Page 27 of Complications

“Elio, whatever it is, tell him,” I said gently.

I needed to give him an out because if I knew anything about these men, it was that their pride mattered above everything—and right now, Elio was hanging in the balance, and Matteo would never give. One of them had to budge.

No matter what, I needed to keep Elio in one piece because if he went down, I was going with him.

“Please. Tell him. For me.” This time it was a plea.

He glanced at me, then at Matteo, before returning his gaze to mine. I stayed quiet, but I made the plea in my eyes obvious. I wasn’t about to pretend neutrality when it came to him.

“I was there to buy a book. Sam showed up while I was in the back, flipping through it to make sure it was what I wanted. When I came out, Sam was demanding money, and the old man was saying he was about to call you,” Elio explained.

“Where’d the gun— where’d the shot come from?”

“Sam was waving his gun. The baby was in the corner, in the crib, sleeping. I told him to put it away. He turned it on me, took off the safety, and started waving it around like a goddamn flag. I shoved him out of the room to get him away from the baby. We wrestled for the gun, and it went off.”

“Cops?”

“Sam’s gun had a silencer on it. The bullet went through Sam and into the floorboards—empty basement,” Elio shrugged.

“The old man?” Matteo asked.

“He’s in the study with the baby and a book,” Joey interjected. “Connor and one of my guys are in there too.”

“Let’s go see what he has to say then.”

“Michel, I need an explanation.”

Matteo summoning me from my patient was high-handed. Naturally, I’d made him wait an extra ten minutes.

“I need a little bit more to go on.”

After the explosion in the medical room, Matteo had asked—more like ordered—me to his study. It had been vacated by the older man, but Elio was left with Frankie and Joey. I kissed him before I left the room. They needed to understand exactly who Elio was to me.

“So you’re pretending that you didn’t announce that you were in love with my nephew?”

“You’ve never actually told me how he’s related to you. Elio explained it, but I’d like to hear it from you,” I mused absentmindedly.

“You want to talk about it right now? Because I’d like to talk about what the fuck you said back there.”

“Elio isn’t stealing from you.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Yeah, I fucking do. He wants to prove his worth to you.”

Elio wasn’t going to betray Matteo. I didn’t need the particulars to know that. I took the time to look around the room instead of at him. It was as neat and tidy as ever, now overstuffed with plants and pictures of Connor. It was lived-in and comfortable, but today it felt confining.

“What did the old man say?”

“You already know.” Matteo let the words hang in the air before he finally answered with a sigh. “Sam pulled the gun.”

“Is he still in need of my services?”

“No.” Matteo paused before he added, “Yeah, turns out that shoulder shot was fatal.”

“That’s a real shame.” So why the hell was Matteo still questioning when he already had confirmation? “But where does that leave Elio with you?”

“Goddamn it, I’m just trying to keep my promise. That’s it,” Matteo ground out.