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Not until her, anyway.
Gio handling that side of things would make things go a lot smoother, unless of course he decided she was a threat. I didn’t think he would. In a few days, my name would be cleared. The family had made sure of that. Technically, Taylor was no threat to us at all because we already had the situation well in hand.
And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that something, somewhere, had gone wrong.
“Yes…” The words on the young man's mouth died as the rumble of a car engine sounded in the almost silent night. Slowly, the headlights of Gio’s black car came into view, winding down towards us.
Stepping from the deck to the dock, I hurried to meet it. Gio was at the wheel, which was surprising, but what was more surprising was that the passenger seat was completely empty. I froze.
“What's going on Gio? Where is she–?” I opened the door before he could even get his seatbelt off, but I couldn't finish the sentence as the overpowering stench of vomit hit my nose and made me gag. “What the–?”
Gio slid out of the car easily. Cracking his back as he went. “She’s in the back.” He turned to face me, and his eyes were tired, a little bloodshot and droopy. “Did you think I'd gone and run off with her, Judge?” he laughed. “I have my hands full with my own woman. I don't need yours. I said I would get her here safe and sound and look.” He flung open the back door, stepping aside so I could look in. “And I did.”
She was inside alright. But slumped over. The seat belt was barely holding her in place. Her usually beautiful face was slack, and there were stains down her blouse. The same blouse she had been wearing when I had seen her earlier at my trial. Whatever had happened to put her in this state, she hadn't even had time to go home and change.
Anger flooded my veins, heating my blood as I whirled on the man who was for all intents and purposes my boss. “What have you done to her? Did you drug her?” Not waiting for an answer, I reached in and pressed two fingers to the side of her neck and let out a sigh of relief when her pulse jumped under my fingers, steady and strong. It didn’t do much to abate my anger, though. “You said you would get her here without any problems and–”
“No one's drugged anyone, although I might need something to deal with the smell of her vomit if I have to drive back. Taylor is drunk, that’s all.”
“Drunk?”
“Yes,” Gio’s eyes swept the dockyard. “Off three drinks. She cannot handle her alcohol. Is your car here? I'll take that back to the city and–”
“Fine.” I barely heard him; I was already scooping Taylor out of the dank smelling back seat and into my arms. Her head flopped onto my chest and for a second, her eyes fluttered open.
“What’s…?” Blearily she looked up at me. There was recognition in her eyes but no real understanding of what was going on. “Oh, hi.”
I smiled as her cheek came back to rest against me. “Hi,” I whispered back before remembering that my boss, and head of The Family, was standing right there staring at me with a bemused expression on his face.
“Don’t even say it,” I warned him as I started walking back across the dock.
“Told you she was wasted.” He followed after me. “So, what are your plans for her?
I didn’t even bother to turn around. “You know my plans, Gio.”
“You are still going ahead with that, huh?”
“Yes.” I didn’t look at him. “What are your plans?”
“Well, I'm going to have a coffee and head back to the city. Keeley should be here by the time I get back.”
“Is that safe in her condition?” I turned to him in shock. I knew they had houses all over the world, just like I knew Keeley loved London, but I had presumed that she would be too heavily pregnant to travel.
“It's safer now, but if she had waited a few weeks, I wouldn't have allowed her to travel.” He eyed me before letting his eyes drift down to Taylor asleep in my arms. “It's all your fault, anyway.”
“How is it my fault?”
“Because she knows, and I know you are going to mess this up somehow and that I would have to stick around to get you out of whatever trouble you get yourself in over this girl.” His blue eyes narrowed.
“I'm not going to get myself into any sort of trouble, and if I did, I am more than capable of getting myself out of it,” I barked back. He was a fine one to talk. I had got The Family and Gio in particular out of more trouble than I could remember. I had sold my soul to keep his as clean as possible.
“Yeah, we will see. Anyway, Keeley is coming, so at least that way I may have a chance of being there when my kid is born. Now hurry up and do what you need to. Get your–” He broke off.
“My fiancée.” I finished for him.
“Yeah, get her into bed or wherever you plan on keeping her and come and have a coffee with me. We have a lot to discuss.” His eyes swept over the crew that were purposely not looking in our direction. “In private.”
* * *
