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“You asked to see me, Boss?”
He grunts and takes a seat in the leather chair behind his desk. “Keres is leaving in a few hours.”
“Yeah.” I swallow down the unexpected knot of something—something I don’t want to think about—that sticks in my throat at the mention of her name. She’s been in the Moretti mansion for two days now, recovering from her near-fatal knife wound, and I’ve spent most of that time watching her sleep.
He clasps his hands together and rests them on his desk. “She still needs to find Theo.”
I have a hunch where this is going. “I know.”
He studies me intently. “I want you and Romeo to go with her.”
I have no idea what his end game is here, and the experience is both unfamiliar and unwelcome. I don’t generally ask Lorenzo Moretti too many questions about the things he asks me to do. I’m a loyal soldier, and I’ve worked hard to become one of his trusted men, but I ordinarily have the inside track on why we’re doing what we’re doing. Not that it should matter. Whatever his reasoning for wanting me and Romeo to keep an eye on her, it shouldn’t make a difference. But it does. “And what happens when we’re done, Boss? After she finds Theo, then what do we do with her?”
He sighs heavily and indicates that I should take a seat. After grabbing a scrap of paper from his desk drawer, he scrawls something onto it and hands it to me. “You should take her there before you do anything else.” He nods toward the piece of paper in my hand that shows an address in Jackson, Michigan, and I frown, curious about the significance of this place. I don’t dare ask right now, and even if I wanted to, Lorenzo continues before I can open my mouth. “What my father did, Ace—and not just to Keres, but to all the women and kids we don’t even know about and will never be able to help…” His throat contracts, and I read an emotion I’ve never seen from Lorenzo Moretti before. Regret? Guilt? Shame? I don’t know, but whatever it is makes me feel slightly more hopeful about Keres’s fate. Not to mention mine and Romeo’s. “It’s a stain on my family’s name that I want erased. Keres took Mia from me, and for that I will never forgive her, but…” He scrubs a hand through his hair. “My family owes her a debt. That address is a house that belongs to some old friends of ours. In their field out back, you’ll find a lone headstone. It’s where her mother is buried.”
This makes no fucking sense at all. “Her mom? How do you know where she’s buried?”
His features darken. “Because I was one of the men who buried her.” He rubs a hand over his jaw, and the sound of his thick beard scratching his skin is the only sound in the room for several tense seconds.
“What the fuck happened to her mom, Boss?”
He shakes his head. “That’s her story to tell you, not mine. But once you’ve helped her find that sick fuck and put an end to his miserable life, she’s free to go.”
I lick my dry lips and stare at him, not quite able to believe what he just said. “And Romeo and me?”
“You two will get your asses back here as soon as you’re done.”
Or maybe we’ll just follow Keres wherever she goes. The thought catches me off guard. I have no fucking desire to spend any more time in that vixen’s company than absolutely necessary—do I? She didn’t kill us when she had the chance, and she saved Mia’s life. But so what? That changes nothing.
Regardless, I slip the scrap of paper into my pocket and nod my agreement, because whatever Romeo and I do next, I don’t want to do it on the run from the Morettis. No matter what, we’re coming back here. Even if it’s only to make things right before we move on.
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
KERES
Itake one last look at the sweeping marble staircase and swallow down the huge rush of sadness and regret that washes over me. Tears sting the backs of my eyes, but I refuse to cry, not again. Before yesterday, I hadn’t cried in twelve long years, and I refuse to start again now. Especially not because of some silly imagined memories of what it would have been like to grow up in a house like this, with people who care about each other as much as the Morettis do.
I need to get out of here and away from them all as fast as I can.
“You’re all set to go?” the deep, soothing voice that I’d now recognize anywhere comes from behind me.
I spin on my heel and come face-to-face with Lorenzo. I give him a firm nod, still fighting back the urge to cry. “I am.”
“Ace and Romeo will accompany you until you find Theo and do what needs to be done.”
I shake my head. I expected no less than this, but that doesn’t mean I have to accept their company. “Theo? That’s his name?”
He nods. “Theo Wynn.”
“Then I don’t need their help.”
He shrugs and stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I never said that you did.”
“They can stay here. I’ll be fine on my own.”
He leans against the wall, his eyes boring into mine. “They’re no use to me right now. I still haven’t forgiven them for failing me, and they’ll be safer with you than here in Chicago. Consider this you doing them a favor.”
