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“No, I want him here.” I wasn’t going to leave Alessandro and Nonna with Marcus, George, and the four outside.
“Terry’s on his way,” Lucio said evenly, and I paused. That was good. I eyed Alvize, and he looked me square in the eye.
“We need him,” Lucio said.
The outside door opened, and we heard George greeting Terry. I blinked a little at the bundle he carried, but realized it was his daughter. We called Terry in an emergency, and he had to bring Emily. I actually felt a little hopeful. Maybe tomorrow Emily would break the ice between Alessandro and her dad. Lucio took the bag off Terry’s shoulder and walked him to the first spare room.
I headed into the study and unlocked the safe containing the fake IDs we used and handed them out.
“Instructions?” Alvize clipped out as I passed him one. He glanced at it briefly before taking the real one out of his wallet and passing it to me to put in the safe.
I eyed Lucio, but he remained quiet. I knew he was leaving this decision to me. How much I told him. How much I trusted him. But the fact was, I had few options. I didn’t even want to involve my new capos in this. Not until I knew.
“Mario and Thomas will meet us as agreed. I have updated them both,” Lucio said and walked to the locked cabinet, punching in the code and taking out some tactical knives, passing Alvize a spare piece. I’d already gotten my Heckler andKoch VP9. Terry appeared at the door minus a child. I knew he would be armed, so I didn’t offer. I did, however, go add to the note I'd left Alessandro. Surprising him with Terry would be unfair.
“Right, let’s go.” I turned to Alvize. “I’ll explain on the way.”
And feeling like I was leaving a little of my soul behind, we walked out of the door.
20
Alessandro
It was the sound of a child crying that woke me. I opened my eyes, expecting the noise to stop immediately—surely it was a dream—but when it didn’t, and seemed to grow louder, I sat up in bed. I hadn’t forgotten yesterday, and for a moment grief seemed to overwhelm me, but then the crying continued and shook me out of it. I glanced at my phone. A little after four-thirty a.m. I absorbed the empty bed and reached over to turn on the lamp, and then my gaze fell on a note lying on the pillow next to me.
“You were asleep. Alvize is with me. Terry and extra guards are with you. I will explain when I get home. D x”
Nonna's ring was lying next to it, and I put it on, unsure why.
I traced the kiss he’d left on the note and wondered. Had that been an automatic unthinking gesture? But then, I doubted Dario did anything without thinking. Terry was here. I tried not to resent him but failed miserably. I suppose it explained the crying though, and I got out of bed, pulled on my robe, and padded to the door. I’d never been one for slippers, and it washardly cold. I opened the door and headed to the room down the corridor I’d slept in the first night. I squashed my natural polite impulse to knock, not wanting to upset the child more, and sure enough Terry was sitting on the end of the bed, a distraught toddler in his arms, and a powerful-looking handgun lying next to him on the bed.
He reached for it the second the door opened, but then stopped himself when he saw it was me. “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you. She’s always upset when she wakes up in a different bed, but I was doing a round of checks and she woke up without me.
However I felt about Terry, my heart melted seeing the little girl upset, and I hurried over, perching down on the bed, carefully ignoring the gun that Terry slid even farther away and smiling at the adorable pixie in front of me.
“La mia piccola principessa,” I murmured, a pang of something tightening my throat. Mom had called me her little prince nearly all the time. I didn’t know whether it was because I was a stranger, or I was speaking in Italian, but she took a big gulp and stopped crying.
“Of course,” I carried on now that I had her attention. “I have no way of knowing what sort of princess you are because you could be in disguise.”
Her eyes widened a little, but she looked curious.
“For instance, you could be a fairy princess and you’re keeping your wings hidden because you don’t know me.” Terry handed her a sippy cup of water and she drank a little absentmindedly, giving me all her attention.
“Then there are the Disney princesses like Cinderella, Mulan, or Elsa.” I leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. “I think your daddy is like Mulan. They’re both warrior princesses.”
Terry pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh.
“No, daddy’s a prince,” she decreed.
I gasped. “Then he’s like Naveen,” I said. “He’s a frog.” I was enjoying myself far too much, considering. “The important thing to remember is you can be any sort of princess you want.” I shrugged. “Or prince.”
Terry had taken the cup away, and I started telling her the story of Cinderella because I knew that one by heart. My prince might never have come, but that didn’t mean Emily’s wouldn’t show. It also didn’t mean she needed one either. Emily could be a badass princess any day of the week all on her own and didn’t need any skanky rodents to back her up.
I was still describing the mice turning into footmen when her eyes closed. By the time Cinderella had lost her slipper, Emily had lost her fight to stay awake. Terry stood and settled her into bed, padding her with pillows so she couldn’t roll out. He picked up a baby monitor. “I was thinking of making a cup of tea?” He said it like a question, and I recognized an olive branch, and nodded.
Nonna had made panettone, and I cut two generous slices while Terry made the tea. We hopped onto the stools at the island and Terry took an experimental sip of his, then started talking.
“I’ve known Dario and Gia since I was seven and they were nine. I know Dario the best. My dad owned a boxing gym, and Dario’s grandfather brought him. Gia hated it.” He chuckled. “When I was seventeen, Dad was shot. He was standing in line in a bank, and the robbers were high. One thought it a good idea to spray the customers with bullets to make sure the tellers handed over the cash. I have a mom and two older sisters, but losing Dad nearly killed me. I stopped trying at school, got into fights, and then enlisted on my eighteenth birthday. Dario was the big brother I never had. He took care of Mom even though he’d lost his own family. We lost contact for a lot of years. I trained as amarine then met and fell in love with another one.” He smiled, but his eyes were full of sadness. I nudged him gently and he patted my hand.
