Loving Leo (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 3) by Trevion Burns Page A

Jesus, fuck !”
    Jessica bared her teeth.  “I saw you sneaking up behind her.  Who the fuck are you?”
    “She has a piece of paper in her hair.  I was just trying to help her.”
    Stunned, Jessica’s eyes shot up to Angie, who was now watching her, green eyes wide behind her glasses.  Sure enough, a brown piece of paper peeked out from Angie’s curls.  It was the same color as her hair, blending in and almost invisible to the naked eye.
    Jessica released the man and leapt to her feet, giving him apologetic eyes as he stumbled to his own, cradling his elbow.
    “Crazy bitch,” he wheezed, too fearful to say the words with any heart.
    Jessica watched him hurtle out of the door.  Rodney stepped inside a second later.
    Angie held the pool stick out at her side while pushing her cat-eye glasses up with the other.  “As awesome as that was, I gotta ask, Jess, what the hell was that?”
    Jessica’s breathing slowed.  “I thought he was going to hurt you.”
    “Why would you think that?”
    When Jessica didn’t answer, Angie’s face immediately sobered, realization narrowing her eyes with understanding.
    “Oh,” she said.
    “King has your name in his mouth, and he’s agitated.”  Jessica lowered her voice.  “Stay close to Roman.”
    Angie’s eyes widened again, but she nodded.
    “In fact, don’t leave his side.  Don’t even leave the house.”
    Angie swallowed, nodding again.
    “Keep your phone close and charged.”
    Angie’s breathing picked up.
    Sensing Angie’s fear, Jessica ignored her heart when it stopped beating again.  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” she said.  “I promise.”
    Angie swallowed thickly.  “Why does King want me?”
    “He doesn’t want you.  He wants silence.  He wants a muzzle on anyone who knows too much.  Kind of like the muzzle he’s put on every member of this fucked-up family.”
    “Why does my muzzle end with me dead in a ditch?” Angie’s voice picked up.
    “It won’t.” Jessica lifted her eyebrows.  “As long as you stay close to Roman, and stay indoors, like I just asked you to.  Don’t tell him why, though.  It’s important that we don’t make him suspicious.”
    “How can I stay close to him and stay in doors all at once?  He’s going to leave the house eventually.”
    “So let him, but you stay inside.”
    “Oh God…”
    “Calm down.  I’m taking care of it.”  Jessica’s eyes searched the lounge. “Where did Roman go?”
    “Bathroom.”
    “Has he seen the case report you stole from my office?”
    “No.”
    “I know you keep that red folder in your bag.”
    “I burned it,” Angie said.  “I moved everything to a disk.  There’s no way Roman saw any of it.”
    “Get rid of the damn disk.”
    “Okay.”
    It was the most agreeable Angie had ever been.  Terror had a funny way of doing that to people.
    “I don’t think I need to say how damaging it would be to this case if Roman ever found that mug shot.  The Romanovskys can’t know that we’re looking into the family.”
    Angie blinked, eyes widening.  “What mug shot?”
    Jessica looked away in disbelief, taking a moment before looking back.  “You just told me Roman hasn’t had access to the files.”
    “He hasn’t—”
    “Now you’re telling me the mug shot is missing?”
    “I must have overlooked it,” Angie corrected herself, but her eyes told another story.
    Jessica didn’t have the energy to chide her, catching Rodney’s gaze across the lounge.  “We have eyes on you, but that doesn’t mean go lax, Angie.  Have Roman take you home right now and stay inside. Stay alert.  I’m working as fast as I can to close this.”
    “You’re a good friend, Jess,” Angie said.  “Thank you.”
    “I’m not your friend.”  Since the moment they’d met in high school, Jessica had never had the heart to push Angie away completely, and because of that, she was now responsible for the target on her back.   She’d never