Page 112 of The Crowned Garza

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“What kind of offer?”

Santo

THE VISIT CAME TWOweeks later.

I walked into the loft and there she was on my couch with Indy curled up on her lap.

Black hair, green eyes, blatant sex appeal.

Finding a stranger in my well-secured and hidden loft isn’t what halts me. It’s Indy’s calm submissiveness under the woman’s long-nailed scratches.

Indy plays nice for no one. Not even me half the time.

“Buona notte,” I say casually. “Props to you for making my hellion feline docile.”

The woman nuzzles Indy then pats her hind.

Indy leaps off her lap, stretches, then struts off to her room.

Leaning back, the woman spreads her arms along the length of the couch and crosses her legs. The split of her black dress gapes from the change in position, showing off an ample amount of tan, toned skin.

Confidence and power radiate from every pore of her.

“This is what I like about you, Santo Luciani,” she says with a husky, sultry drawl. “You just take the unexpected and roll with it. Every time.”

“To be fair, I was told to expect you.”

“You were told to expect avisit,” she corrects. “You don’t know me. I could be here to assassinate you.”

“I expect death every day. An assassin wouldn’t surprise me. When it’s time to die, it’s time to die.”

Her wine-red lips stretch into a slow smile. It looks pretty, sweet, harmless, tempting. But that’s a smile with bullets and poison.

She points one knee-high booted leg to an armchair. “Let’s chat.”

I take a seat in said armchair and wait.

But she merely watches me, those emerald-green eyes dancing with mischief. Like I’m a strange, foreign thing she cornered and is deliberating how to coax and tame me.

Maintaining eye contact, I let her take her fill of me.

“Welcome to The O, Santo,” she eventually says. “You have signed all the agreements already, so I assume you’re thoroughly up to date on what is expected of you as the Crown to your Anointed. As well as the perks, the protection, and the power. The rules you must adhere to and the understanding that wedo notlike messes.” She waves a dismissive hand. “All the boring stuff. Besides, by now you must know the consequences of insubordination.”

Dipping her chin, she gives me another of her illusionary smiles. “I’m here because you havefascinatedme over the last couple of years. I wanted to look into your eyes for myself and seeyou. See this ‘pure authenticity’ Torin Garza talks about.”

Her mouth dips at the corners as she cocks her head to one side and regards me further. With a nod, she waggles her fingers in the general direction of my face. “It’s all there. The authenticity. But you could also just be really fucking good at deception. After all, you have been living a double life, undetected, for over a decade.”

Blithe, I shrug. “I wouldn’t buy what I’m selling either.”

Scrutinizingly, she squints at me, then laughs at the ceiling. “Oh, Santo Luciani. How you tickle my fancy. If my husband were the jealous type, he would never let me near you, not with how obsessed I am with you.”

If I were her husband, I wouldn’t be pleased with how much skin she’s flashing me. She’s dressed like a woman on the prowl, out to seduce and ensnare.

“I’m here to make you an offer,” she says, cutting to the chase.

“What kind of offer?”