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“Enzo, keep digging. We keep this to ourselves until we know something more definitive. For all we know, it’s the fucking Diazes or O’Rourkes fucking with us. Maybe they meant no harm to come to Sylvia, but they wanted to scare me. And maybe it’s a coincidence that Maks hired one of the same guys. I don’t think it is, but maybe. Until we have no doubts, we sit tight.”
Sit tight means me working throughout the day and likely into another night. Fuck me.
ChapterFourteen
Chellie
I don’t know what to make of Enzo getting a call and suddenly having to take off. He shared enough to prepare me for him being away, but he told me nothing about why he’s gone. Is this going to become my new normal? His phone rings in that odd interval of three, then he tells me has to go. Then he disappears for however long.
Can I live with that? What if we get married and have kids? How do I explain why Papa suddenly vanishes? I’m certain there’s already a system since Enzo’s parents must have told him something when he was too young to know. That’s both reassuring and fucked-up in the same breath.
Laura called this morning to see if I wanted to go out to lunch. Luca showed up late last night and is my family member guard today. He assured me it was fine, so I accepted Laura’s invite. I’m headed to meet her now. This will be the first time Laura and I have seen each other since I really entered this world.
Enzo being God knows where, doing God knows what makes me empathize with Laura. I thought I had before, but it wasn’t possible because I didn’t truly know what her life was like. Now I do. How does she watch Maks leave, knowing he'll be in danger while she stays home with their twins?
“Hey.”
I wave when I see her. She’s got her son and daughter with her, and her brothers-in-law only a step behind. Each toddler has their own guard, and Laura has one too. I look around, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there aren’t more bratva men hiding out in the open. I’m certain Maks is being overly cautious with the threat to me. Laura’s in danger all the time already. Now she’s going to spend time with me in public. It makes me second guess the wisdom in this lunch date.
But she hugs me, and I blow kisses at Konstantin and Mila. It feels so normal. It’s like it was before I started dating Enzo and before I found out someone is using me to get to Maks and his family. She points to the restaurant she suggested.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving. I wasn’t hungry this morning, but I am now.”
She shoots me a sympathetic smile.
“Stomach hurt too much to eat?”
“Yeah. You make it look like you never worry when Maks is away.”
“We’re both lawyers. You know how to hide your thoughts as well as I do. I don’t want Maks worrying more than he already will. If he knows I’m upset, it’ll distract him. So, I bottle it up, shove it way, way down, and get on with the life I chose.”
“Does it get easier?”
“Sorta.”
We pause our conversation as the host shows us a table, and two servers bring highchairs. It takes Laura about thirty seconds to get her toddlers both strapped in with graham crackers in each little hand. She makes it look so easy.
“Chelle, it’s scary when I don’t know where he is or how long he’ll be away. It would be easy to let my imagination run away from me. But Maks was fourteen when they forced him into the bratva. He’s thirty-four now. Twenty years is a long time. I remind myself he survived all those years before we met, so I have to trust he knows what to do. I trust his family will always protect him. I trust he loves the twins and me so much that he will move Heaven and Earth to come home to us. Remembering that makes it bearable. When it isn’t, I go to Galina’s. That woman carries the weight of the world on her shoulders better than Atlas. But she also has a kind heart. She knows how I feel because she felt the same things when her husband would leave.”
Except her mother-in-law’s husband left to fight in a war and never came home. I don’t want to imagine someone telling me Enzo didn’t survive.
“I bet Lorenzo is going to whisk you away on some romantic getaway.”
That draws me back to the present.
“Huh?”
“With all this going on, he’ll want you away from the city. I think he’ll also want a chance to spoil you. Away from all this shit, you can have his undivided attention.”
She waggles her brows, and I get what she means. No quickies or work getting in the way. Instead, we’ll be able to take our time. I feel my cheeks heat as I imagine Enzo tying me to a bed, blindfolding me, and having his way with me, using a vibrator to drive me crazy.
“Sex that good, huh?”
“What? Shh. Laura, stop laughing.”
“Then don’t look like you’re fucking him in your mind.”
