72

Stefano
The minute she’s gone, I throw the desk over. I want to smash everything in sight. She never loved me. She played me. Ruined me.
Leo watches, silent at first. “Want me to take care of her?”
“No.”
Even as angry as I am, as broken and betrayed and fucking insane as I am, I could never harm Corey.
“I’m not sure you really have the perspective necessary to make this call.”
I throw myself at Leo, cut off his air as I shove him up against the wall. “You don’t ever question my judgment. Not on this. Not on anything. Capiche?”
“Yeah. Got it, boss,” Leo says quickly.
I storm out, because if I stay, I’m going to kill the guy. I go up to our suite-my suite-fuck!-and I immediately know it was a mistake.
The place smells like her. Reminds me of her. Slays me.
I go on a rampage, throwing furniture, putting my fist through the wall.
All this fucking time I thought she was holding back because she was protecting her heart. But she wasn’t. She was playing me.
I heard the warning bells about her fucking dad. I knew getting involved with her would bite me. I just chose to ignore it. I was too captivated by the enigma that is Corey Simonson. I wanted to be the guy who set her free. Wanted to know what it’s like to get inside her shell. To be her man.
I am a fucking idiot.
I pace around the wrecked room, trying to remember every single thing I ever said in her presence. She saw me shoot Donahue. That’s a problem, for sure. But what else-
I stop.
She saw me shoot Donahue and didn’t go to the cops. If she had, why would they need a bug? Unless they want to take down Nico, too. Or just get as much info as possible.
I rub my bruised knuckles.
What if she told me the truth? Her dad planted it on her after the shooting. She didn’t tell him anything. He’s digging, using his in, but he has nothing.
Because Corey wouldn’t betray me.
Hot emotion chokes me. My eyes burn.
Fuck! I slam my fist into the wall again.
I don’t know what to believe.
Was Leo right? Is my judgment too off on this one to know what’s happening?
Or did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?
* * *
Corey
I don’t know how long I walk-until my feet are blistered and my calves are in spasm. I somehow end up back the Bellissimo-precisely where I’m not supposed to be. I take the elevator to the top deck of the parking lot and look over the edge.
No, I’m not thinking about jumping. I’m not stupid or suicidal. And while the pain in my chest is startling, I have a lot more to worry about right now than a broken heart. I need to worry about my immediate survival.
I am so fucked right now.
I think it’s quite possible someone will come after me, despite the fact that Stefano let me go. Which means going to my place would be a mistake.
I could contact Sondra. I know she’d do anything in the world for me, but if Nico or any of his soldiers want to find me, she’s going to be the first person they look to for answers. I don’t want to put her in that position.
I do have the stash of money under my couch cushion. I need to get there and get it out without anyone seeing me.
I head back out to the strip and hail a cab. It’s not a great plan, but it’s a start. Once I have a place to stay I can contemplate what I’ve lost.
Stefano.
The only man who ever saw the real me.
Stefano
“Any sign of her?” I bark in my phone to Leo. I have him sitting in front of Corey’s apartment, in hopes she’ll show up. It’s been twenty hours since I threw her out and I’m going out of my fucking mind.
It took me the first six hours to pull my head out of my ass and realize Corey might not have been playing me. In retrospect, it seems obvious. Would she have just let Leo scan her purse without batting an eyelash if she’d been hiding something? If she knew she was carrying a bug? I’ve been looking for her ever since.
“No, none. No sign of life here at all.”
Fanculo.
The fact that her car’s still sitting in the Bellissimo lot and she’s not at her apartment absolutely guts me.
It means she’s hiding. She’s afraid.
Of me.
Because I’m the stronzo who tossed her out and told her to never show her face again like a fucking idiot. So much for I will always defend you. I let my fear of not being good enough, of a fed’s daughter never being able to be with a guy like me create some monstrous betrayal in my head instead of just taking the time to listen to her. She doesn’t even have a phone, or her wallet.
If it’s true she gave the money from Memphis to her father, she has nothing.
Maybe she went to him.
It’s an uneasy thought. Would he take care of her? The man who put a bug in his own daughter’s purse, putting her life in jeopardy?
I need answers. I need fucking information. I head up to Sondra’s office and barge in. Nico’s in with her, sitting on her desk.
“Where’s your cousin?” I demand.
She stands up, her blue eyes round. “What do you mean?”
I stalk around toward her, but Nico blocks my way. “Take a fucking step back,” he warns. “What’s going on?”
“Corey. Have you heard from her? At all?”
Sondra’s brows pinch. “No. What happened? Did you have a fight?”
I stab my fingers through my hair. “You could say that.” I turn and look out the floor to ceiling windows. “Tell me about her dad.”
Sondra draws in a sharp breath. “He’s an asshole,” she says without hesitation. “I can’t tell you how many nights she spent as a kid at my house because she didn’t want to go home.”
My chest tightens.
“Corey hasn’t talked to him in years.”
“You sure about that? He was or is here, in Vegas.” I watch her closely.
Her expression sours like something smells bad in the room. “He was?”
“And in Chicago.”
Fear flickers over Sondra’s face and Nico curses. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“He dropped a bug in Corey’s purse. She says she paid him off to drop his investigation of me.”
Sondra covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh no. So where is she? What happened?”
I pace around the room. “I fucked up.” I jab an angry hand into the air. “I threw her out. I didn’t know what to believe.”
“Oh no,” Sondra says again.
“Now she’s missing. I have her purse and keys. She’s not at her place. Her car’s still in the lot. I don’t know where the fuck she went or how to get ahold of her.”
“How long has she been gone?”
“Since yesterday. Any ideas of where she would go? What she would do?”
Sondra’s eyes well with tears. “No. She should’ve called me.”
My phone rings and I pull it out. It’s a Michigan number. I answer. “Tacone speaking.”
“Special Agent Simonson, FBI.”
I tense up, motion my brother over.
“I believe you’re aware I’m investigating you.”
I grunt an affirmative. My hand tightens so hard on the phone I fear it will crack.
“I’m willing to discuss dropping the investigation.”
I am going to kill this man.
No wait, I can’t. He’s still Corey’s fucking father.
“What are your terms?” I don’t bother arguing that he already took money from Corey to drop it if her story is true, which I’m coming to believe it is.
“Five hundred grand in cash and I destroy the evidence. Deliver it at 8:00 p. m. tonight in the parking garage of the Hard Rock Cafe.”
He ends the call without waiting for my answer.
“What evidence?” Nico snaps.
I shake my head. “It’s a bluff. Unless Corey’s working with him.”
“Corey’s not working with him,” Sondra cries, fingers balled into fists. “How could you even think that?”
I drop my chin to my chest in defeat. “I don’t. I really don’t. Would she go to him for help?” I ask Sondra. “Do you think she’s with him?”
“No way-never. I’m telling you, she’s not even on speaking terms with him.”
“So what’s the play?” Nico asks.
“I meet him. Find out if he knows where Corey is.”
“Then what?” Nico wants to know.
I shrug. No fucking clue. “I’ll figure it the fuck out.”
“Take Leo and Eddie. Are you bringing the cash?”
“No.” My voice is harder than stone. No fucking way I’m giving that man more money. He already robbed Corey of hers and he still thinks he can blackmail me? Fuck him. Dirty feds stink worse than the lowest of the underground.
“Good.”
Yeah good. But I’m still no closer to finding Corey. “Sondra, if Corey calls you…” I break off and rub my sternum because I don’t know what the fuck to say. Even if I tell Corey I believe her, is she really going to come back here with me?
After the way I treated her? Threatened her life?
She’s a smart, self-respecting woman. If she’s not in trouble right now, then she’s already as far from here as she can get.
The thing that kills me is that she might be in trouble. I left her with very few options.
And I know hundreds of unspeakable things that happen to women who run out of options in Vegas.
“If I hear from her, I’ll tell her you fucked up and you really want to apologize,” Sondra fills in.
I throw her a grateful look.
“Yeah, exactly. Thanks.”
Sondra’s eyes look haunted, though, and she can’t even be half as worried about Corey as I am.
Madonna help me.