Read Online Spectacular Rascal: A Sexy Flirty Dirty Standalone Romance by Lili Valente - Free Book Online Page B

drink back on the table. “I’m a super-solider, remember?”
    “I do, which is why I don’t understand this,” I say, shaking my head. “My ‘dude’s not right’ detector started going off the second I laid eyes on that guy. The lights are on, but no one’s home. At least, not anyone I want to meet.”
    “He used to hide it better, I swear he did,” she says, that haunted look creeping in to tighten her features. “It’s only since I told him I was calling off the engagement that his mask started to slip. I never saw the Nico you saw today before that. He faked having a soul very well.”
    “You were engaged?” I fight to keep the surprise from my tone. I had no idea it had gotten that serious, that she’d actually agree to marry that scum dumpster before changing her mind.
    “Only for a couple of weeks.” She glances down at her folded hands, not meeting my eyes. “As soon as I said yes, our entire relationship changed. He started getting bossy with me outside the bedroom and assuming that he was going to have a level of control over my life that was never going to be okay. He wanted me to quit my job and text him every time I left his building. He even talked about putting a tracking device on my car…” She shakes her head. “All kinds of crazy stuff. But he kept insisting it was for my own safety, which made me ask questions I should have asked in the beginning.”
    She takes another survey of the room. We’re now the only occupied table—the two women finished their shakes and left a while ago—but she still leans in to whisper her next words, “That’s when I found out that he’s been helping launder money for the Mancuso family for years, and that his grandfather pretty much owned Brooklyn in the fifties.”
    I sit back hard enough to send the front legs of my chair lifting off the floor.
    Mancuso.
    This keeps getting better and better.
    I’m far from up on current events—I prefer to get my news from the Onion and the pissed off political activists who swing into the shop to get inked—but even I know about the Mancusos. They’re New York’s most untouchable crime family, a group of highly intelligent, highly dangerous criminals who have managed to avoid prosecution for decades, all while ruling an empire built on blood and fear. Federal prosecutors have tried to bring several higher ups in the organization to trial twice, but each time key witnesses vanished before they could take the stand, and the mob bosses went free.
    People who have dirt on the Mancusos have a way of disappearing on an alarmingly regular basis.
    Disappearing…
    The phrase is no longer the least bit funny, and the fact that Petey, the “disappearing” specialist, was glaring at Red less than an hour ago makes me determined not to let her out of my sight. No one is disappearing on my watch. Even if I have to break every one of Bash’s rules, I’m keeping Red alive until we can find a way out of this hot mess we’ve landed in.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    From the texts of Aidan Knight and Sebastian “Bash” Prince,
    with cell phone appropriation by Penny Pickett.
    From Bash: End it, Aidan. Right now.
    She lied on the application, which renders our contract null and void.
    Go home, lock your door, and then give me a call back. We’ll figure out together what to do next. You’ve got a friend at the NYPD, right?
     
    Aidan: Yeah, Lipman made Detective last year. But—
     
    Bash: No buts. Get home and call Lipman. See if he can hook you up with someone who can help Catherine. And if that’s a bust, Penny knows a guy who’s former FBI.
     
    Aidan: I’ll give Lipman a call as soon as I can, but I can’t bail on this assignment. Cat’s ex already saw us together this morning.
     
    Bash: So what? Did you give him a name?
     
    Aidan: Not my full name, no, but Cat mentioned my first name, and I hear mob guys are pretty good at getting information when they want it. And he’s going to want it. Cat says he takes jealousy