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“Enter.”
Antonio shuffled into the room, mostly shutting the door behind him before taking a seat in the chair across from me.
“We need a show of leadership, Niccolo,” he said seriously. “It’s one thing to tell the family, but it’s time to make it clear to everybody else. We need a response to this challenge from O’Reilly. Make it clear you’re not a pushover, and nobody fucks with the DeLucas.”
I sighed and passed a hand over my beard, scratching my chin, and thinking. “I’d rather not start a war, Antonio. I don’t want the lives of my family, any of them, put in any more danger from my work.”
Antonio nodded slowly. “I understand, Nic. But, they are in even more danger if you appear weak.”
“Do you have a suggestion?”
He shrugged, a regretful expression on his face. “Unfortunately, that’s going to have to be all you. I was never cut out for this, Nic. I just know that it’s time to take a stand, and for this family to survive, it can’t be me leading the charge.”
I knew he was right. I was going to have to be extremely careful and strategic if I wanted to keep the peace.
“Have you told her yet?” Antonio’s voice wasn’t reproachful, merely curious, but guilt creeped in anyway.
“No. I really can’t avoid it any longer. With everything being such a clusterfuck, she’s bound to find out and I want her to hear it from me.” My voice hardened with resolve. “I won’t let her go.”
Antonio nodded and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. I glanced at my watch and saw it was a little past seven.
“I don’t want whomever that is waking Gianna,” I said as I stood and walked around the desk.
Antonio got up as well and patted my back when I passed by him. “I need to get going anyway. We’ll talk another time.”
We entered the back hall, and while I headed to the front door, Antonio went to the kitchen and left through the back door. At the far end of our tiny yard was a gate to a back alley, and there was a side alley one block up that cut through two streets. He only lived ten blocks away, so exiting through the back got him home a little faster.
I heard the murmur of voices from the front of the house and frowned, irritated that the person had woken Gianna. I’d worn her out the night before and she needed rest.
Reaching the front parlor, I recognized Carly’s voice. My emotions were at war, one-part glad to see she was okay, and the other angry, not wanting Gianna anywhere near the mess Carly was embroiled in.
I turned the corner just in time to hear Carly say, “The word is spreading about you. But, I have to say, you aren’t what I expected. You seem awfully innocent to be with the ruthless, gun-running head of the local mafia.”
I screeched to a halt. Oh fuck.
NINE
Anna
Waking up to sunlight streaming through the window, and the other side of the bed still empty, was a disappointment—a major one. Nic hadn't told me much about the work he did, but if it was going to keep him from being able to sleep, either with or without me, then maybe I needed to push him into letting me help. Somehow. With whatever I could. When Sophia was at school during the day, I had hours upon hours to myself with nothing to do since Nic had a cleaning staff who already kept his home in pristine condition.
As I left his bed and headed to my room to grab a robe, I was determined to find Nic and make him open up to me about whatever it was at work that was weighing so heavily on his shoulders. After a quick peek into Sophia's room to make sure she was still asleep, I headed downstairs, hoping to find him in his office. The doorbell rang as my feet hit the bottom step, so I headed towards the door instead. When I opened it to find a gorgeous but disheveled redhead standing there, I didn't like it. Not even a little bit.
It might make me a cavewoman, but the thought of another woman thinking she had the right to come knocking on Nic’s door this early in the morning didn't sit well with me. I was already feeling defensive when she blatantly looked me up and down, her green eyes flaring with a hint of humor I didn't understand. I expected her to make some kind of disparaging remark about me, but nothing could have prepared me for what she actually said.
"The word is spreading about you. But I have to say, you aren't what I expected. You seem awfully innocent to be with the ruthless, gun-running head of the local mafia."
