Page 28 of His Kidnapped Queen
Scott barks out a laugh. “Nothing like that. It’s just this job…it seems so exciting. I miss being a beat cop with you, you chasing perps while I strolled along behind you.”
I lean against him as we stand at the bathroom mirror.
“You could take the detective exam.”
He scoffs. “Me? A detective? Honey, that would require I do more work than I do now. I’m actually good.”
I laugh. “Well, then, dinner with Derek is what you get.”
“Aren’t you not supposed to start your mission until Monday?” Scott asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
I bounce on my heels. “I’mnotstarting my mission. I’m checking things out.”
“Oh, is that what this is?” Scott asks incredulously. “You’re becoming Angela, not just ‘checking things out.’”
I blow my bangs out of my face. “I need to get a foot in the door. I can’t just show up. I already have my backstory.”
“Which is?”
“My mother was a rich heiress from Italy. She moved here and married my father and had me, and although my family isn’t in the life, I know about it. Dated a few mobsters. I’ll drop some names, guys who are locked up now.”
“You seem like you have this all under control,” Scott drawls. “But you won’t have any backup.”
“Yes I will,” I chirp.
He raises an eyebrow in response.
“You,” I say brightly. “I’ll text you at midnight, tell you my location. Just in case.”
Scott’s shoulders relax. “Okay. That works. But Soph, I’m serious, no funny business. Be careful.”
“I’ll be careful,” I promise.
Scott puts me into a cab a half-hour later, and I do breathing exercises on the way there. It’s an abandoned warehouse, but music booms from every window.
It’s large, and I don’t know where I’m going exactly.
I knock on the back door, and in a moment the door cracks open. I can’t see anyone inside, only a large hand on the door.
“What do you want?” the bouncer barks.
“Um, my name is Angela. Angela Ricardo?” I think on my feet, knowing this is an underground boxing ring opening night. “I’m one of the models, I should be on the list?I knowI’m late, but…”
“Angela, huh?” He peers out at me, and a pair of dark eyes rake over my body. It makes me feel used and disgusted, but I just stand there, taking it. “Alright. You can come in.”
He opens the door just barely and I have to slide by him, which he seems to enjoy. He gives me a half-smirk that makes my skin crawl.
“I’m Oscar .”
I blink up at him. Surely he’s not Oscar Cortado. He wouldn’t be manning the door, would he?
But he looks the part. Piercing blue eyes, dark hair slicked back. A devil’s grin. Oscar Cortado is the biggest womanizer among the three families, and he has the looks and charm to get away with it, too.
“Nice to meet you,” I say dumbly, and Oscar laughs.
“You’re new here, aren’t you, Angel?”
He reaches out as if to brush my bangs out of my face, but when I recoil he stops, looking down at me with his head tilted.
