Page 13 of One Last Time

Well …

“Just say it,” Andino muttered, giving the man a look from the side.

“She was scared. The girls were there and all. It was just her. She rarely notices her enforcers anymore anyway, which was what you wanted. For her to feel as normal as possible while she went about her day, right?”

Andino let out a hard breath, already knowing where this was going. “And?”

Nate cleared his throat. “She probably had tunnel vision—focused in on the threat. It’s what most people do in that situation. Hell, she couldn’t even tell you what color the car was that was parked beside her own. Tunnel vision.”

“And all of this leads to you telling me what, exactly?”

The man shrugged his shoulders under his leather jacket. “Listen, I know you’re pissed and all, boss, but I don’t think you should go off on the boys for today. They did their job. They escorted the guy out of there only to find out he was a paid messenger. He didn’t even have a weapon on him. They’re good enforcers.”

They were.

Usually.

Andino didn’t want to argue that.

“What makes you think my first reaction is to punish the enforcers who were watching her today?” Andino asked, honesty curious.

For a few reasons …

Nate gave him a look. “It’s your wife, man. And your girls. Anything happens to them, and you see fucking red. We all know it. And those guys? They’re terrified of it.”

Hmm.

Andino nodded. “Good to know. Keep an eye on the house, yeah?”

“Got it, boss.”

The enforcer waited until Andino had opened the front door and stepped inside before he exited the safety of the porch and headed out onto the walkway. Andino wasn’t sure where Nate would stay on the property for the evening. Sometimes he just walked around the property line, and other times he sat in a car. It wasn’t every night that Andino required Nate to watch the house, but on a night like this one?

Yep.

Other nights, someone else did it.

Not tonight.

After Andino closed the front door and toed off his leather loafers, he heard the first slam of a cupboard door. A hard sigh left him as he shoved his hands in his pockets, stared up at the ceiling of the entryway to his home, and took a moment just to breathe and think. The girls were all in bed and none the wiser about what had happened today. Both he and Haven made sure of that—if he had any say, it would be a good many years before his daughters knew the truth of who he was and their life.

Tonight was not the night.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Haven asked sharply.

God.

The last thing Andino wanted to do was fight with his wife. Or rather, let her rage at him because she was scared and didn’t know how to handle it.

“Haven—”

“You still haven’t even told me what all that was about today!”

“Because it doesn’t matter,” he returned, finally meeting her gaze. “And it’ll only piss you off even more than you already are. Does that seem like a smart route to go down to you?”

“You’re an asshole.”

Yep.