“And it will be.” We turned to the sound of Gideon’s voice.
“How’s Alex?”
He walked over to us and lifted my beer to his lips. After a long swallow he answered, “He went to the station. Charles is there too. We’ll get her out. I told him to bring her here. I wanted to thank her, but Olivia was worried when she saw the cops put her into the cruiser.”
“Did she really react like that because of some words?”
He shook his head. “According to Alex, one of the guys advanced and she didn’t wait to see what he intended, she slashed him right across the face with her nails.”
I chuckled. “Vicious.”
“Yes, she is…and I love it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Gideon
The man Milahad cut with her nails wasn’t dropping his charges, so with Charles’s guidance, we pressed charges of our own. Once words like stalking and endangering a minor got tossed around, the man let it go. Mila and Alex spent a couple of days at my house. She and Olivia had some girl time, and by the time they went home the incident in front of the diner was all but forgotten from my little girl’s mind…but not mine.
I was well aware of why my children and Penn were being targeted. I’d always known that in this line of work, those I loved were always my weaknesses and prey for the monsters who’d try to unseat me.
Benito wanted it to look like I was a bad man turning this town into a cesspool that would eventually infect the whole state. Those were his words. As predicted, he held a media conference and addressed crime—namely me and my affiliation—and even tossed in the little nugget that Solange and I were good friends.
It was a mess. She dropped a little in the polls and was doing damage control while I was plotting Benito Calvern’s demise.
“Ready?” Penn smacked my ass as he passed me on the way out of the bedroom.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
He stopped and turned. “You want to ditch Matteo’s birthday party for sexy times, I will abide.”
I chuckled. “Right. You’re as big of a kid as he and his friends are; you’d pout.”
He thought about it for a second. “Maybe. Now, come on!”
I slipped on my shoes and met Penn, Owen, and Olivia at the door. All three were vibrating with excitement.
“Come on, Daddy!” Olivia grabbed my hand and tugged.
“Okay, okay.”
Dean and Rita’sbackyard was an eleven-year-old’s dream come true. They had a lot of land, and it was covered. There was a go-kart track set up, some sort of build your own plasma spider section where afterward you’d race them. I saw an area with a large screen to play a movie when it got dark. There were also cotton candy machines, popcorn makers, and an ice cream stand.
As I looked around I saw Spiderman, Wolverine, Batman…I laughed.
“Hey.” I nudged Penn. “Check it out. It’s Batman, want to go tell him he’s wearing your suit?”
He rolled his eyes. After Penn had saved Matteo and the twins from the fire a couple of years ago, the kids had called him Batman for a long time. It wore down, but I never missed a chance to remind him.
“You’re here, great!” Rita sauntered over a large, iced tea in her hand which she gave to Penn. It was his favorite drink, and Rita made it the best he’d said.
“Thanks.” He smiled and hummed as he drank it.
“What about me?”
Rita huffed. “Dean is pouring some bourbon in the grown-up tent. Go bother him. Matteo’s friends are arriving; I have no time for this.”
I stared at Penn wide-eyed, then at his drink, then at Rita. “But you had time to get him a drink?”
