Ignorance because the lie was too good was acceptable.
But willful ignorance, choosing to be blind? Yeah, that was not the kind of woman she was.
"Okay?"
"Okay. I will look into it. But I am not going to go on a witch hunt so you can watch him burn a the stake, Anthony. If it turns out that he has a good reason to hide his past, I am not narcing on him to Vin."
"Fair enough," he said with a nod, making his way toward the door.
"Anthony," she said, stopping him, making him look over his shoulder at her.
"Yeah?"
"I don't hate you when you're mostly sober."
To that, he had no response, but she watched as something darkened his eyes, as his jaw got tight.
He gave her a small nod and walked out, closing the door quietly behind him.
She sat there with her heart slamming in her chest for a long couple of minutes. She had just agreed to check into Danny, a man she had decided to open herself up to. There was no telling what she might find.
Maybe he was just trying to start over. Maybe he had a shitty life and didn't want anyone from it to be able to find him again. She couldn't begrudge him for that.
But there was a chance, even a slightly bigger chance, that he was not who he said he was because his motives for being at Lam had nothing to do with securing a good bartending gig and a lot to do with screwing over Vin.
Honestly, it wasn't her business.
But she and Vin had a deal and that deal worked in her favor. It was in her best interest to make sure he wasn't being double-crossed.
And, whether she liked to admit it or not, there was affection there after all the years. When she had started, her attitude then made her current attitude look downright warm and inviting. She was eighteen and pissed at the world and, especially, the D'Onofrio family. But there was no denying that, over time, she had softened toward them- especially Vin and Salvatore. At first treating her like a rat in their restaurant, they slowly softened toward her, started seeing her like a daughter and sister in their lives, looking out for her no matter how much she insisted she didn't need them to.
She wasn't naive. She knew that time she was sloppy drunk and Salvatore showed up to take her home wasn't some random happenstance. He had been keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't get into trouble.
They had been good to her.
And while, if you really were keeping score, they still owed her a hell of a lot more than she owed them, she couldn't stand by and let them be overthrown or, worse yet, murdered just because she wanted to be able to trust the guy she wanted to sleep with.
She was smarter than that.
And she would do better than that.
"Hey, are we setting up the bar or is everyone being forced to drink straight tonight?" Danny's voice suddenly asked, making her jump. She turned to find Danny standing inside the suddenly-open door in black slacks and a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Her stomach twisted in a knot as she gave him a small smile and stood. "Sorry, I got distracted. Let's get started," she said, moving to him, shocking back when he didn't move out of the way so she could pass. "What?"
His eyes were penetrating, darker than usual, focused on her, picking up on something that seemed off. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. But the words were too quick, too defensive.
"Faith..."
"Really. It's nothing. Anthony was just in here so..."
"Ah, that explains it," he said, giving her a smile that warmed his severe face. "Come on. You get the fruit. I'll get the juice."
Then they did just that.
And every time she looked his way, every time he smiled at her, every time they exchanged easy words, every time his hand found her waist, her hip, her arm, her hand, every single freaking time she tried to find something wrong with him, she simply couldn't.
Which made what she had to do the next day all the harder.
EIGHT
Faith
She tucked her hands into her leather jacket pockets, the cold November air blowing her hair back, making her ears sting. Really, there was no reason to walk, but she was pretty sure she would drive herself crazy if she had to sit still in the cab. Besides, it got the nervous energy out.
The night before, things had changed with them.
With her guards down, conversation had been easy, light, even fun and teasing. And she was pissed because she couldn't even fully enjoy it because she had been so busy looking for anything suspicious.
So that put her walking into a truly shitty neighborhood where Xander kept his business despite being able to afford better.
It went without saying that she was in a shitty mood.
She walked into his office that was in the same part of town as his old one, but about five times the size. It was Ellie, his woman's plan. Because Ellie recently found out she was pregnant. As such, she had no plans on letting her husband and the father of her child work cases alone anymore. So they were expanding and taking on staff. "Who the hell are you?" she said, stopping short at seeing two people standing there that she didn't recognize.