Page 78 of Dirty Pool

“He wouldn’t have let me come. I was coming … I didn’t want to fight.”

Sure.

That, and she loved her father. Michel wasn’t going to call her out on that little tidbit of information, but it factored into the decisions Gabbie made. Especially when those decisions revolved around the only other man in her life that played a big part in the things she would or would not do.

Her love for her father was the one thing that allowed her to overlook Charles’ heavy control and influence in her daily life. He only needed to hear her talk about her dad to know that was the case, but he didn’t think now was the right time to explain that to her, all things considered.

“What’s going to happen now?” Gabbie asked.

Just like that, their moment was gone. They could no longer pretend this was simply another day to them where they were meeting up as usual, and things would go back to normal like it always did. He didn’t blame her for asking because it was still on the back of his mind, too. Hell, it wouldn’t leave him alone.

“I don’t know, but it’s going to be fine,” he assured.

Gabbie didn’t look like she believed that. “How? You were at the same meeting I was today, Michel! This is a complete feckin’ mess.”

She wasn’t wrong.

That wasn’t really Michel’s problem currently. The level her voice raised to, however, was a problem. He tightened his arm around her back, drawing Gabbie closer to his chest as he quickly scanned the bar.

A couple of people shot looks their way, but it wasn’t anything that concerned him. The bartender behind the bar chatted on a phone with his back turned to them, but that wasn’t anything unusual, either. And the man was laughing on his call, too, so Michel figured it wasn’t as though the man was calling out to let someone know they were there.

It was always a possibility.

Michel couldn’t help the paranoia right now.

“Calm down,” he muttered into Gabbie’s hair.

She stiffened. “You know that’s the worst possible thing to tell a woman, right?”

Was it?

“I’ll take your word for it,” Michel replied. “But seriously, we will get this shit figured out. Everything is going to be fine, Gabbie. You and me? We don’t even have anything to do with this, we’re just the bystanders.”

She swallowed hard, her green eyes wide with fear when she met his gaze again. “Bystanders die all the time, Michel.”

Again—his girl wasn’t wrong.

“I know,” he said thickly. “I’ll figure something out.”

“What?”

He didn’t have that answer yet. Things weren’t clear enough for him to really make a choice about what might be their next move. The unknowns were still too many for him to be comfortable, really.

“The Italians want a war,” Gabbie muttered.

Michel didn’t doubt that.

But were they the only ones?

“Then, why was it the Irish attacking us today during the meeting?” he asked.

Gabbie stiffened in his hold. “We didn’t … my da made sure everyone was accounted for, and safe for the meeting today.”

“Someone could have stepped out on their own to do it, Gabbie.”

“They don’t do that. No one steps out of line against my father.”

“Are you sure—”