Page 42 of Bobby

“I was tired of her trying to get my attention. Now she can think whatever she wants, stop interrupting us, and get back to work.”

I continue to observe her as she takes in my words. Her shoulders tighten, and then she sits straight up, pulling her body away from me. “Right. The anniversary party.”

I’m about to correct whatever she’s thinking when I’m interrupted by a single word.

“Sir.”

I look behind me and see Marco. The way his jaw ticks tells me more than words ever will.

“Excuse me for a second.” The moment between us will have to wait.

I stand quickly and walk with Marco to the elevator. I know not to talk out in the open when he’s like this. Few might see it, but there are two sides to Marco. The side of him as my second-in-command and traditional bodyguard. And the other side, the one where he waits on the cusp of my word to go to war with whoever has offended him. And by offending him, I mean someone hurting me or my family. Marco’s loyalty is stronger than any other man I know, and I don’t doubt that if the Leone family was willing to add more men, he would be accepted quickly.

But we aren’t, and he’s never voiced a desire to be anything more than my second.

As the elevator doors close, I ask, “What is it?”

“Lily’s not talking.”

My thoughts have been on who could have gone to war with the famiglia, running through a million potential threats that could have occurred in the time I had lunch. This isn’t one of them.

“Come again?”

He looks over at me the second the doors open. “When has Lily ever not talked?”

His words ring true, and my heart beats in fear as I match pace with him as we exit.

“Mary called it in and is bringing them here now instead of taking them to their after-school programs.”

We push through the front doors just as Mary pulls up and parks right in front of us. I don’t think twice before I open the back seat and get in, while Marco gets in the passenger seat up front. Mary steps out, and I turn to the girls.

Neither is looking at me at first, until Ivy breaks and peeks up at me from under her eyelashes.

“Hey, little one.” I speak softly as I maneuver to look at them both. The SUV isn’t as big as my car, but my comfort is the last thing on my mind right now.

“Hi.”

“Want to tell me what’s going on?”

Ivy looks at Lily, who just keeps staring down at her lap. I glance at Marco and see he’s barely holding back his anger at the way she’s acting. Something definitely happened.

“Lily.” Marco calls her name and waits a beat, probably hoping she’ll look up at him. But she doesn’t, so he continues speaking as if she did. “Is there a dragon I need to destroy?” The way he says the last word, it’s all growly, like a true dragon would be. But not even that gets a reaction from our sweet girl.

“What happened, Ivy?” I go with direct, hoping it will get me something. Anything.

“Lily… Lily was told to keep a secret.” She bites her bottom lip, looking at her sister with worried eyes as Lily finally reacts. But it’s just to glare out of the corner of her eye at Ivy.

“A secret, huh? Want to tell me what it is?”

Ivy shakes her head. “I promised not to say.”

I nod. “I get it. A sister’s promise is higher than any other promise. I know my sister would be pretty mad if I broke mine.”

“You have a sister?” Finally, Lily speaks. I hear Marco’s exhale of relief, matching my own.

“Yup. She’s younger than me, but very mean when she wants to be. She once tried to burn my pants.”

“Why?”