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“She’s forte…strong, Luciano. You’ve chosen well. All my boys have.”
“Well, three of us have,” I reminded her. “The jury’s still out on Alec.”
“Allesandro has met his match. He simply needs to learn how to give up some of his control. Enough about your brother,” she sighed into the phone. “Why are you so troubled?”
“What if I can’t protect her?”
“Cazzatabullshit,” she spat.
“Calm down, Ella,” Pop said in the background.
Ma didn’t curse often, however when she did, it was with a dramatic flair.
“Javi, your son is an idiota,” she replied. “Do I need to call Gio?”
“Jesus, Ma,” I exclaimed. “Do not, under any circumstances, call Uncle Gio.”
Uncle Giovanni, Gio for short, was Ma’s brother, who also happened to be the head of the Italian Mafia in Sicily. We absolutely did not want him involved. He was more of a shoot now, ask questions later sort of guy.
“You just earned another smack to your head, Luciano. How many times do I have to tell you to watch your mouth?”
Heaven help me when she finally met Imogene. Caleb and the rest of the Mountain Grove police force would have their hands full trying to contain them. Those two were going to be trouble with a capital T.
“Your father and I raised four intelligent, extremely capable sons,” she continued. “You don’t need me to give you assurances. There is nothing on earth that would get in your way of keeping her safe. Nothing. Am I right?”
“Your right,” I acquiesced.
“Then why are we having this conversation in the middle of the night?”
I looked at the phone when I didn’t hear anything else and laughed out loud. She’d hung up on me. With my questions mostly answered, I returned to bed, crawling in beside my beauty who hadn’t moved an inch since I’d left her. For the next hour, I watched her sleep. I memorized the little sounds she made, every twitch of her nose, the way her eyes moved rapidly beneath her lids.
She was perfection personified and she was all mine.
When I finally drifted off to sleep, my dreams were of a little girl with her mother’s blond hair and my blue-gray eyes. Needless to say, I slept with a smile on my face.
EMORY
IT HAD BEENthree days. Three days since Seth’s dad had nearly attacked me in my own home and three long, agonizing days since I’d learned my brother’s greed caused the deaths of several soldiers. His actions had set into motion a series of events to which the only outcome was of the negative variety. Unfortunately, he was proving to be a slippery bastard because the FBI had yet to locate him.
His disappearing act turned Luc into an overprotective bear. I didn’t go anywhere without him glued to my side. It was nice, until he insisted on coming with me to work. Dealing with teenage angst was one thing, but add in a growly del Toro and you had a recipe for disaster. Luckily, Gigi had come through in a big way, so Luc and his brothers were meeting with Mr. Lawrence this afternoon. According to him, the information he had was vital and couldn’t be shared over the phone.
The good news for me was I’d have a few hours reprieve from Luc’s constant shadowing. Not that I minded, don’t get me wrong. I loved him with every fiber of my being, but a girl needed time to herself, every once in a while, to unwind and let her hair down.
“Hey, Ms. Daubson,” Seth waved from his locker in the hall.
He’d changed significantly in the last couple of weeks for the better. He’d begun to fill out his clothes a bit more, which meant he had food on the table. Plus, his grades were also recovering nicely, though he still had a ways to go. I was amazed at how much he was thriving in the care of his grandmother.
I’d also heard from Caleb the day after the attack. Mr. Jacobs was being charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as breaking and entering, and kidnapping, since he’d basically held us hostage. He’d been transferred to the county jail the following day, after having his wrist set, and went before a judge. The bail was set high enough there was no possibility of him seeing the light of day before the trial.
Kids began to scurry down the hall to make it to their bus, as the last bell of the day rang. I opted to stay at school a while longer to finish grading mid-term exams, knowing Luc wouldn’t be home until close to dinnertime, so I headed back to my classroom.
That was another thing which had changed recently. My home had suddenly become ours. We started and ended our days in my small one-bedroom apartment, as if we’d been doing it for years instead of days. It felt right, so I wasn’t about to call Luc out on the fact he had a key to my place. One I hadn’t given him. Or how he’d filled half of my closet and drawers with his clothes. I loved seeing them there. I loved seeinghimthere.
I closed the packet on the last test and rubbed my temples. The sooner they found my brother, the sooner life could get back to normal. I hated the idea of him being locked away, but the alternative wasn’t something I could live with either. He was playing dangerous games and needed to be stopped.
Packing up my things, I grabbed my jacket, then walked out the side door to the parking lot. My car was the only one left and as I climbed inside, my mind was on everything else but my surroundings. Which was my first mistake. The second was not noticing the man in the back seat until there was a gun pressed up against the side of my head.
“Joel,” I gasped.
