I open my mouth, not knowing quite what to say. The wheels turn in my head. If he doesn’t want me working for him, then who?
With a nod from the head of the man in charge, Roan steps forward.
“You will be working for me.”
Epilogue
Two and a Half Years Later
“Good lord. I hate this weather,” I say to Stefano, one of my associates, as we take the elevator to the top floor where our offices are. 57th Street, of all places, just a stroll up the road to 5th Avenue and I’m in shoe heaven. Not today, though, in this bitter cold winter air.
I shiver in my boots, not so much from the cold, but because they are the ugliest pair of things ever to grace my feet. If I were to walk out the door of our penthouse with my heels on, Cain would have a fit. Safety first. Not that I blame him, really, with the still-unknown whereabouts of Royal. I know all too well how one can make themselves disappear, although my circumstances were a little different. I thought no one knew where I was, but they all knew all along. Especially the man I was running from.
It all worked out for the best in the long run. I just wish it wouldn’t have taken six damn years away from us.
“Your dad bring you in this morning?” Stephano asks in his Italian accent.
He’s quite a bit older and I’ve been working with him for three months now, but God, his accent gets me every time.
“Yes. You would think I was still a child. He’s the worst of the bunch.”
I take a sip of my coffee. Everyone here knows what happened to Manny and me. Everyone has been on high alert for over two years, waiting for Royal to strike. I’m hoping he’s dead somewhere, either by my father’s hand or from a drug overdose. Either way, I hope he’s rotting in the farthest corner of hell alongside all the rest of them.
My dad has practically devoted the past couple of years to sticking by my side, making sure I get to school and now work safely and returning me home if Cain’s not around to do so. They guard me more now than they did when I was in Canada. I feel like I’m in grade school all over again the way he fusses about me all the time. For a man who pulls a trigger for a damn living, he sure is a softy.
I pull my hat off of my head when I enter the office. The phones are buzzing. All the secretaries with their head pieces at their ears are chatting away.
“See you in a few minutes,” Stefano says as he goes one way and I go the other.
“Going over the Belmont case one more time before it starts?” I question.
We’ve been burning the midnight oil the past several weeks over this case. It’s my first big trial as an assistant defense attorney for one of Salvatore’s men who is being prosecuted for computer hacking. One little slip up and he was caught, although we are searching for the proof we need to somehow prove he was set up.
An inside job that should have been an easy one for him went sour the minute he hacked into a Mexican drug cartel’s personal computer system. Brian Belmont is one of the best black hat hackers around. He should never have been caught.
To say I’m nervous would be putting it mildly. This case will take months, another reason why everyone is on high alert. The least mention of drugs sends everyone on a frenzy looking for Royal, so I understand why Brian did it. This family is leaving no stone unturned. No option untouched in their search.
Which leads me now to the two men sitting in my office when I enter. Cain approaches and takes off my jacket for me.
“Hey, babe,” I greet him.
“How’s my sexy wife?” he asks, kissing me briefly on the lips.
“Irritated,” I grumble, sitting in my chair and pulling off my ugly boots. I toss them in the corner and slip my feet into my leopard print Valentinos. Cain slips his sexy self into a chair across from me. God, that ass of his still gets me wet.
“Work from home. I’ve told you this.”
“Ha! I would never get any work done.”
“Maybe a little.”