Mafia Queen

Chapter Thirty Six

Niko continued to watch her, contemplating all I had said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as I waited to see if we'd got him.

Finally, he turned back to me. "Is she looking to work with anyone?"

Fuck yes. I arched my eyebrows and let out a heavy sigh before continuing to play along. "I don't know, man. She's usually pretty private about her affairs."

A broad smile blanketed his face, as if picking on the double meaning of the word affair. "Why don't you introduce us and I'll take it from there?"

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." I held my hands up. "Steph's a pistol and you certainly don't want to get on her bad side."

Niko chuckled. "Trust me, I know my way around women. Something tells me I'll be enjoying all sides of her very soon. Especially that delicious backside."

I smiled anxiously. Part of me felt like I was leading Charlotte like a cow to slaughter, but she said she would be willing to do anything save Luca. I wondered just how loose her definition of anything was.

"Don't look so worried, culo." He started chuckling."I just want to talk business. I could use her... expertise."

"I want to make sure she's okay with speaking with you. Like I said, she's a little particular about who she associates with. If you don't hear from me, come on over during intermission." I shoved my a hand in my pocket.

Niko scoffed. "What is she, the fucking queen of England? I have to request a conference with her?"

I shrugged.

"Fine. But if she chooses to associate with you, I'm not too worried." He punched my arm playfully.

"You have a point there." I chuckled, agreeing with him. "See you soon."

"See you soon."

Charlotte

It took nearly every muscle in my body not to watch Axel the entire time he was talking to Niko. I was desperate to know what they were saying. Did Axel ask him about Luca? Why were they both glancing over at me? Jesus, was it getting hot in here or was I having a hot flash?

My mind was completely in overdrive, but on the outside, I was calm and collected.

When Axel finally started to make his way back over to me, it worried me that he was coming alone. Had Niko not bought our story? Did he not want to talk to me? Had I already screwed this up somehow?

Axel sat down, handing me another glass of champagne. I took it from him and threw it back.

Axel chuckled, looking at me in amusement. "Everything okay, principesa?"

My eyes widened. "No, everything is not okay. I already screwed up and this entire mission is blown. What are we going to do now?"

Axel shook his head at me. "We're going to wait. You didn't ruin anything. In fact, Niko is absolutely stuck by you. He is coming over during intermission to discuss a business opportunity with you."

I clamped my mouth shut, not believing his words. Could that be true? Were we really pulling this off? "I thought I wasn't going to talk to him yet."

"Charlotte, look at me." Axel instructed, brushing a piece of hair off my cheek. "You need to slow your breathing, or everyone in the entire room is going to know how nervous you are. Everything is going to be fine. You've done a great job. Now I just need you to focus a little longer. Sometimes plans change. It doesn't mean you aren't ready for this."

I nodded, plastering a gentle smile on my face. This was one step closer to finding Luca, and that couldn't happen soon enough, so we'd just have to go with it.