Athena
He was right, the police couldn’t do shit for me. I could see the pride in his eyes as he sneered at me, stalking ever closer until he was a mere breath away.
A mere tantalizing breath away.
“I own the police, Raven,” He whispered, blowing air over my eyelids and they closed involuntarily.
“That’s…quite presumptuous Mr. Moretti,” I mumbled, taking a step back.
That seemed to make him even angrier because his nose flared and before I could blink twice, his arms were wrapped around my waist and my eyes narrowed fiercely when he held onto me rather tightly.
“I own you!” He spat much to my irritation. I arched a brow in mockery.
“What? Have you gone mad?” I scoffed, fighting the hold on me. I’d had enough of his tomfoolery.
Luciano seemed to have a rethink of his actions. His eyes were wild with anger and as if he was disgusted, he pushed away from me and walked back to his desk.
I stood rooted to the spot watching him settle down and resume working. Bastard! I thought with gritted teeth. How dare he treat me like this? Perhaps I should show him he was at my fucking mercy.
No, Athena.
I sighed at the voice of reason that spoke loud and clear in my head, agreeing with it reluctantly. This was a game of cards and I couldn’t show my hand yet. The enemy had to remain completely oblivious to what my intentions were.
Which meant I had been approaching this whole thing in the wrong way. Luciano liked Raven Gonzalez. Whether he wanted the attraction or not, it was finally happening. In a normal setting, Raven should be thrilled that his resolve was weakening and finally he was noticing her.
Ah shit, I haven’t been very Raven-like lately, have I? But dammit it was hard to be when all I could think about was sticking a pin in Luciano’s stupid neck and going the fuck home.
The solution to it all seemed so simple.
Yet so complicated.
Sighing deeply, I pasted a small tiny smile on the corner of my lips, reached for my hair, and twirled the strands slowly with a finger.
“Luciano,” I whispered in a soothing seductive voice.
He stiffened. It was subtle and almost barely there but I noticed. I did. His eyes never left the files he attended to, even when he spoke.
“Get out Miss Gonzalez,” he muttered huskily. A part of my body hummed deliciously at the level of his voice.
“Mr. Moretti-”
“You have the rest of the day off. Go…Away.” He ordered.
Well, that was a surprising turn of events. I glared at the idiot before me and strutted out of the office. I wasn’t sure what to feel. Should I be mad that he was avoiding me? Or plain glad.
I climbed onto the elevator, remembering the one time the idiot had broken the damn control buttons and we were stuck. Mahn, I was so close to ending it all. I chuckled at the thought then caught myself quickly. I shouldn’t be laughing about a sour puss like him. I shouldn’t be laughing about him at all.
The doors slid open on the ground floor and standing before me was Marcus. His brows flew up at the sight of me.
“Holy smokes, what happened to you?” He growled, yanking me off the elevator before the doors closed back and turned me around.
“Get your filthy hands off me!” I yelled, breaking out of his hold.
His green eyes flickered warily but when he blinked, the vulnerability in them was gone. “Filthy? I’m not the one who looks like I was used to mop the damn floor!”
“How I look is none of your fucking business,” With that, I turned away from him and waddled as fast as I could away. I knew I looked embarrassing, but that was his boss’ fault! Not mine.
“Raven!” Marcus yelled, running after me. “Let me drop you off-”
“No.” I deadpanned without stopping or turning around to look at him.
“Don’t be stubborn,” he snapped.
“Don’t be a dick!” I retorted. “I have a fucking car, I can drive myself around and do whatever shit I want.”
“Fuck woman, I’m only trying to help! Stop being a pain.” He growled, grabbing my hands.
I almost gave in to the urge to flip him over my shoulders and land him crack on the floor. I’d relish the shock on his face with satisfaction. But if I did that, suspicions would arise about me. Marcus was always fucking suspecting me. I was certain we’d be back to that the minute I showed I knew any smart moves.
“I don’t want shit from you,” I sneered instead and yanked my arm away. It stung like hell but I’d rather die than admit it. Instead, I fixed him a glare and then walked out of the building.
Whatever game Luciano was playing, I was going to come out as the fucking queen.
***
“What do we have?” I murmured immediately as I slid into Cole’s convertible. With a donned wig on my head and some ridiculously thick glasses framing my face, I think my identity was hidden enough.
Cole, however, thought I looked hilarious. The idiot guffawed so hard, he started coughing. Making sure to hit his back, I grinned.
“There there,”
“Are… you trying…to… kill me?!” He wheezed between coughs.
A maniacal laugh slipped from my lips but I let him go anyway.
“You’re evil!” Cole complained when he was calmer and turned on the ignition.
“Oh, you didn’t know? I am the epitome of it. Now drive before I act on the indescribable urge to maim you.”
If that was supposed to scare Cole, well it didn’t work. He simply laughed again but drove on until we reached our destination- A traffic jam. Lots of conversations could occur within a traffic jam without anyone raising their noses in suspicion. It was perfect.
“I’ll ask again, what do we have?”
Cole arched a brow and gripped the steering wheel tighter. The jovial mask he always wore slipped off and all I could see was anguish.
“A sixteen-year-old boy…with the M insignia on his chest.” He choked.
My body froze as I processed his words. A sixteen-year-old?! A fucking child?!
“Wh… I… Luciano?”
I couldn’t understand why I was shocked. Perhaps because I worked for him and aside from his overbearing attitude, it was hard to know he was the same ruthless Mafia Lord that was around pillaging and plundering.
“Who else?” Cole asked in a sadistic tone. He must have been affected by the news. His younger brother had died in an almost similar way, but not in Luciano’s hands.
Heck, I had always had this dumb mentality that Luciano never went for minors. This… fuck, was crazy. How could he… How could he kill a child in cold blood?!
“Please tell me you’re making progress.” Cole sniffed, I didn’t need to look at him to know he was crying. The pain in his voice rang true and loud.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’m making progress. We… he kissed me on Saturday. I’m sure soon enough I can make it into his home.”
The man beside me nodded. “I’m sorry, Athena. I know it’s unconventional-”
“Oh please,” I groaned. “Will everyone stop fucking apologizing?! I chose this path myself. Besides, we’ve tried conventional means for many years. Have we ever been able to get solid evidence against Luciano?”
Cole sighed and nodded. “He’s an evasive bastard, I’ll give him that.”
“Oh, he won’t escape my claws this time. For this case to end, one of us has to go. And I don’t plan on that person being me.” I mumbled.
“Right, none of us plan on that either,” Cole said and fished out a document. “Concerning Luciano’s home that you had us do some digging about, well the FBI didn’t find shit. But I had Tracey reach out to some other rich as-hell friends who have similar homes.”
I retrieved the paper. It was the layout of a house similar to Luciano’s home. I had been inside twice and could recognize a few similarities. “It’s not all the same,” I muttered. “It seems Luciano had his modifications.”
“Exactly!” Cole replied. “We always wonder how he organizes his members despite security cameras claiming he is innocent.” His finger pointed to a small rectangle found in the kitchen of the layout. “Tracey’s friend has a secret stair in the damn kitchen. Said the building was made like that, for escape during emergency purposes.”
My eyes widened and I nodded. “That would make sense if the secret stair led to somewhere even more secret.”
“You’re getting the hang of it. Luciano may use this to meet up with his members, give orders and go for the damn killings.” Cole said.
“He doesn’t let anyone use the insignia but himself?” I asked.
“Yes, our Intel in the mafia told us that much before he…” he trailed off and I knew exactly what happened.
We had lost all communications with Skylar. When we found his body ten days later, we knew what had happened. They had found out he was a spy.