“Oh, he definitely had sex with them,” Francesca confirmed. “Because his kisses need to be outlawed. I didn’t think anyone could kiss like that.”

Joanna’s eyes got wide and her mouth formed a perfect round O. “He kissed you? Oh. My. God. This is so cool, Francesca. My best friend with Stefano Ferraro.”

“I am not with him. He’s doing what he always does, taking care of everyone in his neighborhood. He’s the white knight and I’m the damsel in distress. When I’m all fixed up, he’ll move on.”

Joanna burst out laughing. “You tell yourself that, girlfriend, if it makes you feel better. The rest of us know the truth.” She glanced at her watch. “I have an hour to make myself presentable and go to work.”

“And I’d better get moving, too, before your uncle fires me.”

“There’s zero chance of that happening,” Joanna assured her and leapt up. She gave Francesca a quick hug and then blew kisses to her uncle before rushing out of the store.

Francesca put an apron over her clothes, for the first time worried about getting anything on them. She helped Pietro put fresh food in the refrigerated cases. She could see the crowd, already beginning to line up on the sidewalk, waiting for her boss to open the doors. The number of people coming to the store definitely seemed to grow from one day to the next over the days she’d worked there. She was happy for Pietro, but it also made her nervous now that she knew part of the reason for the booming business was her association with the Ferraro family.

She spotted both Emilio and Enzo in the crowd. Emilio leaned one hip lazily against the wall, while he flirted with a young woman who kept tossing her blond hair from one side to another and then winding it around her finger. Emilio had angled his body so that he could watch the street and yet keep an eye on Francesca. He winked at her as he continued to talk to the blonde. Francesca burst out laughing. She was becoming very fond of Emilio. He might be flirting, but his attention wasn’t centered on the woman—he was totally alert to everything around him.

Enzo was in line, but standing at an angle that kept changing. He didn’t look into the shop, but was studying the street, the buildings across the street and the crowd around him. She realized immediately that between the two men, the street, buildings and sidewalk were covered all the time. She found herself impressed with them because clearly no one else seemed to be aware of what they were doing.

A sudden chill ran down her spine and she straightened from where she’d been arranging inside the cases the special Italian meats imported from various regions in Italy. A sharp prickle of awareness had her gaze sliding away from Emilio and Enzo to search the crowd. She’d had feelings like this before and they were always dead-on, and never boded well.

Her mouth went dry. Surely Barry Anthon hadn’t already found her. She hadn’t even gotten established. There was no way to build a reputation enough that he couldn’t tear it down. She took a deep, calming breath and forced herself to look through the crowd. Her gaze slid through the sea of faces until it rested on a man staring straight at her.

He wore aviator-type sunglasses and had a ball cap pulled low over his eyes. His jacket was old and stained and very rumpled, but bulky so it was nearly impossible to tell his weight. He wasn’t six foot, because Enzo was close to him and she knew Enzo was at least that tall and the man was shorter. He looked vaguely familiar and she tried to place him. She’d seen him somewhere, but from a distance, just like now. He stared right at her, his mouth drawn into a thin frown of dislike. When he saw her staring back, he drew a line across his throat. He did it so fast and then turned and walked away, hands in his pockets, shoulders slumped, head down, that she almost wasn’t certain he’d really made the gesture. He walked rapidly and disappeared from her sight within moments.

Francesca stared after him, her heart beating fast, lungs seizing. Barry had to have sent him with that message. They’d already found her. She was going to have to decide whether to run or stay. She had no money and nowhere to go if she ran. If she stayed, she would be putting her friends in jeopardy. She stared after the man for a long time, long enough that Pietro had opened the doors and people were already crowding in, forcing her to go on automatic pilot and work.

CHAPTER TEN

Francesca spent most of the morning and early afternoon looking over her shoulder and watching the traffic through the plate glass window. She was nervous and edgy, but kept her smile in place with the customers. Time went fast because it was very, very busy, so much so that they had to call in another worker in order to keep up. Pietro, normally in the back, stayed out front to work the cash register while Francesca and Aria, a young woman working part-time and going to school, took care of the customers.