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“Don’t change the subject, Chellie. How bad is it?”
She starts to unravel the bandage, but I reach out to stop her. She smacks my hand away and reveals the neat row of six stitches. Fury boils inside me, looking for a vent like a caldron about to explode. She leans forward and kisses my cheek before she whispers to me.
“Calm down, Daddy.”
She sits back and wraps her hand again. She casts her gaze over me, and I recognize her feelings as ones that match mine. When our gazes meet, I see something I never expected. It isn’t directed at me. It’s directed at the invisible threat. It’s a resolve to do whatever it takes to end this. It triggers a memory.
“Did you shoot my gun?”
“Yes. More than once. I hit the driver of the second car and the passenger. They’re dead.”
I just blink. She might as well tell me what we had for dinner tonight.
“Chellie, I’m sorry. That must have been so hard for—”
“It wasn’t even remotely hard, Enzo. They attacked us and shot you. Nothing was going to stop me from keeping them away from you. I ran out of bullets, or I would have shot the driver of the third car. I’m certain he was watching what happened. Luigi spotted him too, but he said he didn’t have time to reload. We needed to get away and get you to Carlotta.”
“How do you know how to shoot?”
“My mom. I used to go to the range with her and Laura. I’m a better shot than either of them.”
That’s hella impressive then. I’ve heard about Laura’s aim, and she could be a sharpshooter. I know she killed men who attacked her, Sergei, and her dog on Maks’s roof before she married Maks.
“Enzo, I’m not as openly assertive as Laura. I don’t command every space I enter like she does. She doesn’t intend to, but I’m purposeful in hanging back. I observe like she does, but differently. Don’t assume that means I’m meek or mild-mannered in all things.”
She cocks an eyebrow at me, and I realize she and Laura could run the underworld without thinking twice about it.
“You like people to underestimate you.”
“It has its advantages.”
She looks away a moment later, and I know she’s thinking about that bastard Shapiro. He thought he could assault her because of it. My free hand wraps around her left hand, and I love the feel of her ring pressing into my palm. We definitely aren’t getting married in the morning.
“Enzo, you shouldn’t be sitting up yet.”
“Yes, Auntie Carlotta.”
I watch as my mother’s best friend and a woman I’ve considered my aunt my entire life walks into the room. Even though there’s no blood relation or even one through marriage, she’s like a second mom. Uncle Domenico is Papa’s adopted second cousin, but calling them Uncle and Auntie has always been easier. I’ll never outgrow it.
I try to shimmy down the bed but wince. Chellie leans forward, and I have a clear view of the best tits in the world. Fucking hell. My cock still works better than a fourteen-year-old boy’s.
Go down. Go down. Go fucking down.
I shift again as though I’m trying to get more comfortable, but it’s so I can pull the covers over my lap more and rest my uninjured arm in my lap. When Chellie glances down at me, I know she’s aware of what she does to me. I want nothing more than to be alone with her and her tits.
“Enzo!”
I hear a herd of elephants charging up the stairs down the hall. The calvary — aka my brothers, Carmine, Matteo, and Gabriele — have arrived. Or they decided they don’t want to wait any longer. Luca’s the first one through the door.
“Che cazzo?” What the fuck?
“I’ll wash your mouth out.”
Auntie Carlotta is the strictest about not swearing. At least not swearing in front of her. Mama glowers at him.
“I’ll hand your aunt the soap. Your brother’s not only alive, but awake. No need to swear.”
Luca doesn’t look like a man nearly in his mid-thirties. I snort, and the other guys push his shoulders as they squeeze past him.
