AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I step out of my room, Nik is already there, alert and ready. Her dark hair is pulled back in a sleek ponytail, the close-shaved fade at the sides emphasizing the sharp angles of her face. She wears a fitted black suit that makes me want to stare.
“Good morning,” she says, her voice even.
“Good morning, Nik.” I aim for casual, land somewhere around a croak. I clear my voice and ask, “Shall we have breakfast?”
We make our way to the suite’s dining area, where as usual, there’s a knock at the door. “Room service,” I tell Nik, but she makes me let her answer the door. The kitchen hand wheels in a buffet of fresh fruit, pastries, and coffee. We eat in silence, but just as I’m searching for something to say, there’s another sharpknock at the door. Nik is on her feet instantly again, hand going to the gun at her hip. I wave her down.
“It’s just Frank,” I say, recognizing the impatient rapping. “He’s here to take me to that meeting with the Consortium this morning.”
Nik relaxes slightly but doesn’t sit back down. I go to answer the door, steeling myself for the conversation to come.
Frank bustles in, all business, but stops short when he sees Nik, his eyes going hard. “What’s she doing here? She’s Consortium.”
“Her name is Nik, and she’s my new bodyguard.”
Frank takes that in as his face goes red. “A word, Brie? In private.”
I turn to Nik. “Perhaps you could go down to the meeting room—your people will be there shortly, and Frank will walk me down.”
She hesitates for a moment, reluctant to leave me. But she obeys, closing the door quietly behind her.
As soon as we’re alone, Frank rounds on me. “Have you lost your mind?” he bellows. “You can’t have a bodyguard from the Consortium!”
I cross my arms. “And why not?”
He throws up his hands. “Because they’re outsiders! And we have perfectly good bodyguards in the Colombo Family! I woulda pulled someone from a crew somewhere if you weren’t happy with the casino security. There are plenty of men we can trust!”
“Trust?” I scoff. “Like we trusted the men who were supposed to protect Terry?”
Frank’s expression softens. “Brie, honey, I know you’re scared. But you don’t need to worry your pretty little head about?—”
“Don’t.” My voice is ice. “Don’t you dare patronize me, Frank. Whoever killed Terry had to be one of ours. So forgive me if I don’t exactly trust the Family right now.”
Frank’s face hardens. “Now you listen here?—”
“No,youlisten,” I cut him off. “How’s the investigation into Terry’s death going? Because from where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like anyone’s doing a damn thing about it.”
He takes a step closer, looming over me. “Your job is to sign what I tell you to sign. To smile pretty for the guests and make them want to spend their money. Soon enough, you’ll be free of all this. But until the succession is settled, you just have to do what you’re told like a good little girl. Understand?”
The threat in his voice is unmistakable. Despite his fatherly act, Frank is just as much a killer as Terry was. Maybe more so. And for a moment, I’m back in that trailer park, cowering before another man’s rage.
But I’m not that scared little girl anymore. I won’t be intimidated now. “I won’t sign a shitty deal just because I’m told to. Whatever else I am, Frank, I’m still a Colombo. And I want what’s best for the Family.”
He sighs at that, patting my shoulder. “I know, sweetheart. So do I. That’s why I don’t want that—thatwomanaround. She’s filling Eva Novak’s ears with our business right now, I bet.”
“Exactly like you did, telling Eva about the attempt on my life?” I snap, exasperated.
“That—I was just—that was different,” he protests. But he does at least look a little embarrassed.
Still, I’m extremely glad he doesn’t know Nik was the one who saved me…and that neither does Eva Novak, by all reports. “Frank, if we play this right, Nik can be a conduit forus,” I go on. “We can feed any information to the Consortium that we want through her. Fake intel thathelpsus.”
He pauses as though the idea is brand new to him. “That’s true,” he says thoughtfully, staring at me. “I guess that’s true, Breezy.”
I smile encouragingly. “So now we’re on the same page. And we’re late for the meeting, so let’s go.”
As we descend in the elevator, I think about Nik waiting for us there in the meeting room. Is she hissing into her boss’s ear? Of course she must be.
But I’d like to think I can trust her withsomethings, at least.
