Page 134 of Thin Lives

Calisto held the baby boy a little tighter, brought him higher where he could smell the familiar scent of his child, and ran his palm over Cross’s tiny head. He didn’t even stir.

Emma’s arms were already reaching for the baby boy the moment Calisto’s foot hit the bottom step. “Can I—oh, let me have him, please?”

He didn’t really want to let Cross go, but he’d been holding him for a while. So without argument, he let Emma take their son into her embrace. He shielded her from the view of whoever might be watching as she lifted her son high enough to snuggle him, kiss him, and breathe his little life in. Tears streaked down her cheeks, and she couldn’t seem to catch a breath.

Calisto knew that feeling all too well.

“He’s all right,” Calisto found himself saying.

He wasn’t sure why.

Emma met his gaze, her tears still falling. “You’re sure?”

“He didn’t even have a dirty diaper, Emmy.”

She nodded, but still held Cross closer to her chest like someone might reach out and snatch him from her again. The bluish, black bruise beginning to form under her right eye, and the one coloring up her left cheek, reminded him of exactly why that was.

The girl was willing to take a beating to try and protect her child.

Calisto loved her even more for it. But he would make damn sure that she didn’t ever have to experience that again. Certainly not by his hands, or anyone else’s, if he could help it.

“We should go inside,” Calisto suggested, “and get him out of this cold air.”

Emma agreed, but surprised him when she reached out a hand, waiting for him to take it. Calisto hesitated, but only because he was scared. All of his feelings for Emma, the things they had done, and the strange relationship they’d shared, would never be acceptable to people in their lifestyle. He was terrified that their actions would lead them down a path neither of them wanted to go.

Still, he took her hand.

He would figure something out.

For right then, at that moment, she just wanted to hold him.

So he gave that to her.

Once they were inside the house, and the door was closed, Calisto went about removing his suit jacket and kicking off his shoes. All the while, he felt Emma’s eyes on him as she murmured sweetly to the sleeping baby in her arms.

“I’ll go make some coffee,” Wolf said.

Calisto nodded at the Capo, grateful. “That sounds … like it’s exactly what I need.”

“I bet, boss.”

Boss.

There wasn’t even a question there.

Wolf didn’t even bother to ask about Affonso, it was like he just knew.

“Why don’t you get the little one settled in?” Wolf asked. “I’ll be ready to chat business when you are.”

Calisto understood Wolf’s thinly-veiled words. Affonso was gone, and it would be best to make sure it was known to the rest of the men in their family as soon as possible. Even if the story Calisto planned on telling was nothing more than a bunch of lies.

He still had to protect himself, his son, and Emma. It was selfish, in a way, but Calisto figured after everything, they deserved to be happy.

The second Wolf had disappeared down the hallway, Emma turned on Calisto.

“Does he …?” she trailed off, questioning.

“He knows enough,” Calisto said. “I trust him.”