Page 55 of End It All

She turned, a sigh leaving her as she pushed back from her desk. "Shit."

"Work never ends."

She rolled her eyes. "You have no idea." Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she met my gaze again. "But I normally get off at five."

I pushed my hands into my jeans, my fingertips brushing against one of the joints Quincy gave me this morning before I left. His face came to mind; the crazy bright ass pink hair, sharp cheekbones, and dimples supermodels would kill for.

"Tiffany."

"Coming." She smiled at me and hurriedly jotted down her number. "Here, call me. Maybe we can have a few drinks."

Yeah, not happening. I took it, making sure our fingers brushed against each other. "Oh, I needed to go see Benito."

She stopped, looked behind her and then back at me. "He's not in there right now, but he should be back soon. He took his husband out for lunch."

"I can wait for him in there."

She looked ready to turn me down again, and I turned on the charm even more. “Or I can just wait nearby. If you don’t mind.”

"You can wait outside his office. I'll make sure to let him know you're here."

"Thank you, beautiful."

She blushed and quickly headed off. She glanced over her shoulder a few times, and I made sure to wink her way before she disappeared down the hall. With her gone, everyone paid me little to no attention. As long as I moved with confidence, no one was going to give me a double take. I leaned over the desk,pushed a button that said office, and hoped it unlocked Benito’s. Sure enough, no one noticed me as I slipped inside.

It was almost too easy.

I moved slowly, checking out every corner of my oldest brother's office. He had a few pictures sitting on his desk. One of them was him and Harlow all dressed up. Even I had to admit Harlow was pretty, crazy as shit and rude, but it took nothing away from his beauty. A pang of something struck me in the stomach. I would think it was jealousy, but I knew that couldn’t be it. Another photo showed the two of them and a baby dressed in a fluffy white dress. There was one recently of him and my brothers all at the beach. Twins. I recalled Giancarlo and Gianpaolo, and finally, Enzo. My brief encounter with them left me with more questions than answers. I’d done some research, looking them all up in my spare time. But I hadn’t spoken to them more than a little. If they didn't want anything to do with me, I wasn't about to beg to be in their lives. I put the photos back down exactly how they had been before.

I went through his books on the shelves and even the paperwork that sat on his desk. It all looked like he was a legitimate business owner and not the head of the Italian mafia. But it was always the people who looked squeaky clean on the outside that had the most to hide. The office was like a puzzle my mind couldn't wait to crack. The itch to find all the valuables in the room burned under the surface of my flesh. It was unbearable, and the longer I ignored it, the harder it was to contain.

Five minutes passed. When my brother didn't walk through the door, I gave into the urge. I found a spare set of cufflinks that had to cost more than my entire wardrobe. They clinked together in my pocket as I continued to take little things. But nothing was stopping the itch. My fourth time passing his bookshelf, I stopped and looked closer. Everything was tooperfect. There wasn't a single book out of place. Sure, most people didn't use their bookshelves in their offices, but I found it hard to believe not a single book looked to have been moved in a while. I pulled on a few of them as if expecting to find a hidden dungeon behind the shelf to appear out of nowhere. When nothing happened, I was starting to think I lost my touch.

Until the last book didn't budge when I pulled it. A fat ass grin overtook my face as I tugged on the next five books with none of them moving. I felt along the last book and found a small latch.

Fuck yeah.

I hesitated for two seconds before I opened it. A safe out of my wet fucking dreams sat there, begging me to crack it open. I liked easy marks. Stealing was more of an art that I fell into out of necessity. But there were times where it was what gave me life and breathed freedom into me. The code could be anything, and I didn't know Benito well enough to begin to guess what the numbers could be. I doubted he was a simple man who'd make his code one, two, three, four. As great as that would be, he wasn’t that insane.

A soft creak reached my ears, and I cursed under my breath. I hid the safe once more and took a seat in front of Benito's desk. At the last second, I propped my feet up and locked my fingers together.

The door opened and multiple voices filled the space. It wasn't just Benito.

"Who the fuck has the balls to break into your office?" someone growled.

I tilted my head back until I caught sight of all four of my brothers.Shit.Their gazes were locked on me, filling the space with unbearable awkwardness.

"You called me here and you weren't around," I said.

“So you made yourself at home in my office?" Benito asked. He headed toward his desk, giving it a cursory glance, but I was a professional. He wouldn't know what was gone until he went looking for it. And in my experience, that wasn't for a long while.

I shrugged. "Security is lax here."

Giancarlo, in a tiger print shirt, sauntered over with a smile. "No one’s dumb enough to come in here."

I grinned back at him. "Or it was so easy you didn't notice them come in and out."

His smile vanished in a flash and he loomed over me. I was used to guys flaunting their height over mine. I stopped flinching a long time ago. It gave them some kind of power to see me cower, and I sure as shit wasn't about to give that to one of my brothers.