Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Clara

It hadn't taken me long to find out which warehouse Gio was guarding. Chatting up the DiNardo men was easy—well, other than Hailey's guard, Tomas, but I knew better than to try to get a word out of him. It only took me a day to find out what Gio had been up to the past few nights and that he was going to be in trouble if he didn't catch the thief who had occasionally been plaguing the family.

I was still trying to decide if I cared if he got into trouble.

On one hand, I was still peeved he hadn't contacted me at all after that night… on the other hand, I was even more on the fence about whether or not I'd dreamed it. Plus, even if it had happened, it sounded like he'd been busy, so I had some sympathy for that. He was doing what he was supposed to for his family, and it wasn't his fault that they needed him right now. Technically, it was mine.

But logic didn't always rule emotion, and I was pretty annoyed with him.

Eventually, I decided to split the middle.

One last—small—haul from the DiNardo family, and I would drop a note that I was done and wouldn't be back. A good compromise. Whether or not anyone believed the note… well, that wasn't my problem, and time would prove me truthful. Hailey said she was happy with Jack, which meant I should stop harassing them, anyway. There were far more interesting targets…

Like Hailey's cousin, Leonardo. The hotel room he was staying in was my first stop this evening. It was remarkably easy to break into—he hadn't even set an extra guard. Of course, that likely meant anything of value was with him, but I wasn't looking for money or jewelry—I wanted to know why he was there.

Humming under my breath, I did a quick sweep of the room and found nothing—so I started to look deeper. People always hid things in obvious places when they were traveling—under the sink in the bathroom, in the back of the closet, under the mattress. Granted, he could always use the hotel's safe, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to break into that. I would need more than tonight if that was the case, with no guarantee of finding anything.

I found it under the mattress, of course—an entire file of correspondence from Don Bianco, Hailey's grandfather. Even his handwriting somehow managed to look creepy, thin and spidery. Or maybe I only thought that because I knew it was him.

Starting at the top, I perused through the letters.

Lots of nonsense about keeping an eye on Hailey because she was a treacherous bitch—pretty rich coming from a man who'd dragged her back into the mob life and married her off for his own gain. What had he expected, a thank you? For her to spy on her new family for him?

Actually, I might not be too far off the mark with that one. There were several complaints in the letters about how Leonardo needed to push Jack to let him talk to Hailey alone. I wasn't sure what Leonardo had been writing back to his grandfather, but it was clear he was having trouble getting any kind of private meeting with Hailey. He must have mentioned that she always had a guard at one point because the most recent letter instructed Leonardo to eliminate the guard if necessary.

Which made absolutely no sense. Hailey's guard was Tomas, and I knew he was high in the ranks among Don DiNardo's men, even if I wasn't sure how high. If Leonardo killed him just to speak privately to Hailey, that could amount to a declaration of war between the Families. Considering they had just made the truce…

Maybe Hailey's grandfather was losing his faculties, which was an even scarier thought than a don who was fully in control of himself. I'd already thought that marrying her into another Family to seal an alliance when she had separated herself from the Bianco name for years was a little mad. Perhaps I'd been closer to the mark than I'd thought. It was not a comforting thought.

It wasn't until I got to the last letter—which was really little more than a short note—that I realized it wasn't that Don Bianco was mad… it was that he well and truly did not care. I stared at the short note, reading it over and over again, trying to convince myself that I was somehow misinterpreting it. That I was reading it incorrectly. That it didn't mean what I thought it meant.

Take care of Francesco. Without him, Diana and Hailey will fall in line.

Do this for me, and I will make you my heir.

I didn't know the names of Hailey's parents, but I had a sinking feeling that they were Francesco and Diana. Bile rose up in the back of my throat. Had Hailey's cousin really killed her parents? Had the hit been ordered by her grandfather?

For the first time, I understood why she might not want me in the Familias' life, though I was pretty sure she didn't know this .

Oh God, how was I going to tell her?

I wasn't sure I could.

Especially without proof, but I couldn't take this with me. If I did, Leonardo would know someone had been in here. He probably carried this around for insurance that his grandfather couldn't forget that he'd named Leonardo his heir.

Closing my eyes, I forced myself to take several deep, long breaths, trying to slow my rapidly beating heart. I didn't have to decide what I was going to do right now. Hailey wasn't here. I could take the time to think about it and plan my next move. But I had other things to get done tonight, and I'd found what I was looking for…

Leonardo was here to talk to Hailey. It was interesting but not surprising that Jack hadn't told her that Leonardo wanted to talk with her. As Hailey had told me yesterday, the men tried to keep the women out of what they considered to be their business. Unfortunately, none of the letters from her grandfather said what Leonardo was supposed to talk to her about. The only person who would be able to answer that question was Leonardo.

Sighing, I put the papers back in the exact order they'd been in and carefully slid the file back into place where I'd found it. I did one last scan of the room, making sure everything I'd touched was in its previous position. A heavy feeling stuck with me as I made my way out of the hotel, new knowledge dragging me down. I couldn't not tell Hailey.

Getting into my car, I closed my eyes and imagined shutting the letter away in a box. I needed to compartmentalize. This was something for later. Right now, I needed to focus on what I was going to do next—break into a DiNardo warehouse and leave my own note.

There.

That was better. It was tucked away for me to think about later.

Opening my eyes, I sat up straight and squared my shoulders. It was early enough that people were still out and about on the streets, most of them coming home from dinner or going out for entertainment. I tooled along, the people around me getting sparser and sparser as I headed for the warehouse.

A car was too conspicuous, so I parked in a lot about a mile away from the warehouse. There were plenty of other cars nearby. This particular street had a theater, several restaurants, and a speakeasy if one knew where to look. In the darkness of the lot, I changed out of the dress I'd worn into the hotel—the key to that had been looking like I belonged there—and into my black pants and long-sleeved shirt that I wore for this kind of work.

I tucked my hair into a black knit cap that covered almost my entire head. It also had a sheer veil, which I pulled down over my face to help obscure my pale skin while still allowing me to see fairly well. I tucked it into the collar of my shirt. If it got too dark, I would need to pull it up to see, but so far, I'd never needed to.

From there, it was easy to slip through the streets, using the shadows, until I found the warehouse where Gio was supposed to be. I paused, looking at it from the outside, wondering what he would do when he found the note. Wondering if he'd make his way back to my room, eventually.

Then I shook my head.

So much for not getting distracted.

I ghosted through the shadows, gently, watching for guards. There were two making their way around the perimeter, but the warehouse was big, and they couldn't see more than two sides of the building at the same time. Whatever was in here, it wasn't being heavily guarded, which made it perfect for me. I liked to take some risks, but I also played it safe because I'd rather not be caught.

I watched them for several rounds, humming Rhapsody in Blue in my head to track how fast they were moving. They were clearly bored and lazy about what they were doing, though they didn't sit and start to talk or play cards as some might. They weren't totally unalert, more the pity. Then again, if they made it too easy on me, there'd be no challenge, and it wouldn't be as much fun.

The buildings here were fairly close together, with plenty to clutter the space between them, providing me with cover as I moved closer and closer. Crouched down behind a pile of boxes next to the warehouse, I heard one of the men sigh as he continued his sentry duty, walking right past where I was hiding. The sound of his footsteps faded, and I silently counted to ten before moving. The coast was clear, and I quickly went to test the door. Locked.

Of course.

Which wasn't a problem. It wasn't a particularly difficult lock, even though it was different from the ones at previous warehouses. Obviously, Gio had changed things in an effort to stymie me. I grinned as I went to work. It took me longer than the previous locks, but I still had plenty of time when the door opened, and I peeked in.

No one.

It always amazed me that there were rarely guards inside, and when there were, they tended to be laxer. That was where the poker games usually happened. They counted on the outer perimeter to be the real guards. This particular shipment was supposed to move tomorrow, which meant it had been here for several days. I tried to change up my pattern often, but I rarely hit a place so close to the date it was going to move.

Maybe I should change that because security was particularly lax. Or maybe it was because there were two bigger warehouses that were taking up attention. That was why Gio was supposedly doing the guarding of this one himself, because the others required more men.

Slipping in through the door, I closed it behind me just in time to avoid the guard coming around the corner and seeing an open door. Thankfully, the hinges were silent, not at all creaky. Though that wasn't necessarily the worst thing—warehouses creaked and made strange noises all the time. It just meant I didn't have to hurry to hide; I could take my time to look around.

Boxes and crates were piled high, but there wasn't enough light for me to read what the words on them said. Not that it mattered. I was just going to take whatever was easiest, then find a good place to leave the note where it would be found.

Maybe I should give Hailey a heads-up that Gio needed to be a better guard because I didn't see anyone anywhere in here. Probably in a back room playing poker. Typical. I shook my head.

Another thing I should tell Hailey but couldn't, and I already knew that. I was already going to have to figure out what to say to her about Leonardo. Or maybe that would be the ideal time to let her know about my extracurricular activities.

I've been occasionally stealing from your new family because I was mad about you being forced into marrying Jack, but really, that's not nearly as bad as your grandfather putting a hit on your dad… oh, and he used your cousin to do it, promising to make him the heir, and your cousin wasn't actually supposed to kill your mom.

I had gone looking for the information, but right now, I really wished I didn't know. I'd boxed it up, but the note was pushing its way back into my head, maybe because I was already thinking about Hailey. I was struggling to focus on what I was supposed to be doing.

Which is why I blamed Leonardo and that stupid note for what happened next.