Page 69 of Hidden Ties

Kent gave her an amused grin as he pulled something out of his pocket. “I don’t know, Valkyrie. You tell me.”

Her jaw dropped as she stared at the flash drive that only one other person knew about. “Justice?”

Kent slowly nodded.

She couldn’t help herself; Valerie gave the man a bear hug. When she noticed the jealous rage overtaking Sal’s face, she pulled back. “You told me you were a veterinarian.”

“I didn’t lie, technically.” He shrugged. “I’ve been known for putting a sick animal down when I had to.”

Sal just rolled his eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She smacked him on his chest. “You ass!You only brought me a single Nutty Buddy when you saw me in jail!”

Defensively, he moved away from her smacking hands. “They wouldn’t have let you take them back to your cell.”

Hurt, she averted her gaze from him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Valerie, you want to make money by building a make-believe world. I make my money by building a world where no one knows who I am.”

Thinking that was one hell of a line that she needed to use in a video game, she wasn’t able to be too angry after he had helped save her life.

“Thank you, Justiceand Vincent.” She gave them both a hug. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you both. I thought I was a goner, for sure.”

“And what am I? Chopped liver?” Sal scoffed, motioning to the bullet wound he had taken for her.

Valerie wound her arms around Sal’s neck before placing a tender kiss on his lips. “Oh, I know exactly how I plan to repay you.”

“Lucca is waitingoutside the front of the Casino Hotel with his men,” Kent told him once they reached the casino floor of the Horseshoe with an armed escort, via a motorcycle club he represented that had currently also been staying at the Casino Hotel.

Sal had to give them credit; their weapons were putting the Caruso family’s to shame as he and Vincent now stared in envy.

“How did you manage to keep Lucca outside?”

“I called and told him I had it under control and to keep his men back, that I wasn’t going to spend the next five years defending him in court if he left the casino. Which one do you want?”

How he had planned to cover up this clusterfuck of a mess, Sal had no fucking idea, but he was grateful it wasn’t going to be the Caruso’s problem. He’d let Kent take the responsibility of cleaning up Valerie’s sticky situation this one time, at least considering he was certain Justice had orchestrated the Caruso’s involvement with Valerie in the first place.

“Is it possible for me to take the flash drive?” Sal’s interest had been piqued about what kind of bug it must contain.

Kent’s lips quirked into a smile at the endless possibilities The Great Salvatore might conduce with it in the future. “I don’t care how justice gets carried out, only that justice is done.”

Sal was grateful Valerie hadn’t heard Kent say that line. She was a few feet ahead, asking a man covered in facial scars that went by the name Jackal to model for her next video game.

Holding out a hand, he decided to let bygones be bygones. “Thank you, Kent.”

“Don’t thank me.” The lawyer happily accepted the handshake. “You were the one who had the bright idea of splitting up just in case she got off on the tenth floor.”

Shaking his head, Sal had to swallow his pride for what he was actually thanking him for. “Not that …”

“Oh.” Kent silently understood. “So, you no longer hate me for pushing you to buy that house next to Valerie?”

Hearing Valerie ask Jackal if he had scars anywhere else on his body had Sal giving the hand in his a death grip. “I wouldn’t go that far just yet.”

“I’m coming,”Valerie huffed out to Sal, waving bye to her dozen new motorcycle friends while he dragged her along toward the ambulance.

“We really got to step up our game.” Vincent also gave one last appreciative look back. Not at the men but their weapons.

“I’ll get Lucca right on it,” Sal hissed out, already planning on how he was going to use his new weapons to eradicate every good-looking man on Earth who came within a five-foot distance of Valerie.