I think you’re oversimplifying things.”
She wanted to rail against him. To tell him it was simple; she need to get her brother back
unharmed. Nothing else mattered. But even as she thought it, she knew it was a lie. Even a tiny amount of power in the hands of someone like Dante could be catastrophic for a lot of innocent people. She couldn’t just blow that off, pretend it didn’t matter.
“I know it’s not simple,” she said. “I just don’t like relying on three-hundred-and-sixty-two pages of random words and phrases to find my brother.”
He pulled her into his arms, and she let herself sink into his chest, to believe for just a minute that he could make everything right.
“I’m working some other angles,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
She looked up at him. “Like what? Did John know anything?”
“He knows something all right,” Nico said drily. “He just wouldn’t cop to it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He claimed not to know anything about Dante being in LA. The problem is, he’s not only a coward, he’s a terrible liar.”
“How do we prove that though?” she asked.
“We attend a party.”
“A party?”
“A Hollywood party,” he said. “John was so busy trying to move me past the subject of Dante that he invited us to his house.”
She pulled away from Nico and paced the floor. “And you’re thinking we dig around a little while we’re there?”
“They’ll probably be watching me,” Nico said. “I was thinking you could do it while I keep them busy.”
“Won’t he make sure his house is clean since you’re coming?”
“He’ll try,” Nico said. “But he’d have to wipe computers, empty drawers, scour every surface for incriminating evidence.”
“How do you know he won’t?”
Nico laughed a little. “I don’t think he’s that smart. Not about this anyway. He might be able to make a great movie, but the west coast family is more or less run by his Underboss.”
There were a hundred things wrong with the plan. What if she was caught? What if John’s Underboss took it upon himself to make sure the place was clean after he found out Nico was coming?
She turned to Nico, not bothering to hide her suspicion. “Why are you letting me do this?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, a little too innocently.
She folded her arms over her chest. “You’ve gone from wanting to roll me in bubble wrap to letting me dig through John Lando’s house during a party? Come on. What’s up?”
He sighed. “Look, I’m not about to leave you alone here, two hours from LA, while I go to this party. Which means you’re coming with me. And I’m not going to leave you exposed to John’s men while I search his house. It’s safer for you if I keep their eyes on me. That means you’re the one to search John’s house.”
“So basically, you’ll be in more danger than me?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Because I’m going to keep my eye on every single one of John’s men to make sure you’re in the clear.”
“Great,” she said.
It made sense, and she was confident that John’s men wouldn’t be a danger to her with Nico watching them. But she wasn’t crazy about Nico being in the line of fire either.
“It’s the only way,” he said. “Unless you want to rely on those three-hundred-and-sixty-two pages of data from Sara.”
She sighed. “I don’t. Although I’m not giving up on that either.”
“We’ll cover all our bases,” he said, slipping a hand into her shirt and cupping her breast.
“It looks like you’re the one covering all your bases,” she said.
His chuckle was deep, laced with sex. “On the contrary; I’m trying to cover all your bases.”
She swatted at him, but already her pulse had quickened, and she felt her body calling for him. “Now you’re just getting cheesy.”
He bent his head, flicking his tongue against her neck, moving up to nibble her ear until her breath came fast and shallow.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go for a swim.”
“Let me get my bathing suit.”
He pulled her toward the sound of the ocean rushing onto the beach. “You won’t be needing your bathing suit, Angel.”
21
They were having breakfast on the patio the next morning when the intercom sounded at the front gate. Angel flinched, her mind turning to Dante, wondering if he’d sent someone after them. She wasn’t worried for herself. But David was out there, counting on her to find him in the next twenty-four hours. And Nico… well, maybe he wasn’t what some people would call a good man. But he was her man. And she would rather die than see something happen to him.
He put a gentle hand over hers. “It’s nothing. I’m expecting a package.”
He went inside and pressed a button on the intercom attached to the security camera. On the display, Angel could just make out a FedEx truck sitting outside the gates.
“Leave it,” Nico said into the intercom.
He watched as the driver stepped out of the truck and leaned something against the gate. When he’d left, Nico opened a drawer in the kitchen and removed a revolver.
Angel stood. “Nico?”
“It’s just a precaution,” he said. “Everything’s fine. I’ll be right back.”
She walked into the house and watched on the camera as he made his way down the drive. Sure enough, he pressed the code to open the gate, retrieved the package, and re-entered Locke’s compound without incident. She exhaled loudly, holding a hand to her chest like that would stop the too-fast beating of her heart.
He returned to the house a couple of minutes later, carrying a large brown box.
“What is it?” she asked.
He came toward her and set it on the table. “Open it.”
“It’s for me?”
“It is.”
She went to the kitchen for a knife, then used it to cut the tape at the sides and along the center. Inside the box were two more boxes; one large and white, the other a shoe box.
She looked at him. “What did you do?”
“Open it.”
She started with the white box, tied with a silky midnight blue bow. When she lifted the lid, she peeled back several layers of tissue paper before she came to the French blue silk. The fabric was just a whisper as she lifted it out of the box to reveal a filmy floor length dress. The color started as gray-blue at the shoulders, slowly lightening to pale aqua at the hem in a kind of ombre. It had long sleeves, might even have been conservative except for the deep “V” cut into the neckline. A glimpse at the label told her it was Elie Saab.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said. “But why are you shopping for me? I brought clothes from the house in Miami.”
He pulled her into his arms, crushing the dress between them. The silk was a sensual counterpoint to the hard line of his body, and she felt the stirrings of desire as she imagined his hands sliding up her bare legs under the dress.
“Those are Miami clothes,” he said. “You needed LA clothes.”
She smiled, touched that he was always thinking of her, even when a monster like Dante was after his business, was after him. “I did, huh?”
He nodded, his eyes hooded. “There are shoes, too.”
“A dress and shoes?” she asked, trying to be playful in spite of the ticking clock hanging over their heads. “What will I ever do to repay you?”
He lifted her into his arms with a growl, the dress flowing to the floor in a wash of iridescent silk. “We’ll think of something.”
They did, and an hour later she was surprised when he rose from the bed in all his naked glory and put on jeans.
“Don’t we have to get ready for the party?” she asked, her body loose and spent from the three orgasms Nico had delivered to her with his tongue, his fingers, his cock. It had been a delicious kind of denial, and one she’d desperately needed. Her mind felt clearer, and she was ready to get back to work.
“In a couple of hours,” he said. “There’s something I want to do first. But you’
ll need to get dressed.”
Twenty minutes later, he was leading her through John’s house to the wine cellar. “This might not be the best time for a wine tasting,” she said.
“Funny,” he said, leading her through the room to a big door. “But we’re not going to drink wine.” He pulled a key from the pocket of his jeans and inserted it into the lock.
“Then what are we doing?”
He opened the door and reached in to flip on some lights. A moment later, she stepped into a full size shooting gallery. At least, that’s what she assumed it was. She’d only ever seen them on TV and in the movies.
“We’re going to shoot,” he said.
“We’re going to shoot,” she repeated, turning to look at him. “Guns?”
He sighed. “We could try slingshots, but guns will be more effective, I think.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not shooting a gun.”
He touched a hand to her cheek, rubbed his thumb along her jawbone. “It’s time for you to learn to protect yourself,” he said. “I wish it wasn’t, but it is.”
She wanted to argue, but the regret in his eyes made her heart hurt. He didn’t like that he had to do this, wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think it was necessary to her safety. And she trusted him, didn’t she? Knew he would die to protect her?
“Okay,” she said. “But I’m not crazy about the idea.”
“That makes two of us,” he said.
He led her to the end of the gallery and a rack of guns behind a cage. He used one of the keys on the ring to unlock the metal cage, then scanned the weapons on offer. After about a minute, he picked up a small handgun and checked the chamber. The weapon looked mean and cold in his hand, and she instinctively recoiled when he walked toward her with it.
He held it out. “Take it,” he said. “It’s not loaded. I just want you to get used to the feel of it in your hand.”
She took it and was surprised by how heavy it was, how smooth and cold the alloy felt in her hand. A feeling of power rose within her, and she immediately squashed it. This wasn’t power. This was violence. And she was only doing it to ease Nico’s mind.
Fearless: Mob Boss Book Two (Volume 2) Page 9
