Page 40 of Heart of Sin
“It’s worked for us in the past. Before all the bullshit of recent times.” He samples his drink and spends a second appreciating its taste, staring into the glass. “So, how about you? How’s the personal life?”
“The personal life? Since when do you ask, Gio?” A laugh erupts from me despite my efforts to hold it in.
“I ask,” he says, scowling, “often. Occasionally. Once or twice before. Fuck off,cazzoshithead.”
I’m laughing harder the more disgruntled he becomes. I clap my hands together and wipe a tear from my eye. “It’s all good, Boss. I’d prefer if you didn’t. We ain’t exactly the Brady Bunch. I know I can come to you if I’ve got stuff to hash out.”
“So?Doyou?”
“Miss Falynn put you up to this, didn’t she?” I guess.
His scowl returns. “That obvious?”
“I saw the looks at dinner.”
“She’s worried about you—and Tasha.” Gio gives a shrug and crosses his leg so that his left ankle rests on his right knee. One arm stretches across the back of the sofa while the other nurses his drink in his lap. “You know what I think. I don’t notice shit.”
“We were pretty good covering our tracks.”
“Have you spoken to her? Falynn says she believes Tasha is in serious trouble.”
My stomach clenches. “Miss Falynn said that?”
“Tasha wouldn’t admit it. But it’s Falynn’s hunch. She’s usually right about these types of things. She knows Tasha well.”
“You mean Kilroy related?”
He brings his glass to his lips. “She seems to think it’s something else.”
“Gio, I can’t save the girl if she won’t let me. She broke my heart. Straight up out of the blue, two years ago. We were happy. Doing so good together. Then, out of nowhere, she tells me she’s returning to her lifestyle.”
“Did she say why?”
“She said she had a better offer—Kilroy.”
“That’s odd. If you say you explained our proposal about getting her a job at the Vittoria.”
“I did, and she agreed. Then… she changed her mind. For no reason.”
“Are you certain it’s nothing to do with this Randall at the Dollhouse? I hired him because he was the least slimy of option of those that applied for the position. But if he’s mistreating the dancers, then that’s something I need to know.”
I shake my head. “I doubt he’d threaten her to stay working there. She didn’t seem afraid of him. More so the other way around.”
A chuckle almost leaves me when I think about how she’d asserted herself against that sleaze ball Randall.
Tasha isn’t the type to scare easily. Even with Kilroy, she fought back. She gave him hell.
In fact, the only person she’s ever seemed to fear was—
“Hang on a second,” I say, “she sends a lot of money back home. It could have something to do with that.”
Gio makes a noise of interest as he gets up to refill his drink. “For what reason?”
“She says to support her family.Thousands, Gio. Most of her wages go toward that. You’ve seen her apartment.”
“Thousands?”
“I was paying her 10Gs per visit when I was seeing her. Even that wasn’t enough. Almost like… somebody was taking her money.”