Bratva Sinner (A Possessive Mafia Romance)

“I’m honestly amazed,” she said, shaking her head. “How’d you figure it out?”

“German followed him for a couple days.” I took another swig of the coffee and made a face. “Seriously, this stuff is disgusting and way too expensive. Why do people come here?”

“Status.” Cara shoved her phone into her back pocket. She had her hair up in a braided bun, though I wished she’d wear it down. Then again, I did like the sweep of her neck and the peak of her ears. “Should we follow him inside?”

“I don’t think we can approach him here.” I frowned toward the street. I didn’t see where Jeff had come from, but there weren’t any waiting cars, so I guessed he walked. Real man of the people. “He’s heading to his office, so we’ll get him on the way.”

“You don’t plan on kidnapping him or something, do you?”

“Of course not.” I frowned at her. “Although I bet the ransom would be a lot of money.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t do something stupid, please.”

“That’s why you’re here. You can temper my worst impulses.”

She snorted but said nothing. I watched the door furiously for a few minutes until Jeff came back out again with two coffees, one in each hand. He strode off down the sidewalk and I hurried after him with Cara right on my heels.

I stayed a few feet back but didn’t let him out of my sight. Cara stayed on my left, weaving around slow walkers and ambling homeless guys with shopping carts. I scanned the crowd ahead as we came to more tall office buildings, and I knew his place wasn’t too much further up. An alley just to the right halfway up the next block, and I caught Cara’s eye with a nod, then walked faster.

I reached Jeff as we came parallel with the alley. I bumped into him and grabbed his arm. He cursed as the coffee in his right hand tilted backwards and splashed down the front of his chest. “Oh, fucking shit,” he said, taking a step back. A big, brown splotch was all down the front of him. “Watch where you’re going, you dumb asshole.”

“So sorry,” I said, grinning, and moved closer to him. There were a lot of people around, and I couldn’t be too obvious about this. “I didn’t mean to spill your drink, Jeff. It’s just that I wanted to talk, and I thought we might do it in private.”

He opened his mouth to tell me to fuck off or something along those lines but stopped and narrowed his eyes. “You know who I am? Who the fuck are you?”

“My name’s Luke and I work for a very special family.” I grinned at him and raised my eyebrows. “I was looking at some pictures of you recently with some very attractive women and I thought—”

Jeff’s face turned bright red. “What the hell are you talking about? Pictures of me? What pictures of me? Who the hell are you?”

Cara came up on the other side of him. “We’re here from the Lionettis,” she said, glaring at him. “Now shut up and come talk.”

His jaw tightened. If he weren’t being blackmailed, he wouldn’t know who the hell Cara was talking about—but he only nodded once. I gestured at the alley behind him, and he hesitated, but walked ahead.

I glanced at Cara and she winked at me, grinning. I rolled my eyes and kept close to Jeff.

The alley was tight, just enough space for a dumpster on either side and a few stoops. It was empty though, and Jeff stopped a few feet inside and turned to me with a wicked scowl on his face.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but I was told if I did my part, I wouldn’t get approached again.” Jeff’s jaw clenched.

I took out my phone. “Here’s the thing. I’m not actually with the Lionettis.” I pulled up a picture of his photo and before he could say anything, I held it up and let him take a look. “But I do have their dossier on you.”

He went very quiet. “You can put that away.”

I shoved the phone into my pocket. “Let’s talk.”

“Not until you tell me who the fuck you are and how you have that picture.” He looked at Cara, but all the anger was gone—replaced by ruthless pragmatism.

“My name’s Luke, and this is my associate, Cara.” I gestured at her. She seemed to like that description and her smile widened. “To tell you the truth, Jeff, we stole the fucking dossier from the Lionettis, and now we’re here to change whatever deal you had going with them.”

He stared at me like I was insane. “This is crazy. How am I supposed to believe that?”

“How else would we have a picture of you fucking a prostitute?” Cara asked. “The Lionettis aren’t dumb enough to show that stuff off. They want you to keep working for them.”