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“I’ve already told you. Scarletta Romano. Dominick Romano’s niece. Why would I give you a false name when I have to sit through a tortuous dinner with you? And of all the people to falsely associate myself with, you think I’d pick your new daddy-in-law? Fuck. I want nothing to do with him, but here we are.”

She mumbled the last part of her statement so quietly that I almost missed it. Something in the way she spoke about Dominick reminded me of the same way I spoke about my Da.

“Who. Sent. You?” I bit out, fighting against my desire to cut off her air supply.

“Who do you think, asshole?” she snarled back.

Sweat beaded up along my forehead. Fuck. I didn’t know what was on that folder, but it couldn’t have been anything too damning. But if Dominick knew I was in that office that night... that could fuck us. He might decide just to take us out instead of forming a plan with the intel on the folder.

We hadn’t come heavily armed tonight since we were playing along with this alliance.

“Does he know I was there that night?” I asked, my voice coming out as a growl. Anger and desperation seeped into each word, and I increased the pressure on her throat.

Her icy blue eyes met mine. Sincerity and fear showed in them, but I was pretty positive the fear wasn’t because of me.

“I didn’t tell him I saw you that night. It would’ve been my ass if he’d known I was almost caught.” She shifted, biting her lip when she brushed against my hardening length. “How ’bout we call this a truce and go on our merry fucking way? Yeah?” she asked in a hopeful tone. Her tongue poked out, swiping across her lip while she eagerly searched my face for a response.

I turned her words over in my mind while studying her. She was an anomaly—a risk—but she might be what we needed. Unfortunately for her.

Kenji, Niko, and I had talents that made us scary motherfuckers. Being a conniving bastard was my gift. My ability to figure out how to make any situation into a favorable deal was how I made the mob so much money.

A crossroads demon in the flesh, and Scarletta was about to sell her soul to the Syndicate.

My hand moved from her throat to her jaw, and I leaned so close my lips brushed hers, our breaths mingling with each word. “Oh, Scarletta. This is how it’s going to play out. You owe me a favor of my choice, with no questions asked when I come to collect. And you’ll follow through all the way. No fighting me.”

Her lids fluttered closed in defeat. “And why the fuck would I do that, asshole?” she asked as she thrashed in my hands, trying to rip away from my hold. But there was little she could do against my muscled frame.

She was a butterfly pinned to a board, powerless in her fight as I ripped her wings off.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure your uncle knows about your fuck-up. And I’m guessing I’m the one with the resources to get him to believe my version of events,” I responded cockily.

Her snarl was all the confirmation I needed. Excitement at the thought of her reaction when she discovered the full extent of my newly formed plan snaked through my veins. She’d hate every single moment of it. And I took no greater pleasure than knowing I was fucking over the Romano family and the bitch who’d stolen from me.

“Should’ve taken a picture of your ass tied up,” she grumbled, no longer fighting against me.

“That a deal?” I asked, running my nose along her cheek the way a lover might, savoring how she vibrated with anger. She turned her face so our mouths were once again pressed against each other.

“Fine. Deal, fucker,” she responded with vitriol instead of defeat. Her fire licked at my skin.

Pain radiated from my bottom lip. The bitch bit me, but I’d be damned if I let her get the better of me. She probably expected me to pull away, not press every inch of my body flush with hers. The soft gasp was the perfect opportunity for me to shove my tongue in, letting the tang coat both of our mouths.

The sounds of the party disappeared, replaced by our labored breathing. But the soft moan she let slip was like a douse of cold water. My body wanted to stay plastered against hers—actually, I wanted to sit her on the counter and sink balls-deep in her—but my mind reminded me that she was everything I hated.

Romano bitch.

“Sealed in blood,” she spat when I pulled far enough away to see her face. Anger flared in her eyes, but her olive skin was almost pale, aside from the flush on her cheeks. A tendril of her brunette waves had sprung free from behind her ears, and without permission, my hand came up and tucked it back in place.

What the hell is wrong with my body?

Before she could mistake the gesture for kindness, I shoved her toward the door, needing to get out of this confined space before I did something stupid like actually kissing her.

Because what we’d done wasn’t a kiss…

“Let’s go. You’ll be sitting next to me at dinner.”

It was comical how quickly her head whipped around to look at me.

“Like fuck I will. You’re sitting next to my uncle and your goons.”