“How’s school going?” he asked, nodding at the book.
I closed it. “Not bad. How’s running your mafia family?”
“Complicated.” He took a long sip. “Cap told me you two had lunch.”
“It was nice,” I said, shrugging. “She’s a sweet girl.”
“She likes you. That’s a good thing. Cap doesn’t like everyone.”
“Please, Cap’s too nice to hate people.”
“You’d be surprised what she’s capable of.” He laughed softly to himself and took another drink. “Your father wants me to give him weekly status updates. What can I tell him when I call?”
“Tell him I’m studying hard and actively avoiding my overbearing landlord.”
He laughed at that. “Landlord? I thought I was more like a benevolent mentor.”
“I don’t think there’s a benevolent bone in your body.”
“You’d be surprised. I can be extremely generous, when I want to be.” His head tilted to the side and I caught another glimpse of that desire he worked so hard to keep hidden. It flashed in his gaze as he glanced down at my lips and lingered there.
“How is your business, anyway? Are you selling whatever my father’s sending?”
The question hung there in the living room. It was like a spotlight shining down in my face. He’d see through my bullshit and realize I was pushing him for information, and once that happened, he’d figure out that I was leaking it to someone. Carmine was clever and handsome, and he’d see right through me. I was a liar and a fake, and I was working for a blackmailing bastard, and there was nothing I could do.
I wanted to get caught. It was why I’d asked so brazenly. I wanted Carmine to know that someone owned me, and maybe he could do something about it. Or maybe he could kill me now, because being dead might be better than living the rest of my life a slave to that awful monster. I wasn’t sure Carmine had the stomach to put a bullet in my head himself, but my father certainly would.
But Carmine only sighed and shrugged. “Business is business. I’ve taken over half the stash houses in the city and commandeered whatever product Balestra left behind when he retreated to the north. Five Points is under Falsone family control once more, and so is the flow of drugs from your father’s cartel.”
“So then business is booming.”
“Business is coming back, slowly but surely. It’s not a simple thing. There are bribes to the police and the politicians. There are customers that have to be won back. People don’t like instability, and they hate violence. The war’s no good for anyone, and if I don’t end it fast, it’ll only make my position that much more tenuous.” He finished off his whiskey and put the glass down on the coffee table. “But tell me something. Why do you give a shit?”
I bit my lip. Because I’m being blackmailed into spying on you. “I don’t know. Call it curiosity.”
He moved across the couch to sit closer to me. I felt a little thrill run into my stomach. You should run away. Run far, far away from me. But I liked him getting near, and I leaned in to breathe the smell of him deep, a musky and spicy scent, like man mixed with a gentle cologne.
“Capri’s father Mauro Balestra has a new gang working for him. A bunch of Polish guys that call themselves the Smierc Gang. I guess it means Death Gang. Sounds melodramatic to me, but they have a good reputation. Or a violent reputation, depending on your perspective.”
“I’ve heard of them,” I said, my eyebrows raising. “My father did business with them briefly.”
“Really?” He sat closer. It was intoxicating, having him so near. We were all alone in his gorgeous apartment, and I was mere inches away from his chiseled body and square jaw. “What do you know?”
“Only that they were too wild, even for my papa. Which is saying something, considering he works with you.”
“There’s nothing wild about my business, princess. But perhaps there’s something wild about me.”
I waved him off. “Now I think you’re flirting with me.”
“So what if I am?”
I shivered and my lips fell open. My tongue touched my teeth and I pictured his mouth on mine, his hands on my hips. My back arched beneath him. I’d never felt such an intense, overwhelming desire in my life.
“I think my father would murder us both.”
“Only if you liked it. Which it sounds like you do.”
I shook my head and quickly stood up. The bio book clattered to the floor, and I awkwardly picked it up and tossed it onto the chair I’d just vacated. He watched with a confident smirk on his handsome face.
“I think we should be careful,” I said, pacing away. “You wouldn’t like it if Oscar overheard you saying something like that. Bringing a guard from my father’s cartel here might’ve saved you some babysitting duty, but you do realize you allowed a spy into your home.”