Page 45 of Taken by the Mafia King (Kings of Philly #1)

KILLIAN

H ow many drinks had I had? Three? Four? It didn’t matter. All that mattered right now was burying Giuseppe.

I was deep down the rabbit hole of imagining just how I’d kill him when someone burst into my office, the door slamming into the bookshelves behind it and sending everything upon it rattling and dancing precariously.

I turned lazily in my chair to face them, perhaps a bit slowed by the effects of the drink.

But when my eyes locked onto Sera’s, my mind cleared.

“How the hell do you keep getting out of your room?” Either she was Houdini, or someone in this house was fucking with me.

“Your crew is made up of inbred heathens incapable of doing anything correctly, that’s how,” she hissed, closing the door behind her. “I need something from you.”

I arched an eyebrow. Cute that she thought she could march in here making demands of me.

Me.

Sweet little Sera. She still had no clue. Why did that get me hard?

“I don’t have time to fuck you right now.” I moved from my desk chair to one of the couches near the fireplace, crossing an ankle over my knee.

Her eyes widened in shock as she folded her arms protectively beneath her chest. “That’s not what I’m here for.”

“Then what do you want?”

Sniffling, she steeled her expression and crossed the room to sit in one of the armchairs across from me. I didn’t like that she thought she could roam free in my home and corner me in my office like this, but at least she wasn’t outside screaming her head off like usual.

“What do you want, Sera?” I repeated with a little less ice in my voice this time.

“I need to know if someone named Paige Bruno was sold at the auction a few weeks ago.” Her soft voice cracked as she said the name, her eyes downcast. “She’s an old friend of mine.”

“Why do you think she would have been at the auction?”

“I just have a bad feeling,” she said.

“What exactly do you expect me to do about it if she was?”

Determination clouded her features, but there was real sadness, and maybe even desperation behind her eyes as she gazed at me. “Find her and confirm she’s safe, please.”

“And if she’s not?”

“Bring her here.”

“I’m not a knight in shining armor, Sera. I don’t go around saving damsels in distress, let alone killing bosses to do so.”

“But you did that for me.”

“Because I needed you. I know Paige Bruno. I don’t need her.” Done with the conversation, I went back to the work on my desk.

“Please,” she whispered again.

As tempting as it was to give into her, I was still the boss around here. She hadn’t fully whipped me yet. “I’m not your little errand boy.”

“I’m not asking you to be. I just need to know for sure that she wasn’t there. You owe me, Killian.”

“I owe you?” I laughed, narrowing my eyes at her. “For what, Sera?”

“For saving Tommaso’s life.” She held my gaze as she said it, her voice as smooth as the fine whiskey I’d been nursing.

I arched my brow, leaning back with a chuckle. Cunning little minx, this one. “And this is what you want? Not freedom? Not to be returned to your father?” Not that those were options.

Sera was smart enough to understand that. She wouldn’t even ask. “I need to know if she’s safe.”

Her tone set that flame alight in my chest, that place only she’d been able to touch. I sighed heavily, my eyes still fixed on her unflinching gaze. “I’m very busy right now. It’ll have to wait.”

“You sure look it.”

“Careful,” I warned.

Sera licked her lips but kept her chin up. Her posture suggested she felt brave, but her eyes told a different story. I saw desperation there. It was eating her alive.

Shit.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, letting her off the hook. “ If you behave yourself.”

“I always behave.” She rose from her chair and made for the door, pausing when she spotted my half-drunk glass of whiskey on my desk.

She snatched it up quicker than I could blink and tossed it back like it was water.

Her lips puckered and her nose scrunched, and she spared me a daring little glance over her shoulder before marching out, hips swaying.

She left the door wide open, which felt like a silent fuck you that made me roll my eyes and smile.

“Goddammit,” I whispered under my breath as I got to my feet and crossed the room. I caught a glimpse of her turning for the grand stairs and disappearing to the second floor. I shut the door and turned the lock to prevent anyone else from disrupting my peace again today.

I tapped my fingers on my desk as disappointment rose in my chest.

She’d said nothing about us having sex. Why did that bother me so much? I half expected her to say I owed her something because I’d fucked her, not because she’d saved Tommaso’s life. If anything, that act had saved her own life by making her more useful to me.

I’d never admit the reason I hadn’t gotten rid of her yet was because there was nothing I wanted to do more than go upstairs and ravish her like I had three days ago. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

“Where the hell is Paige Bruno?” I said to myself as I grabbed my phone off my desk and thumbed through my contacts. I pulled up Riccardo Marino’s number. He was a hard man to get a hold of, but for Sera, I’d at least have to try.

But before I could press the call button, Fred Bagnoli’s number flashed across my screen.

“What the fuck do you want?” I asked coldly into the receiver, sitting down behind my desk.

“I need to talk to you about a girl.”

“Fred, we’ve been over this.” I sighed, dragging a hand down my face.

“A different girl.”