Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I had one foot on the floor and was about to stand when he came stalking back, casually shoving me backward, this time sending me landing on my back with a muffled grunt as he made his way to my closet.
No.
Dammit.
Not my closet.
Granted, there was a lot of shit in there. But it wouldn’t take him long to find the wallet with how hard he was tearing through things.
I rolled over, got to my feet, and bent forward, raising my arms and slamming them down.
Once.
Twice.
Nothing.
But the third time was the charm, making my arms fly apart toward my sides as the plastic snapped.
I was reaching up to pull down my gag when I watched in horror as he lifted the shoe, reached into the toe, and came back with the wallet.
No.
But even as I thought it, he unzipped the coin compartment and saw the diamonds inside.
He made a snorting sound, a smile tugging at his lips. Then he was tucking it into his pocket and standing.
I didn’t stop to think, didn’t spend a second trying to get to a weapon.
I just flew at him, sending him stumbling forward on his path around my bed and toward the door to the hall.
But he was done with me and my fighting.
He grabbed me, turned me, and slammed me face-first against the wall. His hand went to the back of my neck. Then he yanked my head back hard.
“Nothing personal,” he said, then slammed me forward.
And everything went black.
CHAPTER FIVE
Miko
God, I was fucked.
Not with Cosimo or the boss, Lorenzo Costa. Since they had no idea I’d been working on a job for literally months in an attempt to gain more of their favor again.
But fucked regardless.
Because I was out a shitload of money.
And the only clue I had was some random, hot pickpocket I’d been too busy eye-fucking to notice she’d seen me as a mark.
“What’s the matter with you?” Cosimo asked as I sat in his apartment, running my hands over my face.
“Nothing,” I lied.
I wasn’t in the habit of lying to Cosimo. But, hell, I was already trying to repair my reputation after the fiasco with my little brother. I didn’t need him to know I’d fucked up again.
Besides, it wasn’t over.
I was going to figure this shit out.
I would get the wallet, sell the diamonds, and have a nice kick-up for Cosimo and Lorenzo. Plus a little bit left over for me.
“Doesn’t look like nothing. Looks like you got some shit going sideways.”
Shit.
The last thing I needed was him getting suspicious. Cosimo could be a dog with a bone when he was curious about something. I needed to give him something to make him drop it.
“It’s embarrassing as fuck,” I started, watching his brows lift.
“What is?”
“My wallet got lifted earlier today.”
“No fucking way,” Cosimo said, looking dangerously close to laughing. And he wasn’t a guy prone to humor.
“Cross my heart,” I said, shaking my head at the situation.
“Well, everyone has their hustle,” Cosimo said, shrugging.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“What’s the big deal? Cancel your shit. Couldn’t have had that much cash on you.”
“Nah.” Not cash, anyway. “But I had something… sentimental in it. Any chance you know someone offhand who could maybe get me the camera feeds or something?”
It wasn’t as easy to be a criminal in these days of cameras with facial recognition everywhere. As someone in the life, I hated it. But the cameras did come in handy when we were looking for someone too.
“Ah… isn’t one of Nico’s brothers handy with computers and shit? You could ask him.”
“Thanks, I’ll… that’s Nero,” I said when I heard his signature knock on the apartment door. “I’ll head out. He’s got shit to talk to you about.”
I passed my brother on the way out, giving him a nod of encouragement, then hit the street, heading in the direction of the closest of Nico’s siblings.
Moody-ass Gavino.
“This better be good,” a voice grumbled from the other side of the door when I knocked.
It wasn’t that Gav was busy. He rarely was. He just fucking hated interacting if he didn’t have to. Which was an unfortunate personality trait when he existed in a massive family.
“You,” Gav said, looking at me with dark blue eyes that he got from his mother. Like Nico and Cesare, he was tall and fit with dark hair and tanned skin. But unlike Nico, who wore his goodness on his sleeve, and Cesare, who wore his charm the same way, all Gavino had to offer was an air of annoyance. “Cosimo’s guy.”
“Miko,” I agreed, nodding.
“What do you want? I don’t have any work with Cosimo.”
Last I heard, he didn’t have any work with anyone. It was always one of his brothers who dragged him in on jobs. He would be a capo out of virtue of his birth, not necessarily because he busted his ass for it.