“Cousin,” he said. “My papà was his papà’s brother.”
Lucky was taller than me, but he was lean and wiry. Still a boy. I wondered what Nico was like at Lucky’s age. Probably still bossy and used to getting his way.
Poker was the game of choice, and when I told Lucky we didn’t have to play for money, he looked at me like I was crazy. I laughed. What a little Russo in the making.
So I played poker with this teen boy and bet money I didn’t have.
I lost.
I used to play often. Nonna had a taste for the game, and sometimes when my mamma got a hankering for “family night” we all got together and played.
“Lucky,” I said, rearranging my cards, “how did your aunt die?”
“Caterina?” He frowned. “Drug overdose, I think. I was a baby at the time.”
I sighed. Yep, horrible person.
“Where is Nico tonight?” I was 99 percent sure he wouldn’t tell me, but that still left a 1 percent possibility. When his shoulders tensed slightly, alarm ran through me.
“I don’t know,” he said eventually.
“Yes, you do,” I accused.
He glanced at me with wide eyes. “Well, I do, but I’m not going to tell you.”
“Why not?” I pretended to be taken aback.
“Because Ace would have my ass if I talked business with you.”
“How would he know?”
He only shook his head.
“Fine.” I set my cards on the coffee table and then stood.
“Where are you going?” His tone wavered.
“I think I’ll go dancing upstairs.”
He shot to his feet. “No—wait.”
I halted in front of the door with my back to him.
“James is in the hall and you won’t get past him,” he said.
“But it would look bad that I got past you, wouldn’t it?”
Three seconds passed.
“Fine.” It was a little boy growl.
A smile pulled on my lips.
“He’s dealing with the man that knocked up your sister.”
I went still, took a deep breath, and then headed straight for the minibar.
“You lost again.”
One game had turned into three, and Lucky was either lucky or I was just bad.
I sighed and tossed my cards on the coffee table, watching some scatter to the floor. I was on my third drink and my head felt the effects.
Nico had been gone for almost two hours and the worry gnawed at me. He told me I shouldn’t trust him, so how could I trust the promise he’d made me about Ryan?
“That’s two grand now,” Lucky said, smug.
I groaned in my mind. Russo boys were just as bad as Russo men.
“Two grand, huh?” The voice carried a dark edge.
Lucky shot to his feet for the third time that night. “Boss—”
“Enough.”
The kid shut his mouth.
Nico’s focus was on me as he walked into the room. Self-assurance seemed to brew under his skin, like he’d gone for a run and instead of perspiring, he sweat cool confidence. His mood was electric and affecting me like a contagion in the air.
“Get the fuck out, Lucky.” Nico’s voice held a sharp note as he unbuttoned his suit jacket. His cousin headed toward the door. “Leave your post again and I swear you’ll be unable to leave your bed for a week.”
Lucky said, “Yes, boss,” before shutting the door behind him.
“Is there a reason my men don’t do what they’re told when you’re around?”
“Maybe you need to ask nicely,” I said, biting my cheek to hide my amusement. “A please never killed anyone, you know.”
“I suppose not.” His gaze sparked with dark amusement. “It seems to be your favorite word under certain circumstances.”
I sucked in a breath as warmth rushed to my cheeks. The blush spread throughout my entire body, and to distract myself from it, I changed the subject.
“I lost two thousand.” My tone was unapologetic, like I did this all the time.
Nico tugged on his tie, a smile pulling on his lips. “You didn’t lose anything. He cheated you.”
I paused. “How do you know that?”
“Because I taught him how, that’s why.”
Lucky, my ass.
“He would’ve won without the cheating,” I admitted with a sigh. “I have a terrible poker face.”
An intense gaze met mine, the pressure of it touching my skin. “Somehow, I doubt that.” He walked toward me with his hands in his pockets, and it felt as if I was forgetting how to breathe with each step.
I had no idea how to respond to that, or why it felt like it meant something, so I only said, “I don’t know the first thing about how to recognize when someone’s cheating, either.” I had the feeling I would get eaten alive in the Russo family. Even a teen boy had shown me up.
Nico dropped to his haunches before my spot on the couch and picked up a card from the floor. My heart pattered like rain against glass. He was close enough I could reach out and run my hand through his hair.
“Well, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?”
In between his pointer and middle finger, he held the card out to me, but before I could reach for it, it disappeared into thin air.
My eyes went wide. “How did you do that?”
“Simple sleight of hand.”
The cheating in the Russo family was so extreme that making cards disappear was “simple.”
“Show me,” I insisted.
His gaze sparked with amusement. “We’ll start with the basics first, so I can leave you alone for a couple hours without you losing all my money.”
I frowned.
He picked up the rest of the cards, and I noticed his freshly busted knuckles. I chewed my lip as he got to his feet, took off his jacket, and sat in the chair behind his desk.
“You play often?” I asked.
He leaned back, resting an elbow on the armrest. “Used to.”
“Why not anymore?”
“Got business to run.”
“Lucky made it sound like you were good. But now I can’t decide if you were good at poker or good at cheating.”
A dark smile pulled on his lips. “Sounds like you got him talking.”
Eh. I knew that tone, and it wouldn’t be good for Lucky.
“Well . . . no. I kind of threatened him and told him I would go dancing upstairs if he didn’t tell me what I wanted to know.”
“And what did you want to know?”
I swallowed. “Where you were tonight.”
“I thought my business would be the last thing on earth to interest you,” he said in an amused drawl.
“Some of your business has become personal.”
His words were tinged with sarcasm, yet so quiet I barely heard them. “Don’t I know it.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I didn’t wonder about it anymore when he said, “He’s alive, just like I told you he’d be. Your famiglia is taking him into the fold right now.”
I cringed. “He’ll live?”
“He’ll live.”
I let out a deep breath of relief and let my head fall against the back of the couch.