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“Yes, sir.” She nodded before adjusting her dress and rushed by us, her lipstick smeared around her mouth and on her neck.
The minute the door was closed, Dimitri tugged the drawer open and pulled out a napkin. Stepping over to the mirror, he observed his appearance. “Jamie, what’s going on?” he asked calmly, wiping the lipstick off his mouth and neck.
“I have no fucking idea!” Gian spat.
Dimitri twisted around and Antonio stood, crossing his arms high on his chest, glaring at his nephew.
“Give your uncle the phone,” I growled.
The sound of the door opening behind me summoned all our attention. Vincenzo’s gaze darted around before muttering, “Che cazzo fai,” under his breath. “Couldn’t wait for me, could you, J?” Shaking his head, he stood next to me, sliding his hands in his pockets.
“Why do you need to give me your phone?” Dimitri adjusted his tie, then fixed his rolled-up sleeves.
“I have no idea—”
“Sit,” Vincenzo spat.
Gian fell back in the chair in front of the desk, sighing audibly, and took his phone from his pocket. “I have no idea, Uncle Dimi—”
“I caught him sneaking photos of Maddie at the bar.”
“Merda.” Dimitri’s gaze narrowed on Gian. “We talked about rules if you worked here. Give me the fucking phone.”
Vincenzo laid his hand on my shoulder, leaning close. “Come with me.”
I followed him out of the office across the hall. He closed the door, turning to me. We’d been friends for so long, I knew what he was going to say. It was the same thing every time we crossed lanes.
If he came too far into my world, I told him to let me handle it. If I crossed over into his, he reminded me why I needed to let him take care of it. After a certain incident years ago, we had to draw the line to keep us in check. Our only exception was if one of us used our safe word, as we called it, to keep others from catching on.
“I know you want to be protective, but this isn’t your job. You need to let my people deal with this one. You do not want to be in the middle of my Underboss and his family. Trust me.”
“He was sneaking photos of Maddie and after what we discussed, I don’t feel comfortable with her being here right now.”
“Take her home or back to your place. I don’t care.” He pointed over his shoulder. “But we’ll handle it. When I said we could keep an eye on things, I didn’t know you’d have him facing the firing squad when I got here. I had to handle something else after my meeting, which is why I was so late.”
The last thing I needed was a scandal. Alicia had already been texting me all day and I hadn’t read them yet. I didn’t want to. And now, I was having constant moral battles about Maddie. I’d already lost my shit when Elizabeth had her entire ordeal with Nick Bernardi and I kicked his ass. I didn’t want to be the separated lawyer who went insane on the barely legal nephew of my friends.
Vincenzo gnawed the inside of his cheek for a moment, the wheels spinning ninety miles per hour in his head. His gaze narrowed. I knew he wanted to say more. Instead of giving him the chance to speak, I decided it was best to get out of there as soon as possible.
“Call me if you need me.”
“I’ll let them know you’re taking her home.”
I nodded just as we heard Gian bellow from the office across the hall. Give me my fucking phone back!
Our eyes swelled, and we marched toward the noise. The Abruzzo brothers didn’t take kindly to anyone disrespecting them. They always resorted to violence when anyone crossed them; relative or not. So, it came as no surprise when we heard a scuffle on the other side of the door, which meant one of them didn’t like what they found. Just as I was about to push the door open, Maddie entered the hallway, her attention darting back and forth between Vincenzo and me.
“Holy shit, what’s going on in there?”
“Go get your stuff.” I jerked my head toward the other room. “We’re leaving.”
“Uh, okay.” Confused, she hurried past into the staff room.
“Keep me posted.”
With a single nod, he opened Dimitri’s office door and stepped in, closing it behind him. Moments later, Maddie appeared in the hallway again, her expression muddled with questions. Reaching for her bag, I took it, sliding it onto my shoulder.
“What’s going on?” she whispered, barely above the muffled jazz in the other room.
