White Knight (Dirty Mafia Duet, #2)(44)

“You wouldn’t have trusted me if I’d told you,” I reply.

“You’re my brother. I’d trust you with my life.”





30





Memphis





There’s an extra laptop in Dom’s office. Marta will show you where it is. Tell me if you or your hacker friend find anything.

That’s the text I got from Cannon this morning after spending a sleepless night in one of the simple apartments inside Dom’s brownstone in Hell’s Kitchen, and how I found myself standing inside the office of the most notorious mobster in New York City. A gray-haired woman unlocks a cabinet and reveals a stack of laptop boxes. New laptop boxes. Like they just “fell off a truck” somewhere.

A tiny, instinctive part of me wishes she weren’t so efficient, because it’s killing the reporter in me not to be able to snoop. Then again, even if she left me alone in here right now, I couldn’t talk myself into doing it.

Because the Casso family isn’t my target now. No, it’s the Rossettis.

No one shoots at people I care about and gets away with it. I’ll do whatever I have to do to bring them down and get justice. Luckily, that happens to be something I’m very good at, despite the roadblocks I’ve run into with my father’s case. I haven’t forgotten about you, Dad. I promise.

“You just need one?” Marta asks, holding out the box.

“One, yes. Thank you,” I reply, taking it from her so she can relock the cabinet.

“I really hope he knows what he’s doing,” she adds, and I’m caught off guard.

“What do you mean?”

She turns around and gestures to the door. I take one step but wait for an answer.

“I mean that I hope Cannon knows how to step into the shoes he’s trying to fill, and understands the consequences that are going to go along with it. This isn’t a road he can untravel. I don’t think he fully appreciates what he’s taking over.”

“Cannon’s an intelligent, thoughtful, and incredible man. I’m sure he knows exactly what he’s doing and will have no problem filling any role that comes his way.”

Her head jerks back like she’s stunned to hear me defend him, and it pisses me off a little that Cannon being defended is such a shocking thing.

“Well, apparently you know exactly what you think about the situation, don’t you?” she asks me with a dash of attitude creeping into her tone.

“I know Cannon. That’s all that matters.”

“Hmm. I guess we’ll see.” She takes her seat at the desk just outside the office door she relocked behind me.

I make my way back out into the lobby to take the stairs down to the apartment one of Dom’s guys showed me to in the early hours of the morning. When I’m alone again, I open the laptop.

It’s time to get started.





Four hours later, I still haven’t heard from Ariel, which isn’t surprising since my super-hacker friend has a brand-new baby. So I rise and stretch before heading to the main living quarters in the brownstone where Eden and Bishop are staying. Delicious smells come from the kitchen, and I follow my nose toward the food.

Inside, I’m startled to find Tanya unloading aluminum trays of food on the counter.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

She twists around to face me, equally shocked to see me as I was to see her. “I should be asking you that, but then again, it doesn’t surprise me to find you locked down with the family. Cannon’s made how he feels about you pretty clear.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, mostly because I didn’t expect her to know much of anything when it comes to how Cannon feels about me.

“He called me last night to tell me the club was closing indefinitely, and that you weren’t going to be working there until it was safe. He said he wasn’t taking any chances with anything, especially you.”

Warmth bubbles up in my chest, and I want to wrap my arms around her statement and hold on to it until I see Cannon next and can hug him.

“He had you bring over food?”

Tanya gives me a quick nod. “Yeah. He wanted to make sure everyone has everything they need.” She pauses in unclamping the lid of one container and bites her lip. “Is it true that Enzo almost died? Cannon didn’t say much, and the gossip mill is hard at work.”

I can’t help but wonder what the motivation is behind her question. “Do you have some special interest in Enzo?”

Tanya’s head whips back and forth. “No. Total opposite. He’s awful. And I know I shouldn’t say this, but if that’s not true, I wish it was.” Something that looks a lot like fear lines her features.

“What did he do to you?”

Tanya’s expression turns wary. “Why do you always ask so many questions?”

Part of me wants to laugh, because she has no idea how good I am at getting information out of people. I lift my chin and stare Tanya down.

“You brought up Enzo, not me. You’re also the one who basically just said you wish he was dead. Wouldn’t you be curious too if you were me, Tanya?”

She huffs, but I can tell I made my point. “He made a play for Teal after he saw her at the club. Cannon had to warn him off. Enzo didn’t listen, so Cannon made him.”