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“I love you, Quinn. Will you marry me?”
I’m fully aware of the waitress surreptitiously wiping glasses behind Adriano, a huge grin on her face, as if she isn’t listening to everything we’re saying.
I wince and give him a wide-eyed stare. “Whatever will my husband say?”
* * *
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
THE “APOLOGY”
Adriano
I sitacross from Sergio at The Castle, nursing a cold beer. I look out at the stunning view of the ocean. We’re sitting on a balcony at sunset, lulled by the sound of waves crashing on the shore.
I’ve told him everything, up to the point where Quinn and I ate at the diner and had our heart-to-heart.
“We should’ve told the girls sooner, Serg.”
He twists off the top of a beer for himself, sips it, and nods. “Yeah. Agreed.” He shakes his head. “Sometimes I make a call and it plays out well. Sometimes I make a call and it doesn’t. I’m glad in this instance, everyone’s alright.”
The cartel’s been quiet, and word on the street is they’ve been decimated. They lost their law enforcement connection, and the intel we got from the suspect we interrogated gave us all we needed. Sergio has friends in high places, and between us and the Rossis, we’re a formidable, united front.
“So, Eden knows everything now?”
He nods. “Freaked her the fuck out to think it could’ve been her sister that was in danger.”
I grunt under my breath and turn away. I’m not too fond of Starla right now, between her blabbing my history to Quinn and being an accomplice in Quinn’s escape.
“My sisterisin danger, Sergio,” Eden says quietly, as she joins us. Wordlessly, she folds herself onto Sergio’s lap and helps herself to a sip from his bottle.
“I know, babe,” Sergio says, running his fingers through Eden’s long blonde hair. “But we’re doing everything we can.”
“Good,” I mutter. If you ask me, as pseudo-parents they should’ve grounded the little brat and taken her keys, her cell phone, and her internet access, but they said something about her “almost being an adult.” I don’t give a fuck.
But I let it go. I’ve been letting alotof shit go lately.
“Speaking of Starla,” Eden says. “I’m going to leave you two to solve the problems of the world and check in on her.”
“She owes him an apology.” Timeo enters, his longish black hair casting his eyes into shadow, but even from here I can see he’s not too happy. “I heard about what happened.”
Everyone has by now. Timeo takes a bottle of beer from the mini fridge Sergio keeps here, grabs a chair, and straddles it.
Whatever. She can apologize if she wants, or she’s made to, but it doesn’t change what happened. I blow out a breath and take another sip of beer. “I wanted to tell Quinn on my terms,” I say with a shrug.
“What does she know now?” Sergio gives me a curious look.
“Everything, brother.”
“Good.”
My fingers itch to reach for my phone. I don’t like leaving her like this, but I know I have to. I can’t smother Quinn forever.
“She’s in good hands, Adriano.” This is a big step for me, letting her go. But she needs this…Ineed this.
“Bro,” Timeo says, after taking a huge sip of beer. “What the fuck did you do to that security team that let Quinn get away?” His eyes gleam, like he’s waiting for the gory details.
“Sorry to disappoint you, little bro,” Sergio says. “But I didn’t let him castrate, maim, or painfully torture them to death. I didn’t even let him beat the shit out of them. They’ve been demoted and I sent them out of the state.”
