Lorenzo’s eyebrow twitched for a second, but he simply nodded at me.
I nodded back ever so slightly, then turned and returned to my office. I left the door open, so when Aria was ready, she could come in at any time. Usually she did not come into my office. Her barging in earlier was highly unlike her.
I used the time while I waited to call Dom and find out what the fuck was going on with the Fire Dragons MC. He admitted he had allowed it to happen so he could test Sophie and her allegiance. He admitted afterwards he had fucked up. He planned to apologize to Sophie. I told him he better be careful with her moving forward or Aria would come after him, and I likely wouldn’t be able to interfere. He took the threat seriously.
At some point and time, Aria finally approached my office. I watched as she walked confidently towards me as my desk faced towards the door entrance. But there was also a softness to her. Aria was 23 years old to my 26 years. She was young still, but even I could tell, this woman was not innocent. She walked in,keeping eye contact, which was different. Ever since she barged into my office earlier today, something in her changed.
I, for the first time, hesitated. Taking on the Black Widow was a big risk. Something could go wrong.
I brushed it off, thinking I would have our men on standby.
“I think I may need your help.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Excuse me?”
Okay, so she didn’t expect that.
I looked away from her for a moment to regain my train of thoughts, then returned my eyes to her. Looking at this woman now, she looked hard, observant, measured. After what happened on our wedding day, there had been the assumption that Aria was just simply crazy. Looking at her now? She looked anything but crazy. She was composed, curious, waiting.
“I need a woman to breach a woman known as the Black Widow.” Before I could continue, I saw a flicker cross her features.
She nodded. “I’ve heard that name. Something about a woman killing off some of the men in the clans.”
I watched her curiously. “How much do you know about her?”
She shrugged and said, “Lorenzo was told by Geronimo to be wary of the bitch.” Her eyes shuttered for a minute and I smiled at her slip. “Wary of the woman.”
My smile widened without realizing it. “Call her what she is, Aria. She is a bitch. And word is she is targeting our clan and Dom’s.” I paused, suddenly realizing I just referred to my clan as ours. Interesting. She didn’t respond like she noticed.
“Do we know who specifically, or are we just assuming the clan in general?”
I grunted. “I don’t have a target identified, but I don’t want to wait around for one. All I want is for you to get close enough to her, get her guard down, then we can have a sniper take her out.”
Her demeanor changed. She was back to looking sugary sweet again. “Of course Maximo. Whatever you need.”
I didn’t like that response, but I really didn’t have much room to take it back now. I was second guessing my decision to have Aria anywhere near that crazy bitch. But now that the plan was out there, I couldn’t take it back. I doubted she would understand. Hell, I didn’t even fucking understand.
Suddenly, I was protective of my wife, and I didn’t know what to do with that.
Chapter 7
Aria’s POV
I knew Maximo asked me to get close to the Black Widow because he didn’t think I could complete the task on my own. I was probably still expendable to him, but if I couldn’t get the job done, he would find a way. Probably thought if I got hit by the sniper by accident, no great loss. He either gets rid of the Black Widow, or me. But what he doesn’t know is I have my own reasons for going after that sick bitch. Lorenzo and I had been tracking her for a while. I knew something was going to need to be done sooner than later because the psycho cunt had eyes on my brother, Nino. I was actually surprised Maximo didn’t know that Nino was the current target. Even though she was much older than Nino, that wouldn’t stop her from trying to weasel her way in, then take him out. By doing that, she would weaken my family’s influence as the Enforcers, and be in a position to harm Maximo’s clan more. It was not my clan, regardless of our marital status, but I was amused that he slipped and referred to it as ours.
As much as I hated my father, and was disgusted with my mother, I loved my brothers. They had tried to protect me the best they knew how and taught me how to shoot guns by the time I was 12 years old. I would do the same for them.
I had accepted the task, leaving my darling, deluded husband thinking that I was just doing it because I was crazy. After killing his whore mistress on our wedding night, not to mention therumors of me injuring at least two other of his women for trying to cross lines with me, I had gained a reputation as the crazy wife. Honestly, I could be called worse things. I was actually honored with the title. Lorenzo loved to tease me with it as often as he could. The asshole. He’s lucky I love him the most.
Maximo wanted me to get close to the Black Widow so he could have a sniper take her down, but what he doesn’t know is, if I’m getting that close to the crazy bitch, I will be the one taking her out. I plan to let her know I knew about my brother being her target before I slit her throat.
I pulled Lorenzo in on my plan. Over the next two weeks, he utilized his skills as Geronimo to get me into a special luncheon she was attending.
Maximo has been acting weird around me since that day. I knew he had left the mansion to go to one of his whores. I had not expected him back that day so early, which is why I had my guard down and was spending my time with Lorenzo in our space. I had taken over a large room in the back, similar to a living room, with two large couches, and a big screen T.V. There was also a music sound system in the room with speakers built into the walls and ceilings. The clan men knew better than to be near that room. I made it clear it was off limits to anyone but me. Well, and Lorenzo. Strangely, after that day, he had not been back to any of his women. I was actually shocked at his very open invitation to Lorenzo. He was also watching me more closely which I did not like at all.
I had to sneak out at least once to go spend time with one of my lovers because he was stressing me out. Once we had the plan in place to go after the Black Widow, I made arrangements with one of my lovers to be on-call for me. I would need the release afterwards.
We met at least twice to go over the plan the day of the luncheon. I would approach the Black Widow at a certaintime in the luncheon, pretend to admire something she was wearing, and be close enough so a sniper could target her. Each time we discussed this part of the plan, Maximo would look uncomfortable and ask me if I was sure with doing this. Suddenly, he wanted to replace me with another woman within the clan to do it. I had insisted that I would be the best option because as a Don’s wife, I should immediately be given the space and respect to approach her without challenge. Theoretically. He didn’t seem to like that response, even though it was true. I was wondering why he was hesitating.