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Theo glanced up at me but pulled away, heading for the door. “We’ll talk about it later.”
I followed him into the house but was not in the mood for chitchat. I asked everyone to find a seat in the living room, and I saw Theo take the leather chair away from the others. The four on the couch looked around the room, and Javi commented, “This place looks better! You all did a lot.”
“We just bought furniture. It’ll be delivered the day after tomorrow,” Theo told them, but I watched him, and he avoided so much as glancing at Ryan and Brett.
“Okay,” I said as I knelt at the fireplace to start crumpling paper, “I need to know what’s happening.”
“Right to it, good,” Javi said, then explained while I kept my hands from choking people by making a fire. “We couldn’t agree, so we had to pull in a bigger ally to help with the peace talks.”
“Carrillo? Danny, you didn’t go to them!”
“I had to, Theo, to avoid the war I was ready to start. Over you.”
Theo sunk in the chair, and after I lit the paper and kindling, I stood and asked, “Not that I probably want to know, but who are the Carrillos?”
Brett said, “They’re my family, and…they’re big.”
Chapter Ten
I sat on the arm of Theo’s chair, and Brett told a little about his family. “They’re the biggest…why mince words? They are the biggest mafia family on the west coast, and they’ve expanded east some. They…lord over a lot of other families because they can. I didn’t know I was a part of their family for most of my life. They came in and saved me from something, and then I learned who I was. It’s for them that this favor is being done. It’s for me.”
“It’s my fault,” Ryan said, shushing Brett as he tried to argue. “It is. I can’t…be seen or known. I did something a few years back, watching over Brett for the Carrillos, and now, I’m dead.”
“You look good for a dead guy.”
“Yeah, well, it’s been long enough now that we’re hoping people forgot about us, so we’re retiring from the dungeon, which is its own story.”
I looked down to Theo, who’d shifted at the mere mention of the dungeon. “That’s the place you were before here, right?”
“Yes,” he said quickly, then asked Javi, “Will you go on with the story?”
Javi smiled at Theo, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Sure, Theo.”
“Javi,” Danny warned, and he cleared his throat to continue.
“Sure, babe. Okay, well, with the other family not backing down and the rest of us convincing my husband that we shouldn’t go to war, we had to do something. So, that was their ask to quash the war. Hideout these men until they can arrange new identities and a new home for them.”
“That’s it?” I was astonished. “That’s not a lot for keeping Theo safe.”
Danny said, “It’s keeping a treasured family member safe. When they proposed this, I thought of you two. You have said you’ll do anything to keep Theo safe, and I hoped you’d save a little of that for these two. They’re good people, Hud. I swear.”
Theo got up and asked, “How about I get us some wine or something stronger?”
“I’ll help,” Danny said, then followed Theo into the kitchen. Ryan watched, and Brett laughed a little.
“I don’t think he’s so happy to see us,” Brett mentioned.
“Why? Did you do something to him?”
Ryan quipped, “Nothing he wasn’t all in for.”
I stood, and though the man was nearly as big as me, I was still bigger. “Excuse me?”
Javi and Brett rose to get between us as Brett pleaded, “Hud, please, Ryan! Ryan, that was uncalled for. You know what happens there stays there!”
“Sorry,” he said but continued to snarl at me.
Brett looked at me and whispered, “That was before you two were together. Talk to him about it. Only he can tell you.”
