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LILY
I try to sleep,but with Nero’s threat hanging over me, I barely catch a wink. In the morning, I go through the motions of getting ready for whatever this meeting is: washing and blow-drying my hair, picking out a stylish outfit, and applying makeup to hide the dark shadows under my eyes.
I join Nero downstairs, and head to the foyer.
“Not that exit,” he says shortly. He’s looking better already, with color in his cheeks, and the bruises on his face giving him a dangerously sexy look.
As if he needed any help with that.
I tear my gaze away. “Why not?”
“We’re keeping things undercover, remember?”
He pulls on a baseball cap, low over his eyes, and heads for the back door instead. I follow. At the end of the small garden, there’s a gate leading to the back alleyway. Kyle is waiting, behind the wheel of a car I’ve never seen, a nondescript grey sedan.
“We good?” Nero asks, quickly sliding into the backseat.
“Yeah, there’s a guy on the front street, but they didn’t spot me. Keep your head down until we’re clear.”
Nero slumps lower in the seat as we ease out of the alley, and into traffic.
“Little over the top with the cloak and dagger routine, don’t you think?” I ask.
Nero glares. “It’s for your safety too, you know. Whoever tried to kill me… any of my enemies… They won’t hesitate to take you out too, in order to get to me.”
I feel a chill. More threats, more enemies. I’m still walking a tightrope here, with a perilous fall waiting on either side.
“I thought that Vance was the one who tried to kill you,” I say.
Nero shrugs. “He may have been the one to plant the bomb on the car, but I can’t be sure he’s actually calling the shots. If Vance is the FBI mole, and I figure he is, I can’t understand why he’d try to kill me. The FBI wants to take me down, right? Convict me, not kill me.”
“Maybe Vance couldn’t help himself,” I can’t help suggesting. “You bring that out in people.”
Nero glares at me, “You’d better hold your tongue when we meet with the Kovacks.”
“That’s where we’re going?” I ask.
He nods. “Word of my death will have spread by now. I need a face-to-face, to reassure them I’m still trying to negotiate our détente. It’s been hanging in the balance too long, and I need to make it happen.”
“So why bring me?”
“For the charming company, obviously.” Nero smirks. I glare back. This is the first time he’d willingly included me in something like this, and I’m not sure I like it. It seems like a dangerous situation, and I can’t trust that Nero has my back.
He sighs. “It’s a mark of respect to them. But you better act like a good wife, for once.”
Wife.
The word lingers as I twist the ring on my left hand. An uncomfortable silence falls as Kyle navigates through traffic. The ride is long, and I wonder where we’re going, but I refuse to ask. So, I watch the world glide by outside the windows, until we reach the Long Island suburbs. The neighborhoods are like the one I grew up in, but gradually, the houses grow more lavish, until we turn down a long driveway and pull up outside a opulent, Tudor-style mansion.
We get out of the car, and the front door opens. I recognize one of the men who step out, I saw him meet Nero at the museum in San Francisco. He’s with an older gentleman, wearing a suit.
“Igor Kovack, and his nephew,” Nero murmurs to me, as we approach the house.
“Barretti, welcome to my home.” Igor says, and they greet each other politely. “This must be your lovely wife.”
“Hi,” I manage a smile. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”
“Please, this way.”
