Page 79 of Vicious Kingdom

Who am I kidding?It wasn’t which one—it was which one was I eatingfirst. It would be a sin to come to Tony’s bakery and not indulge.

Tony came back, handing me a towel. “Coffee?” he lisped.

“Please!” I generally didn’t drink it unless it was heavily doctored, but Tony only had to put sugar in his to make it tasty.

As I patted my body and wrung out my hair, I mentally prepared for this meeting. Alessandro Mancini knew I’d discovered their little family secret, and now he had a job for me. Me. Working for the mob.

How exciting was that?

That was what came of making friends with a mafia princess. As a kid, when I wasn’t being trotted around by my parents, I was ignored. I was a lonely child, which made me bond with Serena, the other sheltered girl. It was hard to say who had it worst—me, who was forced to be around people I hated, or Serena, who was not allowed anywhere. Even this bakery was a fancy kind of prison. When we used to come here to dohomework, it was so that Alessandro’s man Tony could watch us. Looking around, a wave of nostalgia filled me. The walls were painted a soft yellow that reminded me of fresh lemon curd, and vintage photographs of Italy promised days filled with la dolce vita.

Standing here, it felt like coming home.

The door chimed.

Rounding on the newcomer to warn them about the puddle of water on the floor, I gaped.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Leo gaped at me too.

The look of surprise was priceless. Water trickled down his face in rivulets, and his hair was a soaking mess.

I handed him the towel, hiding my giggles behind my hand. “The better question is what areyoudoing here?”

Was he going to tell me?

Of course, he won’t!

I might have a past with him, I might have stalked him, manipulated chess moves into producing the desired effect, but we were nowhere close enough to start telling one another intimate secrets. Like the one that his sister and I were besties; or that his sister-in-law was fast becoming my only friend in the city.

“Leo!” Tony squealed coming out with my coffee in hand. He garbled another string of words, this time in Italian.

Leo gave a pointed look to where I stood, but Tony waved his hand at me.

“She’s cool, dude,” he said.

The slang was hilarious, and if I wasn’t wet, I would have given old Tony a hug.

Leo dried his head then dropped the towel to the floor and wiped the water with his foot.

“You never answered my question,” he said, plucking the towel up and bunching it in his fist.

“Oh, I’m here to meet someone.”Your brother….

Imagining his reaction if I said that was fun.

“Who?” he asked a little too sharply.

“My friend Penny.” Partially true. “We met at the marina earlier this summer and have a vested interest in sailing.”

Something dangerous simmered under his eyes. “I see.”

I set my empty espresso cup down on the counter.

“I thought you didn’t drink thatswill,” he clipped out.

“Normally, I don’t.” I shrugged. “But when Tony is kind enough to make it, I don’t refuse.”

“You know Tony?”