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I send him the thumbs up emoji before tucking my phone back in my pocket. I didn’t hide what I typed, so Chellie saw it. I wrap my arm around her shoulders. When she nestles closer to me, I want to wrap her in both, but I don’t have that much range of motion now that the pain is really kicking in. She sinks against me, her head on my chest. I whisper to her.
“Piccolina, you’re safe now. I won’t let go until you tell me to.”
She leans away, so she can turn her head to look at me.
“Thank you.”Daddy.
She mouths the last word. I pull her close again, stroking her back and dropping kisses on her head. If we were alone, I’d pull her onto my lap. Well, alone being without her parents. If we had the backseat of a town car with the privacy glass up, I’d do a hell of a lot more to distract both of us. I’d really reassure her Daddy will take care of her.
That’s something I didn’t know I’d be into. I get why some people find it a turn off. I knew Olivia, Serafina, Sinead, and Maria call their husbands that. They’d be mortified if they discovered we all know. But it just sort of existed but wasn’t anything of interest to me before meeting Chellie.
It’s a sign that she trusts me. That she relies on me. That she’s comfortable with me taking the lead when she needs a reprieve. It’s no different from why I call herpiccolinaor little one. She’s smaller than me, and I want her to know I’ll protect her. That she can count on me to always be there. That I love her.
I move from stroking her back to stroking her hair in between kisses. She’s not asleep, but her body is lax against mine. After a few more minutes, she sits up, and I’m ready to pull away. She reaches for the hand that rests on my lap since I left the sling somewhere in her parents’ backyard. She laces our fingers together and rests our hands on my thigh. A moment later, she must think of something because she reaches into her pocket and retrieves her phone. After she unlocks it, she opens her notes app.
I won’t feel truly safe until you’re inside me. I just want to sit together like that with your arms around me and my head on your chest. Is that weird, Daddy?
I take the phone from her and tap out a response with my thumb.
No it isn’t. I want that too. I want our bodies to be one so I know you’re part of me. That nothing keeps us apart. I don’t know how soon we can be alone but I need that. I thought the accident was the most scared I’ve ever been but this was even worse.
I pass the phone back to her.
Why?
I lift my arm from her shoulder to type faster and more easily when I have the phone again.
Because I could see who was doing it once our car stopped spinning. This time, I had to search for them. This time we didn’t have the protection of our reinforced cars with bulletproof glass. This time your parents witnessed it.
It’s her turn to respond, and I feel like kids passing notes in class.
Do you believe they’re going to try to break us up?
I don’t respond with a message. I nod.
Daddy, they can make their case. But I’m not going anywhere that isn’t with you. We didn’t have time to talk to them, but we know this isn’t about the Cosa Nostra or the bratva. It’s only partly because of the mob. It’s mainly about me screwing this psycho over. He’d come after me regardless, so I’m way better off being with you. I love you. My future is your future.
She leans back, so I drop a chaste kiss to her lips.
I love you too piccolina. We have to talk to them.
It’s her turn to nod, and she sits up. The men with us already know enough that I can trust them to hear more.
“Mom, Dad, we need to finish talking.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
Chellie
I was enjoying the silence. Passing my phone back and forth with Enzo let me say the things I needed to privately. Now we have to deal with what just happened. I don’t even know where to start, so I just dive in like I have been since I called my mom at the butt crack of dawn.
“I’m up to my eyeballs in this, even without being engaged to Enzo. This man who’s targeting me has some kind of vendetta against Pasha Kutsenko, Laura’s cousin-in-law. He also has issues with the Mancinellis and the O’Rourkes. Turns out, I’m connected to all three. But Enzo thinks he’s going after me because of some of my clients. He’s using my connections as scapegoats, so no one focuses on him. He thinks he can pit the syndicates against each other for not protecting me.”
My dad looks over his shoulder, his brow wrinkled in confusion.
“What kind of clients are you dealing with? You work for nonprofits, for charities.”
“And some of those organizations receive massive donations, and they often come with strings attached. Apparently, I interrupted an arrangement he had with a foreign syndicate, and he’s angry.”
