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My mother interrupts before my father can respond. “Domenico has brought home his girlfriend, carissimo, and I think it is quite generous of him to do that at this point. It’s way more than you told your family about us way back then.”
Mother was the only daughter of Tito Abruzzi, one of the prominent Dons of New York families and a bitter enemy of the Outfit. They’d been secretly seeing each other for months and by the time all hell broke loose, my mother was already pregnant with me.
I say to Father, “In any case, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Her background makes her uniquely suited to me… And most importantly, I trust her,” It comes out as easy as breathing now. “You should, too.”
“Her background?” Father asks, his expression caught between caution and curiosity.
I nod. “Sophie’s father is the president of the Reaper Druids—a motorcycle club in San Diego County.”
He looks at me, his expression blank like Dante’s had been outside earlier. It’s priceless, really. There aren’t many things that could catch my father off-guard.
And then, to my surprise, my mother laughs.
“What is it, Mother?” I ask.
She looks at my father, and he nods.
“The Reaper Druids approached your father last night, son,” she says.
“Scusa?” What the hell is Phoenix up to now?
My father clears his throat. “The club’s vice president delivered a package—one his president thought would be of particular interest to us. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at the time, but now, it all makes sense.”
“A package?” I have a feeling that ‘a package’ from the Reaper Druids could be anything from spare motorcycle parts to body parts.
“In the person of Raul Delgado,” my father says.
The head of the Mexican cartel that was supporting Romano in hopes of gaining some access to American turf. The Cartel that Maria, Victoria, and Sophie were promised to.
I fucking knew it. That twitch Phoenix got in his eye as Sophie relayed recent events to him when we went visiting last week meant something.
“How the hell did they find the man?” Dante sits forward in curiosity
“As I understand, a friend of the club caught Delgado and dragged him from Mexico into the States and right to the club’s doorstep. The president then all but gift-wrapped Delgado and delivered him here last night.
I laugh, shaking my head. Cade must be the club’s ‘friend.’ He, too, saw red when he heard that his adopted sister nearly got trafficked. I knew Cade was as gray as they come, but that was fucked up in the most admirable way.
Apparently, you can take the man out of the MC but you can’t take the outlaw out. A bit like my Sophie too.
“Sophie’s father is right about us wanting the Mexican,” I say to my father. “Delgado is a peace offering. Among other things…” This gift is the kind that only men in our world can appreciate.
“It would seem so,” my father nods slowly, a satisfied expression on his face. Phoenix has just managed to put any concerns my father and uncles might ever have about Sophie to rest—and have some sort of understanding between us. A man looking out for his daughter. An astute businessman. And a stamp of approval if I ever saw one.
I’m suddenly hungry for dessert. After being away for the past two days on business, I’ve spent the entire dinner thinking that Sophie would look so much better on the table than the food. And speaking of, she’s been gone for ages.
I push back from the table and stand, “Scusatemi, per favore,” I drop my napkin and then follow the path Sophie had taken to the nearest bathroom on the main floor, ignoring the glint in my mother’s eyes.
“Sophie?” I knock on the oak bathroom door.
“On my way out.” The moment she opens the door, I step in, pushing her back inside.
“What are you—” she tries to say.
“Get naked. Now.” I’m already taking my jacket off.
“We’re in your parents’ home, Nico!” she protests with a particular lack of conviction in her tone.
I shrug. “Why did you take so long if you didn’t want me to come looking for you?”
