“That d epends,” he said, voice gruf f. “Can you stay quiet?” The question made me hesitate. I’d never been very good at that. “I can try ,” I hedged. “Y ou can put me to work, too. I’m happy to help.” “Do you have any cooking experience?” he asked shortly . I leaned against the counter and nodded. “Lots. I’m in culinary school in the city . Baking is my favorite, though I’m learning all of it.” He grunted. “I already have a system. But if you’re bored, you can hang out in here.” “Thanks.” Propping both elbows on the counter and resting my chin on my hands, I watched him work through the onions with enviable speed and accuracy . “I’m Sadie, by the way . And you’re Antonio?” The knife paused, and both his thick grey eyebrows rose. “The boss told you about me?” “Well, he didn’t say you were an actual chef. I was picturing one of his scary guards slicing up fruit for our lunch earlier.” I snickered at that imagery . “Speaking of, thank you for the food. It was delicious.” As soon as the words left my mouth, a warm blush cr ept up my neck. Fruit wasn’t the only thing I’d feasted on at lunch, and Davian was quite tasty himself. Antonio grunted before resuming his fancy knife work. “Next time, make sure to stop in for breakfast. That’s delicious, too.” My blush de epened. He thought there’d be a next time? “Oh. I don’t know if I’ll be staying over again. These were extenuating circumstances.” He spared me a glance without slowing his chopping. “You’re with the boss, no?” “ With him?” A nervous laugh clawed its way up my throat, and I stood straighter . “Like—together? I mean, we haven’t made anything official, if that’s what you’re asking. Things got a little complicated after I— Well, yesterday I sort of took Vince’s gun and— Um, actually , the details don’t really matter .” Well, that was enough talking for me. A frown creased Antonio’ s forehead. “The men talk. They say you’re together .” My eyes widened. What kind of Nosy Nellies did Davian work with? Word got around here faster than at Gladys’ s book club, and those ladies could out-gossip anyone.
“Uh, I don’t know about that. But we did kiss. A few times, actually .” Thinking about the patio caused my whole face to radiate heat, and I discreetly fanned myself. “He’ s a good kisser .” Antonio’ s brows inched up in disbelief before he threw his head back with a de ep, full belly laugh that made me jump. I watched in fascination— while hoping he wasn’t laughing at me—until he calmed down enough to chop again. “You’re too sweet, dolcezza. ” He shook his head as a few more chuckles es caped. I had no idea what that word meant, but I really hoped it wasn’t anything bad. “You’re just being nice,” I said, though I couldn’ t help grinning. I was ridiculously pleased he wasn’ t scowling at me anymore. “No, no. You are ,” he insisted. “When I heard the boss had a lady friend staying over, that was news enough on its own. But I didn’t expect her to be sweet.” My brain latched on to his mention of lady friends. What kind of girls did Davian usually date? Don’ t ask. Don’ t ask. Don’ t ask. I cleared my throat and traced a circle over the granite countertop, trying my best to sound nonchalant. “Are Dav’s... er, lady frie nds not usually sweet?” Antonio shrugged and slid the diced onions into a large bowl. “Don’t know.” I frowned. “What do you mean you don’ t know?” “Not much time to entertain lady friends here when the boss works as much as he does.” He cocked a brow, looking at me. “Another reason I was surprised to hear about you.” Oh . It was getting warm in here. “But that doesn’t change that this is no place for a sweet girl.” Antonio’ s frown returned. He studied me for a long moment before pointing his knife at me. “Do yourself a favor, dolcezza . Go back to your culinary school and forget all about the boss.” His candor struck me speechless—was it normal for employees to warn girls off their bosses?—but I recovered quickly and lifted my chin. “I appreciate your concern, Antonio, but I can take care of myself. I’ve done fine so far .”
Aside from the parts where Davian had used the hostage-reverse card on me and the thugs had shown up at my apartment, I thought I’d handled everything quite admirably . “I’m sure you have.” Antonio pulled out another onion and started dicing. “But you’ve barely scratched the surface of what goes on here. And girls like you belong with nice boys. Boys who appreciate you and have time for you.” I frowned, getting a little annoyed with Antonio—especially since Davian seemed to appreciate me just fine. “To be honest, you don’t know me and you’re making a lot of assumptions. Did those Nosy Nellies even tell you how Davian and I met?” His eyebrow cr ept higher, and the knife paused in its chopping. “No, they didn’ t.” I crossed my arms and lifted my chin, doing my best to look intimidating. “I stole Vince’s gun and took Davian as my hostage in Bruno’s ice cream shop. I’m basically a criminal myself.” Boom . Exc ept... it wasn’t the mic drop moment I’d been hoping for. Instead, Antonio’ s lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh again, seemingly unimpressed with my budding rap sheet. “My mistake. I shouldn’ t have judged so quickly .” He bent his head in apology and cleared his throat. “May I ask what prompted the whole hostage situation?” “Well.” I shifted my weight. Maybe I shouldn’ t have brought that up. But he needed to understand I wasn’t as sweet as he thought I was. “One of the shelter dogs was taken from Happy Tails Haven, and I needed help getting him back. It was time sensitive.” He blinked slowly . “So, you chose Davian Reed to help you?” “Yes. He has a r eputation.” Antonio’ s bafflement only grew . “... For rescuing dogs?” “For getting things done,” I corrected, pursing my lips. Antonio’ s mouth opened and closed, and there was a long pause before he returned to his chopping. “... Indeed he does. Now, care to share why you really came down to my kitchen? I know it wasn’t to visit an old man like me.” I bit the inside of my cheek. His tone had warmed since I first arrived, but I still felt like I’d overstayed my welcome.
“Well, I was hoping to bake a few things, but I can come back later.” I eased back from the counter and tried not to send a longing glance at the ovens. “I didn’ t expect anyone to be here.” Antonio’ s brows rose. “Y ou want to bake?” I shrugged. “Y eah. Just some cupcakes to thank Davian for his help.” All chopping halted, and he looked at me like I was an alien visiting from another planet—which didn’ t feel too far of f. It took a beat before he spoke again, brows pulled together . “... You want to bake cupcakes for the boss?” I shifted my weight. Did Davian host seminars to train his men on how to stare someone down? They were all really good at making me squirm. “And dog treats for Bear,” I added, hoping I wasn’t overst epping. Maybe the idea of letting me use his kitchen didn’t sit well with Antonio. I couldn’ t blame him. . itchens were sacred. “He picked up a bad habit recently , and I’m not opposed to using bribery to fix it. You know how dogs are.” I actually had no idea if he knew how dogs were, but his stare was unnerving. Antonio finally blinked—thank god—before rubbing a hand over his thick mustache. A long moment passed before he nodded. “All right, then. We’ll share the kitchen. You can bake your treats.” It was my turn to stare. “Really?” I asked, surprised he’d changed his tune. Should that make me suspicious? “I mean, are you sure? I don’ t want to intrude.” “Nonsense.” He gestured to the mostly empty island. “I’m just pr epping dinner. You can use as much space as you need, and I won’t mention any more about you and the boss.” The tightness in my shoulders eased. “That sounds great. Thank you, Antonio.” “Don’t mention it. Now, we have the staples for baking,” he said, “but the store can deliver whatever else you need. Come. I’ll show you the inventory .” Not needing to be told twice, I followed him into a beautiful walk-in pantry with a skip in my st ep. Turned out, “the staples” equated to “every single baking ingredient I could ever dream of having,” and I almost fainted at the top-of-the-line
stand mixers Antonio proudly showed off. Not even my school shelled out the money for those babies. And he had two . Antonio smirked when I gushed over them. “They’re one of the great perks of working here,” he admitted , patting one of the mixers lovingly . I was tempted to ask if he was open to hiring a sous-chef. He left me to explore the pantry—which was bigger than the entire kitchen area of my apartment— while he pr epped dinner, and all the choices I needed to make overwhelmed me. “Do you know what Dav’s favorite flavor and color are?” I called to Antonio as I inspected all the food coloring options. There were dozens Antonio sure knew how to hook a girl up. “I can’t say I’ve seen the boss eat many sweets or talk about a favorite color, but he wears a lot of black.” I scrunched my nose. There was nothing cheery about black icing, and it didn’t do any favors to your teeth. “Maybe I’ll just do flowers.” It took six trips to carry all the supplies I needed out to the kitchen, and my smile widened with each one. If this was how Davian normally treated his prisoner -slash-guests, then I might never leave.
D a v i a n Few things were sweeter than the squeal of a rat as it thrashed in my grasp. Now that I’d tasted Sadie, she topped the sweetness chart by a mile, but listening to Lorenzo sing about every way he’d betrayed me was its own symphony worth savoring. And, boy , did he sing. What I hadn’t expected was for Zain Ali to be on the other side of Lorenzo’ s secret meetings. Zain’s old man had barely been in the ground a month, and his son should be grieving—not making territory plays. We’d known the Ali family for years, since they carved out a nice slice of territory in the north side of the city. Zain’s pop had gotten along fine with mine, and they’d had an alliance that benefited both of them, but Zain was a young buck whose appetite had always been bigger than his stomach. Without a father figure to rein in his hotheadedness, the new head of the family was bound to make a move. And I was the lucky one who got to deal with him. “Pull Dante in on this,” I told Malcolm as we backtracked through the woods, leaving Lorenzo behind in the shed with Shane. “We’re cleaning house and going after Ali.” Malcolm glanced my way . “What should I say if Old Seb calls?” My jaw clenched, and I rubbed it. My pop’s stinginess was causing problems, which was just the tip of the iceberg. Lorenzo wouldn’ t look elsewhere without a reason, and he claimed Zain had made a better offer.