Cain ( Underworld Mafia Romance 1)

“I thought you were already going after him,” Orso says.

“Agent Chandler is,” I tell him.

“I thought you were working with her.”

“Yes, but…”

“Stay with her,” Orso tells me. “Go after Sergio Bianchi together and bring him down.”

“When I find him, I’ll kill him,” I promise.

“Fine,” Orso agrees.

That’s enough to satisfy me. For now.

Orso turns to Andrea. “You can go. I just have to say a few more things to Cain.”

Andrea nods and leaves the room. I look at Orso, wondering what else he has left to say.

He meets my gaze. “When this mission is over, what will you do with Agent Chandler?”

I want to say leave her alone, but I’m not sure that will work. Will it really be okay to let her live? Will she be satisfied with bringing down the Bianchis and not come after the Ursinis?

“You’re keeping us safe from her for now,” Orso says. “But what if you’re no longer around? Or are you going to be around her forever, watching over her?”

No, I can’t do that. Orso has a point. She’ll always be a danger, a threat to the family. There’s no way she can be left alive.

No loose ends.

I swallow. “Andrea can get rid of her.”

“No,” Orso replies almost immediately.

I give him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“It has to be you,” Orso tells me.

My eyebrows go up. What?

“I thought you said…”

“I know I’m asking a lot of you,” Orso says. “But I’m asking.”

I don’t understand. He knows I don’t kill women, and he just said he admires me for it. Now he’s saying I have to be the one to kill Allie. Why me? What difference would it make if Andrea did it? All that matters is getting her out of the way, right?

I really don’t understand.

“Promise me.” Orso’s eyes plead with me.

He really wants me to do this.

“I know I haven’t always been good to you. I know I hurt you after Antonio died.”

“We were all hurt then,” I say.

“But if you feel anything for me, do this,” Orso tells me as he reaches for my hand. “You’re the only one I can trust.”

Feel anything for him? He knows I do. But that’s not a reason to violate my longest-standing principle. How can he ask this of me when he loved my mother? When he knows I watched her nearly die?

“Promise me,” Orso repeats.

I pull my hand away. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep. You know that.”

I leave the room before he can say another word. I make my way out of the house. Not rushing but not stopping. Not turning back. I’m hoping no one will follow me and tell me to go back to Orso’s room, but as I go down the stairs, I sense someone behind me.

Andrea.

Only he has such light footsteps. Also, I heard the cross of his rosary hitting the front of his shirt.

“If you’re here to convince me to go back, save your breath,” I tell him as I stop on a step. “Orso and I are done talking.”

“I’m not.” Andrea comes down the stairs until he’s on the same step I am. “I’m just here to see you off.”

I glance at him. I find that hard to believe, but fine.

I continue my descent. Andrea walks alongside me.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Sergio Bianchi and the Espositos,” I tell him.

I thought we were friends.

Andrea lets out a breath. “Orso’s orders. You know I can’t disobey them.”

I understand. That doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed.

“You’re pissed,” Andrea states the obvious. “I’m amazed.”

I look at him with furrowed eyebrows. “Amazed?”

“Remember what I used to tell you back then?”

“That I should wear better clothes?”

“That you should live more,” he tells me. “That you should let yourself feel more. I think I’m seeing this now.”

I frown. “Now?”

“Yes. You lost your temper with Orso. Now, you’re pissed at me. That’s never happened before.”

“Because Orso never did anything to make me lose my temper before,” I say. “And you never did anything to piss me off.”

“Maybe.” Andrea shrugs. “But I think it has more to do with Agent Chandler.”

I stop on the last step.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time together, haven’t you?” Andrea reaches the bottom of the stairs first and turns to look at me. “You even went to Rhode Island together.”

“So? We’re working together. It’s what Orso wants.”

“Have you had sex with her?”

I don’t answer.

Andrea touches his chin and grins. “Oh. You have.”

I narrow my eyes at him in warning, then go down the step and walk past him.

So what if I did? It was just sex. That’s all. Just a man and a woman fulfilling a need. Nothing extraordinary and definitely nothing I want to talk to Andrea about. He may like to kiss and tell, but not me.

“I’m proud of you.” Andrea pats my shoulder. “See, I told you sex would be good for you.”