Emily grips the seat belt strap tighter as her eyes flicker to me again. I give her a look that hopefully conveys the choice is hers. I’ll go along with whatever she decides.
Lucia glances at me, then back at Emily, her expression gentle but firm. “It’ll be quick, I promise. No one’s going to make you do anything you don’t want to. Just come inside. Let me help you, and then you can go wherever you need to go.”
Emily hesitates, her shoulders stiff, but something in Lucia’s voice, the calm, steady insistence, seems to reach her. Slowly, she lets go of the strap.
“Okay,” she whispers.
Lucia took Emily straight into her bedroom so she wouldn’t have to face the others. But when she didn’t come back out, of course, Romeo went searching for his wife, and it all snowballed from there.
Romeo stormed back into the main room and summoned Dante and me outside. The anger radiating off him was intense, and at first, I wasn’t sure if it was because of the state Emily was in or because I’d brought her here.
As soon as he said, “Was it that Steel Reaper cocksucker who did that to her?” I had my answer.
“Did what to who?” Dante asks.
“Messed her up.”
“Who?” Dante growls. “The waitress from La Riviera?”
“Yeah,” Romeo and I answer in unison.
“Are we talking about the bruise you saw on her yesterday?” Dante asks, shifting his focus to me.
“No. Lucia has her in the bedroom patching her up now,” Romeo says before I can speak. “He fucked her up worse this time.”
Dante’s eyebrows pinch together. “The girl is here?”
“I brought her,” I say.
“Jesus, you didn’t waste any time. I only gave you her address this morning.”
“I went to the restaurant to see if she was okay and to apologise for my outburst yesterday. When Massimo told me she called in sick, I thought I’d drive past her house.”
“I told you not to do anything without running it past me first.”
“As I said, I was only going to drive past, but when I saw how angry that woman-bashing cunt was when he got on his bike to leave, I decided to knock on the door.”
“You have balls made of fucking brass,” he states. “How’s she going to explain being here if he comes back and finds her missing?”
“She’s not going back,” I growl.
“Good,” Romeo chimes in. Dante frowns as his eyes move from me to his underboss. “When you see what he did to her, you’ll agree.”
“What do you even know about her … about their relationship?” Dante asks. “Can we even trust her?”
“Emily opened up to me while she was packing her things. She told me he wasn’t always physically abusive toward her. Over time, his moods worsened. The verbal abuse eventually turned into violence. She says he’s a different person when he’s under the influence.”
Dante lets out a low curse as he scrubs a hand over his jaw. “The Reapers deal in meth, that shit rots your brain and turns you into a rabid dog if you’re using it long enough. Wouldn’t surprise me if her boyfriend’s been sampling his own product regularly.”
“Possibly,” I agree.
Dante tilts back his head and groans. “So we’re going to war with the Reapers then, I presume?”
“Looks like it,” Romeo replies, rocking back on his heels with a smirk, like it’s something he may enjoy.
I stay quiet, with my jaw locked so tight it’s a wonder my teeth don’t crack. I don’t need help to take that bastard down; I’ve got enough rage simmering in my veins to handlehim with one arm tied behind my back. But I’m not naïve enough to think my actions won’t have repercussions, and I’m grateful to know I’ve got the backing of theFamigliaif push comes to shove.
I went into the bedroom to check on Emily when we re-entered the house, and I got to witness how tender Lucia was with her. It was something I didn’t expect, something I know I’m not capable of giving her.
