Page 35 of Professional Liar
“There’s a bottle of whiskey behind you.”
I canted backward and snagged it off a little ledge, gave her back the mug, and cracked the cork on the mostly full bottle.
“Drinking before noon, huh? Setting an excellent example, sister mine.”
I flashed her a finger and took a drag from the amber liquid. It burned a trail down into my belly. “Pierce thinks one of the five families is making a power play for leadership right now. The attack on us was paid for by the five, not by anyone on his side of things.”
Fidgeting came from the door. “Hey, pretty boy,” I called at Rodrigo. “What do you know about it? Anything.”
He swallowed so heavily, I could hear it from across the room. “I don’t have any information, but I can ask.”
“You do that.”
I focused on my sister again. “So what was that about?”
She shrugged, folded her legs up on the counter, and wrapped them in her arms. “Mostly about pissing you off, but he’s cute.”
“You met him like five minutes ago. Try to be careful, okay? If you aren’t moving into my house, I’ll need to get more protection on you.”
“Says the woman who didn’t even want to look at a bodyguard two months ago.”
I threw up my hands. Guilt, anger, fear all swirling together in a noxious cocktail inside me. “What do you want me to say, Bianca? I’m trying to keep you safe. As both the head of our family, now, and the five families, it’s kinda in the job description.”
She scowled and rested her chin on her knees. “Fine, I’ll be careful.”
“And stop sleeping with your guards. It’s probably not conducive for a great working environment, for either of you, unless you plan to keep them around.”
“Fine. Any other directives for me today? Want to take my cell phone and ground me too?”
I pushed off the counter, collected my bag, and stared her down. “Now you’re acting like a child. Knock it off. For the record, I don’t want you at the party, but I can’t tell you what to do so, be careful.”
She didn’t say anything as I walked out, casting one final glare at Rodrigo. I planned to find out as much as possible about him the second I returned home.
Holt opened the door, and I tossed my purse in first and scooted in after. Patton entered last and sat as far from me as he could get. No doubt feeling the waves of anger radiating off me.
What kind of bodyguard sleeps with his charge? I shook my head and leveled a stare at Patton. “You better make sure everyone in Pierce’s crew knows I will gut them if they touch my sister.”
He didn’t answer until we made it home. Stopping me gently as I got out of the car. “None of us would ever do that, I hope you know.”
I sighed and pulled away from his grip. He didn’t need to confirm it. I’d already known, my anger got the best of me. As usual.
Pierce met me on the sidewalk with the invitation. “What does this mean?”
I took it and stared down at the same gold foiling. “It means you need to get your tux back out.”
