“I told you. You’ll get the information when I say you need it! Not when you say you do!”
“This is insane!” I exclaim. “I could have at least prepared if you’d have told me about this last night.”
“There are reasons for everything, Anya,” he says coldly. “And you will do what I ask because if you don’t, you will become a target for Volkov as well.” His eyes take on a threatening glare. “And don’t think that I will put my neck on the line for you if you challenge me. This is my opportunity to get what I’m due. What I’ve been waiting years for!” His lips twist into a grimace. “And you’re going to help me get it because you owe me that. Do you understand?”
I grit my teeth and nod.
He stares at me for a second before speaking. “You killing Vigo cleared a path for us, Anya. You proved that you can deliver, and my contact is impressed. He is going to get us access to the Villanis’ territories in Manhattan in exchange for information, information you will be able to gather once you get this job.”
“Are you going to tell me who your contact is?”
“It’s nobody you would have heard of,” he snaps. “But just so you feel that I’m letting you in on some of the details, I’ll tell you that he reached out to Vigo first about this plan to overtake the Villani territories. He wanted to partner with the bratva to expand his drug pipeline into other tri-state areas. Of course, Vigo jumped at it because he’s already got a big business in those areas, and bringing in more product would line his pockets as well as Volkov’s.”
“What did the contact want in exchange? What kind of information?”
“He’s got some beef with the Villani family. Said they have information he can use to get access to their territories in Manhattan for more pipelines, but he can’t get to it himself. So that’s where you come in. He needs someone to gain their trust and get close enough to get this information for him. You proved yourself to him last night with the hit on Vigo. He was pleased.”
“What kind of information am I going to be looking for?” I ask, furrowing my brow. “Like a contract or something?”
“Enough with the questions!” Uncle Boris thunders. “Get the fucking job first!”
“So I’m going to spy on this family and gain their trust under false pretenses for a guy I don’t know at all.”
A faint smile lifts Boris’s lips. “Yes. Exactly. I need them to trust you, to give you access to private areas he can’t access.”
“So you think I’ll find incriminating evidence in the nursery?” I snap sarcastically.
“As an au pair, you will be living with them, and as the caretaker of their baby, you will be left alone to investigate certain areas. You will learn their habits, listen to their conversations. There are several brothers who are in business together, and I am sure you will meet them all. Keep an ear to the ground.”
“And what exactly am I listening for?” I ask, still flabbergasted that my life is morphing into The Nanny Diaries. I still don’t understand how this is going to help with Volkov. What does he want with them, anyway?”
“For the last fucking time, I will let you know everything you need once you get the job!”
“One last thing, just in case it comes up,” I say, pressing my luck. Uncle Boris’s face is beet-red right now, but I need to ask. “How did I even get into the running for this job? You know, since I never actually submitted a resume.”
“It’s amazing what you can do when you have eyes and ears on everything,” he says curtly. “I took care of everything through my contact. He had inside knowledge of their au pair needs and was able to slot you in as a candidate. I emailed you what you need to prep. You’re a student who wants to enroll at UNLV next year. You took time off between high school and college to make some extra money to pay for school.”
“And I study…?”
“International business.” He lifts an eyebrow. “Because you’re bilingual.”
“Fabulous.” I roll my eyes. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Just read the email. It’s all in there. You’re safer not knowing too much.”
“Yes, I can definitely see how my complete and utter ignorance will work much more in my favor,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“Call me when you have the job,” my uncle says in a tight voice.
“Yeah, if I get the job,” I mutter, clicking to end the call. I toss the phone onto the mattress, cover my eyes, and let out a loud groan.
Okay, so I have an hour to figure out how to take care of a baby and manage to not get reported to Child Protective Services as an imposter nanny.
Or au pair.
Or what the fuck ever!
I clutch the comforter in my fists.
And I will figure it out…because whoever these people are, they’re about to experience some damn severe retribution.
Chapter Ten
Dante
“So then, I tiptoed into the room, went up behind the chair he was sitting in, and slit his throat from ear to ear!” I say in an exaggerated sing-song voice. “And a-boom! He was dead!”
Aisling’s bright blue eyes light up as she giggles, her arms and legs flailing as if I’ve just told her the most amazing story she’s ever heard. I keep my best assassin tales stored up just for her. Her plump little body shakes with laughter when I give her belly a little motorboat action.
Yes, I’m a great fucking uncle.
We’re outside on the pool deck at my family’s hotel, the Excelsior, and even though I’m all set up in the shade, the heat is so excruciating, I need to jump into the water every five minutes to make sure neither one of us dies of heat stroke.
I scoop Aisling into my arms and walk over to the ledge of the pool, making sure her sunhat is securely fastened under her chin and that she’s slathered with sunblock.
Heaven and Matteo will skewer me if the kid shows up with a hint of pink on her skin.
I position her in my lap, very aware of several pairs of female eyes on me bouncing Aisling on my knee as she splashes and babbles. In my periphery, I can see them smiling and whispering, but I have zero interest in engaging with any of them. My mind is on one girl only…the one I just left, the one currently slumming it at the Bellagio for the foreseeable future.
Anya.
What a sexy fucking name.
That kiss has had my dick in a twist for the past couple of hours since my visit with the now-late Miguel Rivas, and I’ve been trying to come up with scenarios where I can experience it again without looking like a total stalker.
The other thing nagging at me is the connection I felt. It’s something I can’t explain…just a feeling, really…like I’ve met her before.
She makes me think of Red Death…Dress…from last night, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why.
Maybe I’m just so wrapped up in the wanton memories from that erotic little encounter at the back of the lounge that I’m projecting them onto this other girl.
The one who is here in Vegas, not the nameless Russian mafia princess who left without so much as a ‘thank you’ for getting her off.
And oh yeah, she was my only lead on the Vigo situation.
I splash some water on my face and run my hand through my hair as Aisling kicks and coos.
But even though there was nothing about them that matched up physically, the feeling of familiarity sticks.
Just like the taste of those lips.
I’ve kissed plenty of women in my life, more than I could ever count. But something about those two was just so damn similar…in an uncanny way, not to my mind but to my body. When Anya kissed me, my body melded against her like it had been there before, like it knew exactly what to expect even though my mind had no fucking idea what I was doing or why.
I chalked it up to Red Dress being a loose end, one I have no confidence that I’ll ever tie up. I mean, I don’t even know who she is. Without that disguise, she could be anyone.