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He was kind of like the Terminator.
My husband had decided he was walking me to and from class. Not one of his guys, or even two, like he’d threatened. My husband was doing guard duty. Forever, apparently.
I felt guilty about Tiny. I really did.
He’d been MIA since the Sara incident. And Antonio had barely let me out of his sight. Thankfully, he hadn’t done anything else.
Other than the . . . spanking.
I blushed beet red just thinking about it. And what had come after. I would be pregnant soon if I wasn’t already, I had no doubt. That’s why I had to do this. I had to finish my degree. I could do it in three years instead of four, as long as I kept my class load up. But that would mean Tony would be trailing me all over campus.
Which seemed like a very, very bad idea.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do,” he said calmly. He was always calm. The only time I’d ever seen him not in control was in bed, and only really that one time. The first time he told me he loved me.
“Are you going to come to all my classes with me? You might as well register as a student.”
He gave me a hard look and shook his head.
“I need to keep an eye on you, Evangeline.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me,” I said softly as I started up the steps to the sociology building. I glanced back. “I know you care. But I’m safe here. Don’t make me feel like a prisoner.”
He just stared at me. I opened my mouth to continue, but he nodded, cutting me off before I could argue more.
“Fine. I’ll go. But do not leave from this spot after class.”
“I promise.”
He hesitated.
“I mean it, Evie.”
“I’ll be here.”
He pressed a lingering kiss to my lips, looked around, and then tore himself away. I could see him force himself to go. He paused again a few feet away, looking back at me.
And then he was gone.
“Did you decide what to name them?”
I was studying in the courtyard while kittens wove around my feet. There were two on my lap, where I idly petted them while reading next week’s assignment.
Well, re-reading. I had already finished the coursework for the semester. Another reason it hadn’t been hard for me to catch up.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the courtyard. I slowly stood to stand beside my husband as his brother approached. He didn’t smile often, or really ever, but today, he was especially grim.
“It’s about Dad.”
“I’ll be back soon,” Antonio said.
“She needs to hear this too. Will you join us?”
I swallowed and nodded.
“Of course.”
Antonio put his hand on my lower back and guided me through the winding hallways to the very heart of the house, Vincent’s dark wood office. I sat in one of the high-backed chairs. Antonio sat in the other.
“The Feds are onto Dad. Some of the older stuff. Nothing that touches us, miraculously. But people are starting to get wind.”
Tony nodded.
“Which means he becomes a target. The other families will be afraid he will talk.”
“Families?” I asked. They looked at me and then at each other. Thankfully, neither of them made me feel stupid for asking.
“There are five families. The biggest and most powerful organizations. We have an . . . agreement.”
“Not to go after each other,” I finished, getting the gist of it.
“Yes. But it’s tenuous at best. There are some who would love to break the treaty.”
Tony nodded.
“Some scary people, Evie. We don’t want to take away that protection.”
I nodded and kept my mouth shut. I was surprised to be in this meeting. But I had to know.
“The good news is, he’s leaving until the heat dies down.”
“Will it ever?” Tony asked with a hint of a smile.
“Probably not,” Vincent said with a shrug.
“So? Where is he going?”
“Well, I was hoping he’d go down south. The bad news is, he’s going to our ancestral home in Italy.”
“Fuck. Does he have any idea how much we’ve poured into it?”
“He must know we’ve worked on it. Why else would he be trying to take it like a wine-soaked squatter?”
Antonio glanced at me.
“I’d planned to take you there for a late honeymoon.”
My heart leapt at the thought of that. Being with Tony in Europe. It sounded incredibly romantic.
“Well, Little Brother, that’s the kicker.”
“Oh, fuck, what now?” Tony groaned.
“He wants you to come help him get set up. Mikey is working on transferring some of the assets he has a right to.” Vincent looked at me. “A lot of the newer assets are in our names only. And Tony here has his own businesses as well. The estate was our mother’s family home, so technically, it’s ours.”
“I see.”
“But the other stuff, he needs funds. And he’s spending a pretty penny to smuggle his girlfriend and himself out of the country. The idiot thinks he’s getting a boat or a private jet to fly him there.”
