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"I figured," Yavin chuckled, shaking her hand. I knew it seemed odd to him, as I couldn't remember the last time I'd shaken a woman's hand in this house. Calla hadn't quite realized that being with me meant she was family, that the Bellandis had already adopted her as one of their own.
Matteo stood suddenly, kissing Luna on her head before he dropped his Little Moon in her mother's lap and strode for the office. Yavin followed, then the others. "I gotta go talk business, Sunshine," I whispered in Calla's ear. I plopped her back onto the couch as I stood, and she pouted up at me at the disturbance.
"I was comfortable," she protested, and I grinned at her. I only had to wait a moment before she realized she’d pouted that I'd taken her off my lap, instead of the other way around. I kissed that pouty mouth firmly and then turned to stride toward Matteo's office.
We had important business to discuss, even if I hated leaving her.
But Calla was safer than she could ever be anywhere else. The security at the estate rivaled the White House, and I trusted her sanity with the women who would explain how beautiful our life together would be once she moved past the way it had started.
I only became more and more confident that we had the kind of love that Matteo had with Ivory. That Lino had with Samara. That Scar could have if he pulled his head out of his ass about a certain raven-haired woman.
Real love that lasted the test of time.
I took a seat at the edge of the room. As much as I enjoyed being in Matteo's inner circle, as much as I saw it for the honor it was, I didn't have much to contribute to the coming conversation. My expertise would come later.
When there was someone to kill or someone to find.
"Murphy hasn't reached out to give me any sign that he won't operate within Bellandi territory," Matteo said, shaking his head with a sigh. Murphy was an idiot for thinking he stood a chance of going up against Matteo and coming out alive on the other side. While his marriage to Aoife would secure his place as the heir to the Irish syndicate's resources, he had yet to marry her. Liam knew he'd made a mistake promising his only daughter to that piece of trash, and he would do everything he could to separate from him over the coming years.
He was just intelligent enough to do it without war, but he wouldn't stand by Murphy's side if he started a war with Matteo over a trafficking operation. Not when O'Connell banned the same within his own forces too.
"So what's the first step?" Yavin asked, crossing his arms over his chest and considering. He was a businessman at heart, with a head for numbers and marketing. He lacked the ruthlessness that even Lino had when pressed, because he'd never had to suffer. He hadn't had a tough childhood that made him turn his back on emotion. He was too hot headed when he needed to be cold. I had a feeling he'd learn.
None of us in this life escaped unscathed.
Not even our women.
"I need information. I won't strike first, not without confirmation that he's breaking my rules," Matteo growled and his eyes came to me. "I know the timing is shit for you. You have Calla and the kids at home. I'm not saying I need you on him 24/7, but I need you on him a couple days a week. I'll put some of my more discreet guys on him when you can't be there, but we both know you'll see things they don't."
I twisted my lips up. There'd been a day when I would have lived for this shit, but now it was just a job. "I'll start Monday. Tomorrow I need to have a conversation with my kids."
"Monday is fine," he brushed it off like I'd known he would. The information we needed would be there a day later. "Everything good?"
"Just need to talk to them before I can take things with Calla to the next level."
"Are we having another wedding here?" Lino asked with a laugh.
“Another fucking wedding,” Matteo grumbled.
"That's up to her, but probably. I can't imagine she'll want another big wedding. She about died when I told her to put on a dress to go to Angel's the other night."
"Why didn't you ask her at Angel's? That's like one of the hottest proposal spots in the city," Enzo said in amusement. He raised a brow at me, and I wanted to smack the man. He knew damn well why I couldn't ask Calla to marry me in public.
"So she could throw wine in my face? No thanks," I grunted. "Can we get back to business?" I asked, giving each of them a pointed look. "You lot are worse than teenage girls. I swear. Gossiping brats."
“How did Calla like Celio and Marco?” Enzo asked.
“Oh, she loved them. She was totally thrilled about the fact that she’s got more strange men watching her kids. Thanks for asking.”
Matteo roared out a laugh, smacking his hand on the table, but he turned the conversation back to Murphy. Instructing Enzo through the dossier he'd gathered, on Murphy's men and who to keep an eye out for at the club, he waited until Enzo handed the packet off to Yavin.
With my part in the meeting accomplished, I sat back and enjoyed listening to the sound of the others methodically plotting a systematic dismantling of Tiernan Murphy and his buddies.
He'd disappear before he knew what hit him if Matteo had his way.
???
I took the kids outside while Calla took a shower the next morning, antsy to have our conversation over with in case I didn't find another chance where she wasn't within hearing range. Axel looked too serious when we stepped into the field, far enough away that I knew Calla wouldn't be able to hear us even if she tried to eavesdrop. Even Ines sat quietly once I plopped them both into the center of the field and turned my back to the house.
