Hurriedly, I took my phone out from where I’d wedged it into my garter belt and dialed a number I knew by heart.
“Tesoro?” Dante asked. “You are returned from the isle of the beasts?”
He always had a derogatory nickname for his homeland, and it usually made me smile, but I had too much on my mind to find him charming.
“Listen, could you do me a favour?”
“Anything,” he replied resolutely.
His readiness did something funny to my heart, a palpitation of glee.
“Good, I need some kind of small camera. Like a nanny cam? Those exist in real life, correct?”
Dante laughed, warm and loud. “Yes, Cosi, those exist in real life. Dare I ask why you need one of these?”
“More than one. Ideally, I’d like six or seven.”
“Does this have something to do with Ashcroft?” he demanded, and there was a murmur of voices in the background in response.
I bit my lip. It wouldn’t do to lie because Dante could sniff out dishonesty like a police dog did a bomb, and honestly, I couldn’t think of another viable reason I would need hidden cameras.
“Yes, it does. I need you or one of your…men to meet me in the next hour and a half with the cameras at this address,” I said, rattling off Ashcroft’s information. “Can you have them meet me by the back entrance? Just text me when they arrive. I won’t respond, but I’ll feel the vibration on my thigh and find a way to get to him.”
“Cosima, are you in his house right now?” he growled.
“Well, obviously.”
“Don’t be fucking smart with me right now. Fuck your cameras, I’m coming myself and bringing some guys. We’ll take care of that figlio di puttana ourselves right now.”
“Dante, no,” I said sharply. “If you want to come wait outside the door, I can’t stop you. But I have an idea here, one that could lead to ending the Order, and that is important to me. Not just for myself because of every single way they’ve tried to ruin my life, but for other women too. No one deserves to be sold into a society that will use, humiliate, and harm them for their own amusement.”
He hesitated, the puffs of his angry breath blowing heavy through the phone.
“Fine, I’ll send Frankie. If you need any help at all, though, you call me. Even if you can’t talk, you call, I’ll answer, and I’ll be there before you know it, okay?”
“Agreed,” I said before lightening my tone in an attempt to keep him from worrying about me. “But really, Dante, you don’t need another bullet wound. At this point, I think you are more metal than man.”
“Understand this and understand it well, Cosima,” he said in a voice like Alexander’s, in a way that reminded me the big teddy bear I knew he could be was also one of the most dangerous mafia men in the country. “I would take a hundred more bullets for you until my blood ran lead if it meant you were safe from harm.”
“Dante,” I exhaled as his words found purchase in my chest. It was only one word, his name, but I thought it relayed how very much I loved him and how very awed I was that he loved me that way in return.
Noel hadn’t ruined the hearts of all his sons.
Only Rodger and, maybe, Alexander.
The thought made my heart pinch, but I forged on.
“I have to go. I’ve been in here too long. Send Frankie and I promise I’ll call you when this is all over, si?”
“Si, tesoro mia,” he agreed in the same tone I’d used with him, one that ached with tenderness, vulnerable as a bruise. “Be safe.”
I ended the call, flushed the toilet, and ran the faucet before I slipped out the door and returned to the office. The unimpressed servant gave me a narrow glare, but I smiled jauntily at him as I resumed my cleaning duties.
Later, when I was finished my chores, and I was seated in front of the vanity being beautified by a woman who spoke only Russian, my phone vibrated, and I excused myself once more to the restroom.
No one stopped or spotted me as I crept down the stairs and out the back door.
Dante’s right-hand man and the only member of his crew that I was ever allowed to interact with greeted me with a large, boyish smile.
“Frankie,” I greeted, kissing both his stubbled cheeks.
“Cosima. These are ready to go. They record video until they reach their max storage point. I didn’t have time to set up a live feed, so these will have to do for now. Will you be able to retrieve them at some point?”
I nodded, taking the dime-sized cameras in my hand. “Thank you for this, Frankie. Tell Dante not to worry.”
His lips twisted in a grimaced smile. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen with you in the lion’s den, but I’ll pass that along to give the other boys a good laugh.”