Page 26 of Dishonored

“Huh. I didn’t know that.”

He found that fascinating.

Cosa Nostra did not allow women into their ranks, and some syndicates even took issue with working with a female associate of the family. The idea that there were female bosses—of course there were, he wasn’t stupid; he simply hadn’t met one yet—perked his interest in several ways.

Almost none of them innocent.

“What about the other bit I asked for?” he asked.

Cain sighed. “Well, Jac has a daughter—Aria De Rose, she’s twenty-six, and married. Exactly your kind of forte, fucker.”

“And it could be her, right? Acting as the boss.”

“Or her husband,” Cain replied. “Or any number of men, but no one is really open to talking that much detail about the clan’s inner workings.”

“But …”

Cain grumbled under his breath. “There’s always a but with you.”

“Yeah, but I could probably get to whoever is the acting boss by going through Jac’s daughter, right?”

Because that was what he did best.

Manipulate to his gain.

Fuck until he won.

Make pain to ruin.

It all worked for Caesar.

It got him what he wanted.

“I would bet she would be a door to someone,” Cain agreed.

“She’s also married,” Gina put in, finally joining their conversation. “In case you didn’t hear him say that, Caesar.”

Caesar nodded, and picked up his sandwich again. “I know—I heard him. That’s what I like best about her, and I don’t even know her.”

He really was a sick fucker.

His sins were never going to come clean.

“Let’s get a bead on her,” Caesar said, “watch her for a week, and then move in on her.”

Cain passed his frowning wife a look. “Yeah, all right.”

FOUR

“MRS. DE ROSE?”

Aria knew what her guard was going to say before she even lifted her head from the book she was flipping through, but she decided to indulge the man, anyway. “Yes, Mario?”

“We need to move—we’re being followed.”

Again.

Aria did her best not to smile; it would do her no good to have her guard think this was what she wanted and needed to happen. The guard was appointed to her by Raffe, and her husband got all his information from Mario a good portion of the time.