Page 78 of Jackpot Joker

I snort. “Their women? Even though you’re doing all this in the name of love for her?” I gesture to Pamela. Angela. Whatever her name is.

“I don’t mind sharing,” she says around a wad of chewing gum while twisting a finger in her hair. When Tank saves me from this place, Dario and I are going to have a long talk about his past standards regarding women.

I turn my gaze to Todd. “And you get weapons, money and women, too?”

He shrugs. “I just want the money I’m owed.”

“What exactly are they paying you for?”

Todd throws his hands up like it’s obvious. “Leading them to Dario Caruso.”

“Why were they so sure you would be able to do that?”

Todd braces his hands on the arms of my chair and leans down to get in my face. I attempt not to gag at the smell of beef and cheese. “Because you weren’t supposed to be here, you stupid cunt. Megan was supposed to go on maternity leave, and as her superior, I was going to take on her clients for the next six weeks. I was going to have a direct line to the Caruso family and know precisely which warehouses Dario Caruso would show up at and when. But then that fucking bleeding heart had to decide she wanted to be a permanent mommy, and you were hired in her place.”

“And I took over the Caruso files,” I state, piecing things together.

Todd nods. “I tried to be nice at first, going as far as flirting with you and taking you out to lunch. I thought maybe I could convince you to let me help and take over their files as you eased yourself into your new position. When that didn’t work, I thought I would attempt to seduce you, but I didn’t realize you were such a frigid bitch who only spreads your legs for billionaires. I finally decided the best way to get to the files was to get rid of you completely.”

“So you followed me and tried to paint me in a bad light every time I was with Dario?”

A disgusting smile lights up his face. “You made it so damn easy with that sleepover the two of you had, so thank you for that.”

My stomach rolls knowing I walked into Todd’s trap. “You’re the reason I was fired,” I whisper.

“Oh,” Todd says jovially, “I can’t take all the credit. Your boyfriend knows what an uptight cunt you are, so he asked for you to be removed from his counsel to get over that pesky ethical wall you refused to climb. I just helped get you removed from the entire office.”

My mind thinks back to everything that’s happened over the past several months. “All the warehouse break-ins. That was you?”

He stares at me with his smug smile. “Yup. I figured I had a chance Dario would be the one to show up, but if not, they were gonna pay me for the other Carusos, too.”

“But then the warehouse raids stopped. They thought they had found the man who did it.”

Todd shrugs. “Sucks for him. They only stopped because Dario killed Old Man Jorgensen, and everything got locked up for two weeks. Nobody could get in or out of the building, so I couldn’t gain access to the files. Then, the Carusos decided to hire you, and their file was pulled entirely. No more warehouse takeovers after that.”

“So that’s when you decided to break into my home?”

His expression turns smug. “Thanks to your little homecoming trip, I was able to sneak into your place and bug it so I could find out where the two of you would be going. Tried finding the files, but you must have them locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

I don’t confide in him, but I thought the entire Caruso file would be safer stashed in Dario’s office at Angelo than in my home. I only ever took home the documents I needed to look over for whatever I was working on.

My mind races as it attempts to process everything Todd confessed.

The mention of Dario murdering Mr. Jorgensen should be what I’m fixated on, right? I should be terrified knowing I’ve been in bed with a man who hasn’t only killed one man, but multiple. But he killed them for me. He was protecting me. He refuses to let a single person who does me wrong suck in one more breath. Aww.

Then there’s the disgusting knowledge that Todd was in my home multiple times. He overheard everything I did with Dario. Every conversation I had with my friends. If Dario doesn’t choke the life out of this man, then I’ll do it my damn self.

Chapter 39

Dario

My irritation grows as I stare down at my phone, waiting for Jasmine to text me back. She’s been out all morning claiming she has errands to run, and I hate that I’m away from her. Even more, I hate the way she’s ignoring my messages. Since she’s not answering, I type a text out to Tank to make sure everything is all right and she’s safe.

“Why are you pouting?” Gio asks, only worsening my mood.

“I’m not,” I insist, crossing my arms over my chest.

Luca glances over from the chair beside me, looking completely ridiculous and way too large for the piece of furniture. Now that I think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him sit before in this office. He’s usually positioned beside Gio, ready to take on the world at a moment’s notice.