Page 31 of Professional Liar
Pierce handed me the phone. I scanned the screen. The man Fox picked up wasn’t hired by anyone on Pierce’s side. One of the five families put a hit out on me and Bianca. And worse, that same man killed my father.
I didn’t realize I’d sank to the floor until the cold tile on my bare ankle jolted me to awareness. The phone had slipped out of my hand and clattered somewhere near the wall. The world cut through my vision on a movie reel. Each clip barely pasted to the previous, so I caught glimpses of the white screen in the middle.
Pierce picked me up and carried me into our bedroom. I didn’t know how I felt from his revelation, so I held on tight and let him lay me on the soft gray bedding. He sat down beside me and held my hand. “Are you okay?”
Once I took a few deep breaths, I could focus again and sat up. Pierce handed me a water bottle and cracked the lid for me. I took a swig more out of politeness than necessity. “I’m fine. Really. Everything just caught up at once there. And what you said, and then the attack. I always thought my father well-respected. The bastard didn’t deserve their respect, but the families never question his leadership. I’m in charge for a month, and they are trying to kill me. Where did I falter? How did I already fail at a job I’ve been trained my entire life to do?”
I didn’t like how my ascension as the head of the five could be put into jeopardy so easily. “Does this have to do with rejecting Bianca’s marriage offers? Or are they looking for an excuse because they think I’m weak?” My voice started to raise as I spoke. “The only reason they can think me weaker than my father is because I’m a woman.”
Pierce took the bottle from me, screwed on the lid, and sat it on the bedside table. “You’re not weak, and we will show them. It might be a good time to tell me what the five do…I think I have a handle on your family, although you can confirm.”
“Import and export. We also oversee the other families. Make sure no one is making trouble or drawing too much attention. We’re the public face of the five, the ones with the political contacts and the donation accounts.”
He nodded and gripped my hand gently. I continued. “Aristo handles drugs. Usually high end designer drugs, mostly sold here in New York and in Hollywood. Cambio specializes in assassinations. Specialty bodyguard work as well. Litio does weapons, and Biondello is…” I trailed off trying to think how to explain the Biondello family.
“They what?”
“We don’t see them often. They keep to themselves. That family is only called upon when needed. They handle things on a heavier scale. Think warfare, famine, the apocalypse. The head of their branch is Prospero Biondello. Sometimes he’s called The Red Death.”
Pierce snorted, and I resisted the urge to cross myself. “The Red Death? Are you joking?”
His smile dimmed when I didn’t join in the humor.
“I’m serious. I met him at my father’s funeral. He’s my age and offered the same courtesy as any other attendant. But, everyone gave him a wide clearance when he neared.”
He started running his thumb over the top of my knuckles. “Is that it?”
“Off the top of my head, yeah. In my opinion, this world doesn’t have bad guys or good guys. Everyone exists in shades of gray. Your choices reflect where you land on that scale. As far as we’re concerned, we stick to our business and try to keep people from getting hurt.”
“I’m not judging you.”
I pulled from his grasp. “Why not? You just basically admitted your gang actually isn’t really bad. You help women on a certain career path. Illegal yes, immoral, I don’t think so. But, it doesn’t explain why you want to be with me. While I’ve never killed a man, I’m not an innocent in this life.”
Pierce leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. “If it’s not obvious to you by now why I’ve put up with you for all these years, then nothing I can say will clarify it. You see what you want to see and believe what you want to believe. And one day, you’ll understand.”
I swallowed against the lump squeezing up my throat like a rock in an air-less balloon.
He handed me back the water, and I took another swig.
“What if I admit I’m scared, or that I don’t have any idea what I’m doing sometimes.”
Another snort escaped him before he covered it with a fake cough. “I know that about you already, Kat. You can bullshit your way through a situation like a pro. Best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve witnessed some smooth talkers.”
Was he trying to make me feel better? His words still rang in my ears. He loved me. I knew he loved me. And, even if I never said the words out loud, I hoped he knew how I felt for him too. We fought more than we did anything else, but I couldn’t imagine our relationship without throwing things at him, or the way he dropped to his knees and pressed his face to the outside of my hip when he sincerely apologized.
I straightened my spine and looked him dead in the eye. “So what do we do now? I don’t know how to secure my place in the five. Earn the respect my father had and kill whatever little rebellion has seemed to crop up before he died.”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t understand all the rules and showmanship your family deals with. In my family, we just say what we mean and then do it. Yours is more about presentation than actual follow through.”
“I should take Bianca out of school. What if something happens to her?” The thought alone enough to pit my heart against my ribcage and start a line for bets.
His warm hand settled on my back, and he rubbed slowly. “Fox is with her. Nothing will happen while he’s there.”
“But he’ll have to sleep, and eat, and pee…or whatever.”
“Then I’ll send another of the crew to back him up, and tomorrow, we will hunt down these assassin Italians and hire her a bodyguard who can Liam Niesen her ass if something happens. If they were party to the attack, I’d assume they would have succeeded, which tells me it’s one of the five making a move, not the collective.”
I chuckled against my will, tears I’d been fighting barely restrained. He reached out and caught one threatening to fall from the edge of my lower lashes. “I won’t let anything happen to you or your sister.”
A cold hard rock settled low in my belly, and I tried to keep my voice even as I asked, “But what if something happens to you?”
