A Veil of Deception

2. A Thread of Suspicion

Nico Romano has found himself in situations similar to this before, taking cover behind an expensive marble pillar, gunfire echoing in the background, with the weight of a life-or-death decision hanging in the air. What he hadn’t expected was the woman he’d just pulled to safety, the one who’d somehow found herself tangled up in his mess of mafia politics.

But here she was.

Elena Costa.

The name had come to him in passing, as the face of an elusive figure who had popped up. She wasn’t someone he should’ve noticed, but he had. She was too... out of place in a mafia auction.

She wasn’t supposed to be here—at least, not in this part of the world. But she had come, and now she was on the ground beside him, looking far too calm with the chaos unfolding around her. He’d noticed her the moment she walked into the auction hall, gliding through the crowd with the elegance of someone who didn’t belong.

Her eyes had scanned the room, quick and calculating. The mask had since been discarded, and Nico noticed that her eyes were the loveliest shade of green he had ever seen; focus, Nico! But it was the way she held herself that made Nico pause. She wasn’t intimidated by the usual suspects, he could tell that much. Most people who came to these events were either too scared or too mesmerized by the wealth and danger to notice the undercurrents beneath the surface. But not Elena. She moved like someone who was hunting, not just attending.

She had been close to him when the gunfire erupted. Close enough that he’d felt his blood turn to ice when he saw the men with guns. And even closer when, without hesitation, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the chaos.

It had been instinct, nothing more. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was a potential liability or because there was something about the way she had looked at him.

Curiosity?

He watched her as she dropped behind the table with him. Despite the danger, there was something in her, an energy, a coolness in the way she seemed unfazed by the threat of death. Her face was one of focus, not fear. There were no shaking hands or panicked breaths. She simply adapted, slipping into survival mode like she’d been trained for this her entire life.

But what had truly thrown him off was the way she’d reacted. The sarcasm.

Flamingos, seriously?

He didn’t have time to process it. The auction was in full chaos, and everything was moving at a rapid pace, too fast for him to think about the woman beside him. His mind was already elsewhere, on the gunmen, on the threat to his father, on the damage this would do to the family. But something about her remained lodged in the back of his mind.

He looked over at her again now, still kneeling beside him. For some reason, her face made him angry. He couldn’t quite place it. Maybe it was the sheer lack of fear in her eyes.

"Stay down," he ordered, his voice cold. His command wasn’t out of care, but out of pragmatism. It wasn’t personal. He’d seen enough deaths to know that staying down was the only way to survive in moments like this.

Her head snapped toward him, eyes narrowing. "I’m sorry, were you planning on protecting me?" she quipped, and he couldn't help the faintest flicker of amusement that danced in his chest.

He let her comment roll off him. He was already moving, glancing around the room, assessing the situation with the trained eyes of someone who had lived through far too many moments of violence to count. But it wasn’t lost on him, she had the nerve to joke when people were dying around them. Maybe that’s what threw him off most of all.

Who was she?

He couldn’t shake the thought as they made their way out of the auction hall. The hidden exit was only a few steps away, but Nico couldn’t help but watch her every move. She was more agile than most women, more aware, more prepared. It was almost like she knew how to navigate the chaos, how to read the room even when it seemed like there were too many moving pieces.

When the exit door clicked shut behind them, the silence between them was deafening. Nico stood still for a moment, the adrenaline slowly tapering off as he realized how close they’d come to a disaster. His heart rate was still elevated, but it wasn’t just from the gunfire. It was also from the woman standing next to him.

She was breathing heavily, but her eyes were calm, too calm. Almost unnervingly so.

He glanced at her, his jaw tightening as he spoke, his voice cool. "That wasn’t part of the plan."

She smirked, unfazed. "What, you were planning on a calm dinner and a round of cocktails? These things always go sideways with you people. Didn’t you read the invite?"

He was taken aback by her casual attitude. This wasn’t a game to him. But to her? She seemed unbothered. Almost bored.

"Do you even know what’s going on here?" Nico continued, his suspicion growing steadily. There was something off about her. She had no business being here, not in the heart of the Romano family’s operation. There were too many questions swirling around her, too many unknowns.

Elena paused, glancing at him, her lips curling into a sarcastic smile. "I know exactly what’s going on," she replied, her voice light. "It’s an auction, with a side of murder. But I didn’t think it’d be this exciting."

Nico’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. He was a man who dealt in facts, in certainty. And Elena Costa? She didn’t fit into any of the categories he knew.

"Are you here for the dagger, or something else?" he asked, his voice flat. He wasn’t giving her an inch. She might have been clever with her jokes, but he wasn’t buying the act.

Her smile faltered slightly, but she quickly recovered, turning away to look down the hallway. "Maybe I’m just here for the ambiance," she said with a shrug, though there was an edge to her voice now.

Her reaction only deepened his suspicions. Was she playing a game? Was she here to take him down? Or was it just an accident that they had ended up in the same place at the same time? He couldn’t decide. But one thing was clear, Elena Costa was no ordinary woman. And if he was going to survive this mess, he needed to know exactly who she was.

But as Nico stared at her, watching her every move, he came to a resolve. Elena Costa had secrets. And he was going to uncover every single one of them.