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I didn’t look her way, but I knew she was rolling her eyes at my stupid question, and I deserved it.
“But by checking on me, he just made himself look guilty. Why would he do that?”
Fair point. But I had my theories. “He hoped you wouldn’t be at my place at seven in the morning when they attacked. And when he heard you were, he was more than likely worried he nearly got you killed. That’s probably why he really came home early. He wants you back, Maria. He never wanted the divorce.”
“Even if he didn’t cheat, our marriage wouldn’t have survived, not with ...”
With me in your life?
“I don’t know. I guess it’s all possible,” she said in a flat tone that time. “Shady clients. Cheating. I guess you never really know a person.”
Why’d that last part sting so much?
Before I could smother her with more reasons why I believed Thomas was a world-class dick, she continued. “If Thomas is responsible, it’s obviously bad, but it also means we’re not in danger.”
We were potentially still in danger with the cleaner on the loose, but I didn’t want to scare her about that right now. One issue at a time.
“There’s no ‘if’ it was Thomas. I know you don’t want to think that about him because he’s still the father of your child, and you’re worried what this means I’ll do to him, but—”
“Or Ryan,” she whispered, concerned how her brother-in-law would react to the news as well, and I knew he’d be out for blood.
“Listen,” I said on a sigh, trying to be gentle with her when my every instinct wanted to unleash the monster inside me and torture Thomas for what he was putting her through with such a stupid move as to come after me. “This was my mother’s cousin’s way of smoking out the name. He made sure the message was sent out that the job went sideways. And now Giovanni can follow that text trail. It’ll probably lead to a middleman, Thomas’s client, and then it’ll lead to Thomas.”
She unlocked her arms and went for her phone. “Then I should tell Natalia she’s safe,” she said, finally accepting the truth. “I don’t want her unnecessarily worrying.”
“Call them. Speakerphone, though. I need to talk to Ryan to prevent him from going to jail.”
“And leaving Chiara with only one parent.”
I bit back my desire to say, I’ll be her father, and remained quiet as she phoned Natalia.
“Hey, I assume Ryan’s attached to your hip since this morning. Can you put me on speaker?” Maria asked once Natalia answered. “You’re on speaker as well,” she added, and I knew that was to ensure Natalia didn’t say anything she wouldn’t want me to hear.
“What’s going on?” Natalia asked, and Maria looked to me, a silent plea to share the ugly truth for her.
“You may not need to call for backup, Ryan,” I shared as I turned down my parents’ street, catching sight of their waterfront property at the edge of the dead-end road.
“Because this morning was probably about me,” Maria decided to finish for me, guilt in her tone. “We think Thomas was jealous and hired those guys to go after Enzo.”
“What?” both Natalia and Ryan snapped at the same time.
I shot a quick look at Maria, slowing my speed, since we were driving by houses now. At least the rain had finally let up.
“Thomas knew what happened this morning. There’s no way he could’ve known, since we didn’t tell anyone,” I explained. “My guess is he asked one of his less-than-reputable clients for a contact outside the state he thought would never connect to him.”
“And he wound up the unluckiest son of a bitch on the planet anyway,” Ryan hissed. “Where is he right now?”
“He came home early, and my parents are meeting him to pick up Chiara and babysit. He’s got a work emergency, so he’s about to leave town. But please, don’t go after him. Not yet, at least. Just don’t do anything until I’m back. We’ll handle this together.” That was the best I could do for now. Delay his need for justice, because there wasn’t a chance in hell Thomas would walk away from this unscathed.
“Fine,” Ryan slowly remarked, but I knew his wheels were spinning, and he’d be pacing the floor with anger the second we hung up.
“Does that mean you’re coming back home, Maria?” Natalia asked as I punched in the gate code to my parents’ home.
“No, I’m not. I’ll just be gone for a few days. But I need to be here. Can you help Mom and Dad with Chiara? Keep everyone blissfully ignorant as to why I’m here?” she answered before I had a chance to summon a response.
“Yeah, uh, okay,” Natalia hesitantly agreed.
“We’re at his parents’ now, so I need to go. I’m just so sorry my stupid ex did this. We’ll talk later.” Maria ended the call before anyone could protest, and she shoved her phone into her purse in a hurry.
