Tempted by Rebecca Rivard

Author:Rebecca Rivard [Rivard, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wild Hearts Press

THE SECOND SUMMER

9

GABRIEL

Tomas pulled up a chair next to my father’s. The two men regarded me from across Father’s polished desk.

Tomas spoke first. “We have the job for you.”

We were in Father’s office at the syndicate’s New York headquarters, three floors beneath a Greenwich Village brownstone and behind multiple layers of security. The room was large and elegant but low-key, the lair of a man with nothing to prove: dark blue walls, dignified mahogany-and-leather furniture, framed oil paintings, a Persian carpet. The only personal touches were a family photo and the box of Cuban cigars on the desk.

I straightened and looked between the two of them. Something about their expressions said this assignment might be different from my usual tasks. “Yes?”

Father took over. “Someone is skimming money from our New Orleans casino. We believe it’s a soldier—Elijah Johnson.”

I raised a brow. Johnson was a dhampir who’d joined the syndicate before I was born.

“And we want you to handle it,” said Tomas.

I leaned forward. Finally, a chance to prove myself. “You have evidence?”

“Yes,” my father said. “A video, deposits that don’t match the take, and an offshore bank account with more money than Johnson could’ve possibly accumulated. The man’s a lying, cheating sonuvabitch. We want you to go down there, get Johnson alone, and confront him with what we have. He’s a personal friend of the Louisiana kapitán—Andre Redbone. I want to be able to tell Redbone we were absolutely certain of his guilt.”

Excitement sparked in me. “And if he’s guilty?”

“Take care of it.” With a grin, Tomas drew a thick finger across his throat. “You think you can handle it?”

“Of course.” I calmly met his dirty-yellow eyes. “You trained me yourself.”

“It’s about time you were a “made” man,” Father added. “You’re what—twenty-six?”

When I nodded, he said, “Talk to Tomas when we’re done here. He’ll go over the evidence with you. Now, if you’ll leave us?” he told his lieutenant. “I have something to discuss with Gabriel.”

The big blond man rose. “I will wait in my office,” he told me, and left, pulling the door behind him.

Father leaned back in his leather armchair, fingers templed, regarding me from beneath hooded lids.

“I’ve got this,” I said. This job was the chance I’d been waiting for. No way in Hades was I letting him take it away from me. “Don’t worry.”

“That’s not what I’m concerned about.”

“Oh?”

“No. It’s about this human you’ve taken as a thrall. Camila Vittore.”

Alarm spiked up my vertebrae. I smoothed out my expression, kept my breath even. Father couldn’t sense my apprehension—we can only sense human emotions—but he could detect physical responses such as faster inhalations and an increased heart rate.

I’d been seeing Mila for a little over a year now, whenever I could get to Maryland. I hadn’t told anyone about her except Zaq and Rafe, and not even they knew how much she meant to me.

I’d made a bargain with myself. If I wouldn’t give her up, then I’d protect her from the syndicate. From vampires like Hanz Weber and Tomas Mraz, who looked on humans as little more than pets.

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