Three

'Honey'

She called him honey.

She takes striking steps toward us, her heels clicking softly against the pavement, then stands beside Alessandro. The closer she gets, the more I realize she is even more gorgeous up close. She walks like she owns the room, and watching her stand next to him, I don’t think I have ever seen a couple as perfect together as they are.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asks, her voice laced with genuine concern. I am a little surprised that she would ask that. “I hope my husband and his little minion bullies aren’t bothering you,” she adds, and I am taken aback by what she just said. Alessandro is her husband. He is married!

My mind flashes back to the ball, remembering how I flirted with him and how he was clearly flirting back. I feel a pang of embarrassment.

Didn’t the FBI think that was something I ought to know before sending me on a mission to flirt with a married mafia lord? I am starting to think they don’t exactly care about my safety, because if he happens to know who I am, they didn’t just make me an enemy of one of the most ruthless men I have heard of but also his wife.

I nervously clear my throat when I notice she is anxiously waiting for me to respond.

“Yes… I’m fine, thank you,” I manage to say, in a shaky voice. “I was just lost.”

She smiles kindly. “Oh, that’s no problem. We will help you figure out where you are headed. I’m Maria, and this is my husband Alex. Don’t mind his weird glances. Those two minions are Luca and Mateo,” she moves closer to me and whispers, “They are men. They think if they use their deep voices on a woman, she will cower.” She says, and I force a nervous chuckle, then glance at Alessandro, who is still giving me that weird look. I can't look at him any longer because I don’t want to give him any chance of recognizing me.

“And you are?” she asks, and my breath catches in my throat.

“Huh?”

“Your name, darling. You didn’t tell us your name,” she says, and my eyes automatically move to Alessandro, who has raised a curious brow.

“Uhm… Renée,” I try my best not to look at Alessandro.

“Oh, beautiful name indeed. You aren’t from these parts of the country, Renée. I wouldn’t be wrong to think you aren’t even from this country, are you?” she asks, and I shake my head.

“Not really.” I don’t want to think about why she would assume that. It could be that I am among the minority races in the country, or it could be an entirely different reason.

“Yeah, I could tell. The accent.”

Right. Here I thought I was doing my best to have an undetectable accent. I force a smile because this interaction is taking a little longer than it should, and I don’t know how to get out of here without sounding rude or suspicious.

“Quite a unique accent,” Alessandro says, and my heart skips a beat. What if he recognizes my accent? Sure, I did try my best to have a local accent when I was talking to him at the ball, but maybe I slipped.

“Oh honey, don’t harass the poor girl. Your boys already made her uncomfortable as it is,” she tells him, and he scoffs. “You didn’t tell us where you were headed?”

“1520 Willow Street,” I say, and her eyes light up in recognition.

“Elen’s place?” she asks, and I sigh in relief and nod, glad that someone finally knows where I am going and is willing to help. This means her security guys can stop looking at me suspiciously now.

“Yes, I have an appointment with her.”

“You must be the photographer,” she says, and I nod again, glad that she is making this a little easier for me. I didn’t know she knew Eleonora, but I’m kind of glad she does.

“She told you,” I say, and she nods in excitement.

“Of course she did. She’s been rambling on about this boudoir photoshoot she has, and now that I’ve met you in person, I should book an appointment too.”

“Did you say boudoir photoshoot?” The moment Alessandro asks that question, my heart starts racing.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“It’s a girl’s thing, honey. You and the boys should go inside. I will take her to Elen’s,” Maria tells him, very clueless about why her husband asked that. I look at him, and he has a grin on his lips. He shakes his head in disbelief, and without saying another word, he nods for Luca and Mateo to unlock the gate for him and walks back to his car.

My heart is still beating so fast, and I watch as he drives into the compound with Maria standing next to me. I don’t know why he didn’t say anything else, and I could tell myself that he still doesn’t know I’m the girl who got him apprehended last night—which he is surprisingly already free by the way—but deep down I know that look he gave me. He knows who I am, and if he hasn’t yet, then he is probably figuring it out now. The fact that they all seem to know Eleonora just means that in due time, my cover is about to blow over.

“You have a nice car,” Maria says, and I nervously chuckle.

“Thank you.”

It is not really my car, if I have to say. When I moved in, I was having trouble without a car, and I wanted to buy one, a secondhand one that I could afford, but Dell gave me his car to use since he had one from the bureau and didn’t need two cars. I will still take the compliment because it is a beautiful car, alright.

“Okay, let's go,” she says, walking to the passenger side of the car, and my eyes open wide in shock. There is no way in hell I am going to let her into my car or go with her.

“Uhm… if you could maybe just show me the direction…” I say, and she looks at me and chuckles.

“That is exactly what I’m doing.”

“I could drive there on my own,” I say, and she laughs and shakes her head, then dismisses me with a hand wave.

“Oh, don’t be silly. Open the door for me. I was to meet Elen today, so I might as well get it done with,” she says, and I know no matter what, I am not letting her accompany me. I have already had enough of a close encounter with them, and I am not going to risk it even further.

“I…I don’t think…”

She sighs, giving up, then takes a step back from my car.

“Fine. Follow this route for the next ten miles, you will see a left turn. Follow it for another eight miles or so, and you will see Willow Street. I am sure from there you will be able to see the street numbers,” she says, and I nod gratefully, glad that she isn’t accompanying me anymore.

“I will be waiting to see the work you do with her. If I like it, then trust me, you will have me as your next client.” I nod with a smile of acknowledgment and get back in the car before starting it.

I try to stay as calm as possible as I drive away. I'm trying to understand why someone as beautiful and kind-hearted as Maria would marry someone like Alessandro. I've barely driven a mile before my phone starts buzzing. I check and it’s Dell again. I see that there are a couple of missed calls. He’s probably worried that I’m lost, but I’m angry.

I take a deep breath before picking it up.

“Renée, what the hell? I’ve been calling you. You have me worried,” he says, and I roll my eyes.

“So, you forgot to mention that the man I risked my life to get arrested not only is free but lives in the same estate as my appointment?” I’m so pissed right now. I trusted Dell when he said the guys would never put my life at risk and that it was all worth it, only for them to release Alessandro barely twenty-four hours later.

“I just found out that he was released a couple of hours ago. I was going to tell you. But wait, how did you know that? And how did you know where he lives?” I shake my head in disbelief and take the first left turn Maria mentioned. All I did to have him arrested was just a waste of my time.

“Because, when I got lost, the first building I stopped at to ask for directions just happened to be his home. Also, did you and your guys think it would be a good idea to send me to flirt with a married man?” I ask, and he goes quiet. He doesn’t have an excuse for that one.

“Renée... it’s complicated,” he says.

“No, Dell,”

“Come on, it’s not like that was supposed to be anything. You were just flirting with him to get his undivided attention,” I roll my eyes for the umpteenth time.

“Seriously?”

“Are you okay? Are you safe? Did he recognize you?” he asks, and I scoff. He is unbelievable.

“Yes, I am safe, headed to Eleonora’s now, and there’s a high chance he might have recognized me.”

“Uh... Renée, can you come to the office? I can have Eleonora reschedule the shoot.”

“No, Dell, I’m almost there. I’ll come after the shoot,” I mutter, feeling frustrated.

My eyes are on the road ahead as I look for the street number when suddenly a sleek black sedan speeds past me and swerves in front of me, forcing me to slam on my brakes. My heart leaps into my throat as I struggle to maintain control of my car, swerving slightly before coming to a stop. The car blocks my path completely, and I’m momentarily frozen, trying to process what’s happening.

“Dell, I have to go,” I say, my voice shaking. I hang up and grip the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles ache.

Before I can contemplate my next move, the car doors burst open, and two men dressed in all black, their faces completely covered by masks, rush towards me. I panic as I fumble to lock my doors. But it’s too late. One of them reaches my door and yanks it open with alarming force.

“Get out of the car!” he barks, his voice muffled by the mask.

“What... what do you want?” I stammer, my voice trembling with fear.

The other man grabs my arm, pulling me out of the car with a rough yank. I try to resist, but they are too strong. I scream, but the sound is cut short as the man presses a handkerchief over my mouth and nose. The pungent smell hits me instantly, and I recognize it as chloroform.

“No, please...” I gasp, but the world starts to blur. My vision swims, and my limbs go weak. The last thing I see before everything goes dark is the masked man’s cold, emotionless eyes staring down at me.

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