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“Ah. Don’t be like that.”
He snorted and walked out the door before I could further torture him.
Made men prowled Rosa’s mansion with stern faces, lifting their chin Frankie’s way as we passed.
“Did someone call in the troops?” I muttered.
“Taz. This is the Chicago branch of the Moretti family.” He leaned down and whispered, “He’s afraid Marco will kill Tootsie. Or you will.”
I hit his arm, and he yelped. “Shit! I forgot about your arm.”
“I’m going to go check my stitches.” He glared at me, holding where the bullet had grazed his bicep as he walked away.
“Frankie!” I called after him, and he flipped me off.
“You did that on purpose,” Marco said from behind me.
I turned and gasped at the accusation. “I did no such thing.”
The corner of his mouth turned up, but it did little to soften his tired face. He’d aged a decade since Luca got locked up. “I assume Rosa called you.”
I didn’t answer him. There was no point. He knew the score. The former Mrs. Moretti was passing the baton to the new.
“Well, I guess you should hear it from me. Tootsie and Zoe are back, and Officer Russo will be here soon to confirm they’re alive.”
“He couldn’t take your word for it?”
Marco rolled his eyes and gestured for me to follow him. “I trust I don’t have to remind you to keep your cool when you see them?”
“I swear I’ll behave.”
“Mhm.”
We entered Dante Sr.’s office, and I was shocked by how many bodies were packed in the small room. At the center of it all was the tall, the blond, the beautiful Zoe Chronis. When her crystal blue eyes landed on me, she leaned back into Tootsie. The wall of a man wrapped around her, his chin resting on top of her head.
“Welcome home,” I bit out, anger I hadn’t expected warming my whole body. Perhaps if Luca hadn’t suffered multiple stab wounds, I could have gotten over that their absence meant my husband was wrongfully imprisoned.
The ten suited men parted, giving Marco and me a path to the couple.
“Sasha. Congratulations,” Zoe said, a strained smile on her lips.
I looked up at her, noting her bare face and grown-out roots. Not even trying to match her fake positive energy, I said, “Thanks. It’s been hard to celebrate much with Luca in jail, especially after the attempted murder.”
“We couldn’t—”
I raised my hand. “I know. I don’t care.” Looking at Tootsie, I said, “You were told to come home. You didn’t, and Luca spent months in jail and almost died. That’s what I care about.”
Tootsie studied me, then moved Zoe behind his colossal body, blocking her from my view. While his cousins and brother were tall, Tootsie was somehow taller. When you added in how thick he was, I felt like I was staring down a mountain. “Sasha. I apologize.” I narrowed my eyes, and he quickly added, “I’m sorry. I love Luca like a brother. I would never put him in danger.”
“But you did.” I wrapped one hand around the handle of my computer bag, fisting the other so tight my nails bit into my palm.
Tootsie nodded, then looked around the room. “Get out.”
The men immediately followed his order, leaving Marco, Tootsie, Zoe, Taz, and me alone.
“Do what you need to do to make it right, Sasha.”
I studied him. He meant it. There was a peace about him that hadn’t been there when I found them at the cabin. I set my bag on the floor and took a step closer. “Because you wouldn’t come back, and because the Chronis brothers couldn’t handle their fucking cousin, I had to kill him to bring my husband home. I decorate rooms for a fucking living, but now I’m moonlighting as an assassin.”
