Page 40 of Hidden Ties

“Thanks. I offered Sal to give you—”

Sal loudly coughed, interrupting her words and butting into the end of her sentence. “So, do you have anything Valerie could do around here? The court won’t let her use a computer or anything, but I’m hoping you could find something for her.”

Again, Valerie should maybe feel embarrassed that another complete stranger knew of her criminal situation. But at this point, and especially after she stood there while Sal continued to pretend like nothing had happened last night between them, her life was a joke.

“Yes, I’ve actually been needing an assistant. I got a bit behind on some paperwork.”

“That’s perfect.” With his phone beeping, Sal became distracted easily. “I’ll be by in a few hours to check on you two. Kat, be sure to keep an eye on this one, and Valerie …”

She tried not to roll her eyes at that comment and scolding tone.

“I’m trusting you won’t give my sister any trouble?”

I’ll fucking give you some trouble, bitc—

“Yeah, yeah, I think we got it from here,” Kat shooed her brother out of her office, sensing the tension. It was like she knew Valerie and her imp so well already.

Waving her hand, she gave Sal a big, satisfying smile as the door slammed right in his face.

Already, Valerie could tell she and Kat were about to become fast friends. They looked opposite but weirdly the same. Different but similar. Yin and yang.

“Sorry about him,” Kat apologized on his behalf. “I think he’s just been a bit stressed lately. Just work, I’m sure.”

Interesting … Or a breakup perhaps?

Kat got right to it, showing Valerie how to sort through some paperwork that had piled up and in which files in the cabinet she should place them.

After giving her the rundown on her detailed, color-coded filing system, Kat finally asked, “Any questions?”

“Yes, I do have one …” It was a lot to take in, but Valerie only had one question in mind. “Does Sal have girlfriend?”

Only an hour had passedbefore a text came through on his phone. Seeing it was his sister messaging him, he instinctively knew exactly what it was going to be about.

“Fuck.”

After reading the words,Get here now, he left his security office to head to Kat’s. By the time he got there, she was outside the door, waiting for him.

“Don’t worry; she’s in there,” Kat immediately spoke, sensing he thought she had run off.

“Why the hell have you left her alone?” Sal harped; they both knew she was a flight risk. The only reason he trusted his sister to watch her was because, unlike him, Katarina had grown up as a Luciano with his other brothers, Dominic, Angel, Matthais, and Cassius. She not only kept all of them in line from time to time, but hell, she kept her poor husband, Drago, practically whipp—

“What do you think she’s going to do? Jump out the window and fall one hundred fifty feet to her death?”

Her deadpan face had Sal taken aback, knowing his sister had a point there.

“She’s the one makingmesuicidal, not her.”

Sal’s hand went to massage his temples. He was already getting a headache from his lack of sleep. He didn’t need this. “Christ. What did she do? I’m sure she had a hard time following direction—”

“Oh no.” Kat stopped him right there. “She can follow directions just fine and did everything I asked immediately. I was behind filing two weeks’ worth of paperwork, and she filed them perfectly within thirty minutes.”

Sal wasn’t exactly seeing the problem, then. “Okay …?”

“She’s spent the last thirty minutes with her feet up, asking me things like,Does Sal have a girlfriend? How can I join the mafia?Or,do you have any Twizzlers?”

“Goddammit,” Sal huffed, going back to rubbing his temples. “Well, maybe you can find something else for her to do—”

“Oh, no, no, no.” Kat waved her hands violently against that idea. “Listen, love her to death, and I can’t wait to hang out with heroutsideof this office, but … she can’t work here.”