The USA Today bestselling author of Outside the Lines once again explores love on the edge in an explosive new romance about obsession, betrayal, and a killer attraction.
Lee Delgado never planned on falling in love with the irresistible Oliver Savoca, son of a Chicago crime lord. Considering that their families are rivals, she knew it could never work. And now that both their fathers have been nabbed on racketeering charges, any real chance at a future with the man she loves has been shot to hell. But a greater blow is yet to come.
Not only does Lee learn that a contract is out on her life, she has reason to believe that Oliver is behind the devastating betrayal. Now she’s working closely—very closely—with Federal Agent Sean Callahan to help bring her man down. But however she’s come to feel about Callahan, Lee is still deeply, hopelessly, unabashedly in love with Oliver.
Where that fearless love takes Lee next is beyond her control—but the risk is worth every beat of her heart.
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EXCERPT
I
want Lee to know, no matter where she goes, I will find her.
At
the thought of her betrayal, rage rises up and wraps like an iron
cloak around my heart, threatening to crush any bit of humanity left
there. I close my eyes and hold my breath until it passes.
And
I see her as she was before everything that came after—that first
day of business law class at Kellogg, nearly two years ago.
She
was starting her first year. I was in my second. I was already seated
near Angela Bagglio, who I had a passing interest in due to her loose
family ties to the Delgado organization. Her brother was a wiseguy
wannabe, little more than a glorified gofer within the Delgado
machine. But I’d discovered, sometimes it was the smallest details
that led to the largest victories.
When
Lee Delgado sashayed into the classroom, I’d like to say I was
unaffected. I’d like to believe I was in complete control of
everything that happened then and after.
But
I’d be kidding myself.
Her
bright hazel eyes surveyed the room, and when they caught for a
second as they passed over me, I felt a shift in gravity itself.
There were times reading nuances in expressions and actions was all
that came between me and a slug in my head. That hitch in her perusal
of the room left no doubt she was aware who I was.
From
that second on, I was helpless to take my eyes off her.
Her
sandy brown waves cascaded over the shoulders of her cream-colored
silk blouse to an open collar that hung loose, revealing a hint of
cleavage. Her burgundy pencil skirt hugged the round curves of her
hips and ass and ended above the knee, giving me a glimpse of a pair
of toned thighs and calves. She had a killer body and knew it. I had
to respect a woman who knew her strengths and wasn’t afraid to use
them to her advantage.
She
took a seat in my row, but on the opposite side of the classroom. I
was barely coherent when the professor started lecturing. I couldn’t
tell you the first thing he said.
As
she listened, she lifted a hand and combed through her waves with her
fingers, separating out a strand and twirling it around her finger. A
rush shuddered from my tailbone up my spine to my brain, and even
though I had no clue why, that was the moment I knew I wasn’t going
to be able to stay away.
The
rest, as they say, is history.
If
she thinks she can hide from me, she’s got another thing coming.
Mob
controlled gambling has always been a huge racket, with better
payouts because we don’t pay taxes like the legal betting sites.
Back in the day, bookies were involved and actual cash changed hands.
Now nearly everything is electronic. Bets are collected directly from
our clients’ online accounts and payouts are distributed back into
them. Payout is calculated after each event based on outcome versus
the spread. It’s one of the parts of my job that I truly enjoy.
I’m always in the program, tweaking and modifying. But, suddenly,
the week before Christmas, two days after Lee and I returned from our
weekend in Aspen, I noticed the spread didn’t factor anymore and
our payouts went through the roof. I thought maybe I’d screwed
something up and tried to get into the program to check it. Ended up
throwing my laptop against the wall when my pass code wouldn’t get
me in.
It
took me the next two days, and the fact that Lee wasn’t answering
my texts or calls, to put together what had happened. Though I’m
not sure exactly how she managed it, I know it had to have been her
who hacked into my program and changed the payout ratios. I’ve
looked at it from every angle and there are no other feasible
possibilities. And it makes sense. I had an ulterior motive when we
started hooking up, and I had no doubt she had one of her own. But as
we got deeper into each other, things shifted and I lost focus. I let
down my guard and gave her too much, and she took advantage of the
opening.
I
knew I wouldn’t be seeing her over the holidays because her
siblings were all coming back to the family home in Wilmette, just
outside of Chicago, for Christmas. It took me another day to decide I
had no choice but to go there.
But
when I got to the house, the place was swarming with cops and Feds,
and yellow police tape was strung across the pillars at the front
door. The reports the next day said it was believed the Delgados had
fled to Europe after a “gangland style attack” on their home.
The
online gambling leg of our business has been bleeding cash at the
rate of nearly a hundred grand a month since Lee fucked with the
program. Every month it gets worse as word spreads of our big
payouts. The guy who designed and encrypted the program is dead; a
casualty of my father’s wrath when he made the mistake of telling
Victor he’d corrected a system glitch that had cost us a couple
hundred grand over the first year of implementation. I’ve done
everything I can to break Lee’s pass code, but considering the
illegal nature of the account, and the fact that I couldn’t enlist
anyone who might report back to Victor what happened, my resources to
resolve the issue have been severely limited.
So
I put my time and energy into another avenue. Finding Lee.
Like
everyone else in Chicago, I assumed that my father was responsible
for the contract on Lee and her family. I talked to his guys. Tried
to see if any of them had a bead on the Delgados’ location. I
couldn’t find anyone who was even looking.
So,
as much as I dreaded it, I went straight to the source.
I
was dead to my father. He’d made that clear. But that day, for the
first time since I’d crossed him, Victor looked at me with pride in
his eyes when he asked, “You purchase that special delivery for our
friends up in Wilmette?”
And
that’s when I knew it wasn’t us. It’s also when I knew I was a
dead man unless I could find a way out of this mess on my own.
So
I looked harder for Lee, dug a little deeper into the Delgado family
tree. I didn’t find her, but I managed to stumble on some other
useful information during my search. And then, finally, the stroke of
luck that led me here: Rob showing up in Chicago.
I’ve
been able to keep everything under the rug since she left, but
underground betting has always been the Savoca business’s bread and
butter. If Victor or anyone else in the organization discovers the
hemorrhage of cash that our gambling ring has become, it’s my
head my loving pop will want on a spike.
I
told the guys I had some personal business in Vegas; gave Al a direct
order to park his ass at my apartment and not to move until I got
back. I took a flight to Vegas, and from there, traveled to Florida
on an ID I pinched off of a guy we rolled in Little Italy for not
making book. He’s dead now, courtesy of Al, so he won’t be
divulging my alter ego to anyone.
My
family doesn’t know this particular alias. They’d have a hard
time tracking me. Once I find Lee, things should move pretty fast.
But I have to find her first.
So
here I am.
Lisa Desrochers is the author of the USA Today bestselling A Little Too Far series and the YA Personal Demons trilogy. She lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places and then take her by surprise. Connect with her online at www.lisadwrites.com, on her blog at lisadesrochers.blogspot.com, on Twitter at @LisaDez, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor.
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