Page 59 of Daddies of the Underworld

“No.” Matteo said it softly but it was no less devastating.

It would have been better if I’d taken the call away from him. Then he’d never know. But he’d have questioned me leaving on her birthday when we always spent this day celebrating her.

Maybe our luck was changing.

18

DANTE

Chicago was fucking cold. It slipped under my collar and bit the backs of my hands every time I forgot to put my gloves on before walking outside. It made every injury I’d collected over the years ache like an attention-seeking bastard. I hated it.

Which meant it matched my mood perfectly.

Matteo had arranged three business meetings to justify my presence in the city. Shipping concerns with a man who had ties to the port and owned us enough money to make his left eye twitch when I walked into the room.

The cover was useful in case anyone saw me in the city as I chased another lead that would probably turn into nothing.

Nina Bell. I didn’t care for the name. It was too crisp. Russo was firm, and it matched the quiet pride Nina had always possessed.

I thought about all of this while sitting across from Patrick Doyle in the private room of a restaurant that smelled like dead fish. Too close to the docks, but it would have to do because all of my information pointed to Nina working at a cafe a few blocks away. I’d scouted the area for days, marking possible locations she might visit. A simple market across the street had low enough prices it would entice her, and no one paid attention to the cash that passed hands.

Doyle sat red-faced across from me, sweat streaking his puffy face as he flipped through the contract. “You came all the way from Italy because of a licensing issue?”

“No.” His fingers stopped moving, new beads of sweat forming despite the chill air whistling in around the ill-fitting window. I’d chosen this spot because of the view it gave me. I could sit here and conduct business while watching the market. If Nina was a wily as my contact suggested, I need to keep a significant distance. I focused on Doyly. “I’m here because your payments are late, your cousin is stupid enough to believe we wouldn’t notice him skimming off the top, and Matteo is tired of pretending patience is one of our virtues.”

Doyle swallowed. “We’ve had complications.”

“So have I.” I leaned back and let my gaze move to the man on his left, the one who kept touching the front of his jacket. “Yet, here we are.” I splayed my hands, which caused my jacket to open far enough to show the grips of my matching pistols tucked next to my hips. I wouldn’t need them here, but I needed to bring this to a close quickly.

“We will begin repayment immediately.” Doyle licked his lips. “Tommy, get the man his first payment.”

I left ten minutes later, several thousand dollars richer, and feeling like I needed to wash my hands after shaking Doyle’s. I aimed my steps toward the other side of the street as Chicago slapped me with enough wind to make me rethink every decision that brought me here. Except I’d plunge myself into the depths of Antarctica if it meant bringing Nina home.

My driver waited two blocks away because I hadn’t wanted to draw any extra attention. Ducking my head, I scanned the street. Cars and pedestrians went about their day, oblivious to me. Across the street, a woman argued on her phone and was almost run over by a delivery cyclist who swerved at the last minute and almost ran into traffic. A tingle ran up my spine and spread across the back of my neck. My head snapped to the side, and I started walking, cutting a diagonal across the street and dropping into the thick shadows of an alley.

Down the street, in the market I’d pegged as a likely location for Nina’s appearance, a woman juggled two paper bags, one braced against each hip. Dark hair had been tucked beneath a knit hat, and I remembered the informant’s comment about shorter hair. She pulled her shoulders forward, her body giving a shudder. An older woman patted her arm, then added a loaf of bread to one of the bags. She turned, and the sight slammed into me harder than any gunshot. I forgot how to breathe as I took in the sight of Nina for the first time in five years.

Five years, and here she was buying groceries like she hadn’t broken our whole world the night she left.

Shadows ringed her eyes, and she kept twitching her head to the left and right. Every few seconds, her shoulders hunched forward, and she would lift her chin and push them down again. Did she sense me watching her?

Hope was a lying piece of shit, and I had learned not to trust it, but when I blinked and Nina was still there, I let myself breathe. I let myself hope that I wasn’t suffering a long-term hallucination.

A man clipped my shoulder hard enough to jolt me. “Watch it.” He turned to face me, his mouth twisted.

I gave him a look that made him lose all color in his face and hold up his hands. A snort burned my throat. No matter the continent, there were always pricks who thought they were the biggest, baddest in the world until someone came along to put them in their place.

When I looked back, Nina had started down the sidewalk. My hands balled into fists as I fought the urge to rush forward and grab her. That would have been too easy. Everything in me wanted to do it, to hold her. My hands flexed with the need to catch her, turn her around, and hear her say my name. I did none of that because I was not a fucking amateur and I would not lose her again because I scared the hell out of her by showing up like this. One scream from her and I’d get locked in a prison cell, giving her time to escape again.

I would not lose her again because I’d been stupid. I waited three seconds, then followed, leaving an entire block between us. She walked with purpose. No phone in hand, no headphones. She checked reflections in shop windows and paused near a bakery, pretending to look at the pastries until two men who’d been crowding behind her passed and crossed the street.

It was her. My impossible, incredible Nina. She stopped at a produce stand and haggled with the vendor for four apples, and I almost smiled. I couldn’t hear a word over the traffic, but I had eyes, and whatever she had caused the vendor to chuckle and add four apples to her bags. Still grinning, the woman added two more, then shook her finger goodnaturedly in Nina’s face.

I pressed my thumb into the scar cutting across my eyebrow, using the throb of pain to focus me on the task and not how seeing Nina made me want to throttle something and kiss her at the same time.

Nina turned a corner. I followed slowly, uncertain what I’d find and trying to time the risk of losing her with coming in too fast and tipping her off. I paused at the corner and peeked around, my heart stopping in my throat. Nina stood outside a low brick building with children’s drawings taped to the windows. Paper snowflakes mixed with crooked hearts and a sun with bright yellow lines. The sign above the door advertised it as an elementary school that offered after-school care and music lessons.

My heart thudded in my throat, the beat so loud I barely heard the bell ring. Nina shifted the bags so the straps were looped around one wrist. She shifted her weight and glanced over her shoulder, her eyebrows drawn tight.