Page 26 of Devious Roses
“It’s Newton,” he says. “She’s a handful.”
“Buyer’s remorse,” Medjine adds. She flags down one of the servers and beckons them over.
I attempt to keep my expression as impartial as possible. “She’s that bad?”
“Bad is an understatement. You know she called me last night at three a.m.?”
“What could she have possibly wanted at such a late hour?”
“She told me someone was trying to break into her apartment. She’s convinced the Neptune Society is after her.”
My insides twist tighter. “The… the Neptune Society?”
“To hear her tell it,” Carlos says with a roll of his eyes, “they’ve put some kind of hit out on her. As if the Neptune Society is some kind of mafia.”
…but the club was directly linked. Lucius Mancino was the owner.
I refrain from dropping that piece of knowledge. The general public is largely unaware of the details regarding the Neptune Society. Though the club has been revealed to be vile and corrupt, there’s still a lot of mystique surrounding the society and its members.
People don’t even know Lucius was a member, let alone the owner.
Medjine notices the shift in my expression and clears her throat. It takes a few seconds for Carlos to register her signal. He chokes on the kombucha he’s been served and casts me an apologetic frown.
“You know what I mean. I’m not trying to insult the mafia—”
“I’m not going to have you whacked, Carlos,” I tease, forcing a smile. “It’s okay for you to reference them. But what could make Sasha think it’s the Neptune Society?”
“That’s exactly what I said. She lives in Old Northam, for heaven’s sake. Crime is rampant there. It was probably some regular Joe Schmo off the street. But she’s convinced they’re watching her. She has bad dreams every night.”
Sort of like me…
I pick up my glass of sparkling water and down half of it. The anxiety I’ve fought to keep away for the last week returns with a vengeance, screwing my ribcage up tight, and making me acutely aware of everyone else in the room.
Suddenly, I feel unsafe. I feel exposed.
I feel like I’m still on a perch in a cage in front of dozens of masked people all watching me, waiting tobuyme…
Before I’ve realized it’s happened, I’m tuning back into the conversation I blanked out of. Sound’s rushing my ears and I’m blinking, discovering I’ve missed a complete exchange between Medjine and Carlos.
“You’ll get through it,” Medjine is saying. “Think of how good it’ll look for our firm if you win her case and Bernstein has to pay millions out of pocket.”
Carlos smirks at me from across the table. “When you put it like that, it’ll be our biggest win yet.”
“I’m afraid that’s not happening.”
The three of us turn our heads in the direction of the new voice. I’m still spinning from blacking out of the moment when I find myself looking up at Polk.
He’s ignoring the other two, keyed into me from where he stands. “Hello, Mrs. Mancino.”
“Hello to you too, DA,” Medjine cuts in pointedly. “Basic manners tend to advise addressing everyone at the table.”
Polk turns his head. “I apologize. Seeing the wife of the city’s biggest criminal tends to fascinate me.”
“Is it ethical for a district attorney to harass a private citizen?” Carlos asks.
As I sit unable to cobble together a clever reply, Medjine and Carlos play defense. I’m more than grateful they’ve stepped in for me.
Forced to respond to them, Polk scowls, and retreats. “I’ll leave you three to your lunch. Mrs. Mancino, give my regards to your husband. I’m hoping sometime very,verysoon I’ll finally get a chance to meet him.”