“Stefano,” I whisper-plead. I want to explain—or better yet, go back in time and be more transparent from the beginning. Maybe I could avoid this betrayal of his faith in me.
But it’s too late. Leo grabs my elbow and yanks me through the door, slamming it behind me.
I can barely see as I toddle out, tears blinding me. My purse is still in their office, so I have nothing: no keys, no money, no phone, nowhere to go.
I find my way outside and start walking, away from the Bellissimo, away from Stefano. Away from everything I loved.
#
Stefano
The minute she’s gone, I throw the desk over. I want to smash everything in sight. She never loved me. She played me. Ruined me.
Leo watches, silent at first. “Want me to take care of her?”
“No.”
Even as angry as I am, as broken and betrayed and fucking insane as I am, I could never harm Corey.
“I’m not sure you really have the perspective necessary to make this call.”
I throw myself at Leo, cut off his air as I shove him up against the wall. “You don’t ever question my judgment. Not on this. Not on anything. Capiche?”
“Yeah. Got it, boss,” Leo says quickly.
I storm out, because if I stay, I’m going to kill the guy. I go up to our suite—my suite—fuck!—and I immediately know it was a mistake.
The place smells like her. Reminds me of her. Slays me.
I go on a rampage, throwing furniture, putting my fist through the wall.
All this fucking time I thought she was holding back because she was protecting her heart. But she wasn’t. She was playing me.
I heard the warning bells about her fucking dad. I knew getting involved with her would bite me. I just chose to ignore it. I was too captivated by the enigma that is Corey Simonson. I wanted to be the guy who set her free. Wanted to know what it’s like to get inside her shell. To be her man.
I am a fucking idiot.
I pace around the wrecked room, trying to remember every single thing I ever said in her presence. She saw me shoot Donahue. That’s a problem, for sure. But what else—
I stop.
She saw me shoot Donahue and didn’t go to the cops. If she had, why would they need a bug? Unless they want to take down Nico, too. Or just get as much info as possible.
I rub my bruised knuckles.
What if she told me the truth? Her dad planted it on her after the shooting. She didn’t tell him anything. He’s digging, using his in, but he has nothing.
Because Corey wouldn’t betray me.
Hot emotion chokes me. My eyes burn.
Fuck! I slam my fist into the wall again.
I don’t know what to believe.
Was Leo right? Is my judgment too off on this one to know what’s happening?
Or did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?
#
Corey
I don’t know how long I walk—until my feet are blistered and my calves are in spasm. I somehow end up back the Bellissimo—precisely where I’m not supposed to be. I take the elevator to the top deck of the parking lot and look over the edge.
No, I’m not thinking about jumping. I’m not stupid or suicidal. And while the pain in my chest is startling, I have a lot more to worry about right now than a broken heart. I need to worry about my immediate survival.
I am so fucked right now.
I think it’s quite possible someone will come after me, despite the fact that Stefano let me go. Which means going to my place would be a mistake.
I could contact Sondra. I know she’d do anything in the world for me, but if Nico or any of his soldiers want to find me, she’s going to be the first person they look to for answers. I don’t want to put her in that position.
I do have the stash of money under my couch cushion. I need to get there and get it out without anyone seeing me.
I head back out to the strip and hail a cab. It’s not a great plan, but it’s a start. Once I have a place to stay I can contemplate what I’ve lost.
Stefano.
The only man who ever saw the real me.
Chapter Seventeen
Stefano
“Any sign of her?” I bark in my phone to Leo. I have him sitting in front of Corey’s apartment, in hopes she’ll show up. It’s been twenty hours since I threw her out and I’m going out of my fucking mind.
It took me the first six hours to pull my head out of my ass and realize Corey might not have been playing me. In retrospect, it seems obvious. Would she have just let Leo scan her purse without batting an eyelash if she’d been hiding something? If she knew she was carrying a bug? I’ve been looking for her ever since.
“No, none. No sign of life here at all.”
Fanculo.
The fact that her car’s still sitting in the Bellissimo lot and she’s not at her apartment absolutely guts me.
It means she’s hiding. She’s afraid.
Of me.
Because I’m the stronzo who tossed her out and told her to never show her face again like a fucking idiot. So much for I will always defend you. I let my fear of not being good enough, of a fed’s daughter never being able to be with a guy like me create some monstrous betrayal in my head instead of just taking the time to listen to her. She doesn’t even have a phone, or her wallet.
If it’s true she gave the money from Memphis to her father, she has nothing.
Maybe she went to him.
It’s an uneasy thought. Would he take care of her? The man who put a bug in his own daughter’s purse, putting her life in jeopardy?
I need answers. I need fucking information. I head up to Sondra’s office and barge in. Nico’s in with her, sitting on her desk.
“Where’s your cousin?” I demand.
She stands up, her blue eyes round. “What do you mean?”
I stalk around toward her, but Nico blocks my way. “Take a fucking step back,” he warns. “What’s going on?”
“Corey. Have you heard from her? At all?”
Sondra’s brows pinch. “No. What happened? Did you have a fight?”
I stab my fingers through my hair. “You could say that.” I turn and look out the floor to ceiling windows. “Tell me about her dad.”
Sondra draws in a sharp breath. “He’s an asshole,” she says without hesitation. “I can’t tell you how many nights she spent as a kid at my house because she didn’t want to go home.”
My chest tightens.
“Corey hasn’t talked to him in years.”
“You sure about that? He was or is here, in Vegas.” I watch her closely.
Her expression sours like something smells bad in the room. “He was?”
“And in Chicago.”
Fear flickers over Sondra’s face and Nico curses. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“He dropped a bug in Corey’s purse. She says she paid him off to drop his investigation of me.”
Sondra covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh no. So where is she? What happened?”
I pace around the room. “I fucked up.” I jab an angry hand into the air. “I threw her out. I didn’t know what to believe.”
“Oh no,” Sondra says again.
“Now she’s missing. I have her purse and keys. She’s not at her place. Her car’s still in the lot. I don’t know where the fuck she went or how to get ahold of her.”
“How long has she been gone?”
“Since yesterday. Any ideas of where she would go? What she would do?”
Sondra’s eyes well with tears. “No. She should’ve called me.”
My phone rings and I pull it out. It’s a Michigan number. I answer. “Tacone speaking.”
“Special Agent Simonson, FBI.”
I tense up, motion my brother over.
“I believe you’re aware I’m investigating you.”
I grunt an affirmative. My hand tightens so hard on the phone I fear it will crack.
“I�
�m willing to discuss dropping the investigation.”
I am going to kill this man.
No wait, I can’t. He’s still Corey’s fucking father.
“What are your terms?” I don’t bother arguing that he already took money from Corey to drop it if her story is true, which I’m coming to believe it is.
“Five hundred grand in cash and I destroy the evidence. Deliver it at 8:00 p.m. tonight in the parking garage of the Hard Rock Cafe.”
He ends the call without waiting for my answer.
“What evidence?” Nico snaps.
I shake my head. “It’s a bluff. Unless Corey’s working with him.”
“Corey’s not working with him,” Sondra cries, fingers balled into fists. “How could you even think that?”
I drop my chin to my chest in defeat. “I don’t. I really don’t. Would she go to him for help?” I ask Sondra. “Do you think she’s with him?”
“No way—never. I’m telling you, she’s not even on speaking terms with him.”
“So what’s the play?” Nico asks.
“I meet him. Find out if he knows where Corey is.”
“Then what?” Nico wants to know.
I shrug. No fucking clue. “I’ll figure it the fuck out.”
“Take Leo and Eddie. Are you bringing the cash?”
“No.” My voice is harder than stone. No fucking way I’m giving that man more money. He already robbed Corey of hers and he still thinks he can blackmail me? Fuck him. Dirty feds stink worse than the lowest of the underground.
“Good.”
Yeah good. But I’m still no closer to finding Corey. “Sondra, if Corey calls you…” I break off and rub my sternum because I don’t know what the fuck to say. Even if I tell Corey I believe her, is she really going to come back here with me?
After the way I treated her? Threatened her life?
She’s a smart, self-respecting woman. If she’s not in trouble right now, then she’s already as far from here as she can get.
The thing that kills me is that she might be in trouble. I left her with very few options.
And I know hundreds of unspeakable things that happen to women who run out of options in Vegas.
“If I hear from her, I’ll tell her you fucked up and you really want to apologize,” Sondra fills in.
I throw her a grateful look.
“Yeah, exactly. Thanks.”
Sondra’s eyes look haunted, though, and she can’t even be half as worried about Corey as I am.
Madonna help me.
#
Corey
It’s four in the afternoon and I’m still in the nasty motel bed. It’s not like I’ve slept. Well, maybe I drowsed a little, but every time I do, I dream of Stefano getting shot. Or shooting me.
I wake up with a pain in my chest like it really happened.
How did things get so messed up? How can I make it right?
I simply can’t allow Stefano to believe I used him. Why did I never tell him how much he meant to me? That he’s the only guy I’ve ever fallen for? How much I appreciate—no, appreciate isn’t deep enough—how he devastated me with his thoughtfulness. His love. I know he never said it, but only love would make a man work so hard to lift his woman’s belief in herself. If only I’d done something to show him my love, too. Then he wouldn’t have doubted me. Wouldn’t have believed I could betray him.
I stumble out of bed and take a shower in the dingy bathroom.
What’s my plan?
I need a plan. Finding out where I really stand with the Tacones would be a start. I need to call Sondra. And maybe she can help me figure out a way to prove to Stefano I wasn’t a part of my father’s plan.
I put on my dirty clothes and walk to a Walgreens on the corner where I buy a pair of flip flops, leggings and a t-shirt so I at least have something to change into. I also get a burner phone to make calls.
I hardly have anyone’s number memorized anymore, but Sondra and I have been close since before the dawn of cell phones. I still know her number by heart. I dial it, my nerves jangling as I wait for her to pick up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Corey, thank God! Where are you? Where have you been? Stefano is looking for you.”
“I was afraid of that. My dad—”
“Stefano told me about the bug and that you tried to pay your dad off. He’s already called Stefano to blackmail him for more.”
“What?”
Of all the possible scenarios, that one hadn’t crossed my mind.
“Yeah, Stefano’s meeting him tonight in the Hard Rock parking garage.”
My heart thuds painfully against my chest. This is exactly what I need—my dad and Stefano in the same room—or garage, as the case may be. A chance to prove to Stefano I’m not a part of my dad’s nasty schemes.
“Thanks, that’s what I need to know,” I say.
“Wait, Corey!” Sondra yelps into the phone to stop me from hanging up. “Where are you? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to prove to Stefano I wasn’t a part of this shitstorm. Or at least make him believe I didn’t know I was bugged. I should’ve told him about my dad investigating him—that’s on me. But I had no idea my dad planted a bug.”
“Stefano’s worried about you.”
My chest constricts painfully.
He still cares.
I can fix this.
I can’t speak because my throat clogs with tears. “Thanks, Sondra. I’ll be in touch.”
Chapter Eighteen
Stefano
I’m ready to chew up and spit out everyone around me. I need to get a grip on my aggression or I’m going to smash in Corey’s dad’s skull. I hope to fuck he knows where she is.
We put on kevlar vests under our shirts because I definitely don’t trust this guy. All three of us also set our phones to record. Audio surveillance goes both ways. Having evidence against Mr. Crooked Fed could be useful.
I didn’t like what Sondra said about Corey’s childhood with this dickbag. I already knew it sucked, but now I want to make him pay for it. He damaged her. I want him to bleed.
Dial it back, stronzo.
We arrive at the Hard Rock and pull into the underground parking area. I get out with the suitcase full of nothing and we check our weapons. There are video cameras up in the corners, but it looks to me like someone already shot them out.
Okay, dickhead. Where are you?
I stroll through the garage like I’m going for a goddamn walk with my dog through the tulips until I spot him, leaning up against a pillar.
“Simonson.”
“Tacone.”
“Where’s your daughter?”
“She’s somewhere safe,” he says, simultaneously relieving me and ripping my heart out. She did go to him for help.
Is she working with him?
Fuck—I know she’s not. She’s not.
“She’s ready and willing to testify against you, but she doesn’t want to.”
My heart slows, drags like a lame horse in my chest.
“Oh yeah?” Now I’m just teenage bluster. I can’t even think. Can’t discern what’s what here. Dammit. Corey is my blind spot. I should’ve let Nico or Leo take the lead on this.
“That’s bullshit!”
I nearly drop to my knees.
Corey comes marching out from around the corner, looking like a fiery angel with her red hair spilling out behind her.
“Corey, get back,” her father barks, but she ignores him. She’s blazing toward me. Anger crackles all around her and my heart skips up to speed. I’m suddenly sure of her—I know this woman.
Fury crosses her father’s face. I should’ve paid attention, but I only have eyes for Corey. I need to apologize, let her know I believe her.
“Stefano, I’m not a part of his scheme. Not at all. Don’t believe a word he says.”
“Stefano,” Leo barks, drawing his weapon.
It’s too lat
e. Simonson fires on Leo, hitting him in the chest.
Corey whirls. “No!” she screams and leaps in front of me. Her body jerks and crumples to the asphalt.
I draw my pistol and fire on Simonson. The bullet hits him right in the forehead but I don’t wait to see him fall, I’m running for Corey. “Call 911,” I shout at my men, scooping her into my arms. Blood spreads rapidly across the top of her shirt. I ball it up and push on the wound.
No, please.
Don’t let her die.
Not now. Not like this.
How could I have doubted her love?
She took a goddamn bullet for me.
And I failed her.
In every possible way.
Chapter Nineteen
Corey
My throat kills me, eyes feel gritty. The astringent smell of disinfectant hits my nose before I manage to crack my lids.
Oh God. I’m alive. I’m alive and Stefano thinks I betrayed him. I blink, trying to focus as my eyes adjust to being open.
A face comes into view, but it’s not the one I want to see—the one I need to see. “Stefano?” I manage to croak through dry lips.
Sondra surges off the chair beside me, leans over. “She’s awake!”
“What…” I lick my lips. “Where is Stefano?”
“Get out.”
My heart surges at the harsh, clipped sound of his voice. He’s alive. Free. Here.
But he sounds angry.
“Watch how you talk to my wife.” It takes me a moment to place the angry growl before the figure of Nico looms into view.
“Will you please both get out?” Stefano’s normal easy-going charm is completely absent.
“You’re lucky I know what it’s like to be in your shoes with your balls hanging in the wind,” Nico remarks.
“Fuck off and get out.” Stefano looks like shit. His jaw is shadowed, expression haggard.
“I’ll be back,” Sondra promises me, but I hardly spare her a glance. I can’t look away from Stefano’s intense gaze, which is locked on my face.
“Stefano.” My voice is so hoarse I can hardly speak, but I have to get this out. I push myself up to sit and swing my legs over the edge of the hospital bed. Pain shoots down my left arm and I gasp.
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