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“Okay,” I said, pressing my hand into her hip, giving it a little squeeze. “Are you alright? Do you want to talk for a minute? Someone else could feed Judah.”
“I’m… I’m okay,” she said, turning to look at me fully. “We can talk later,” she added, before going back to cutting up Judah’s food, then sticking it in the microwave.
“Claire, this is my cousin, and boss, Luca,” I said, as she turned to face everyone. “My brother, Milo,” I went on, waving. “Dante, August, Massimo,” I went on.
“Hate to have to meet you under these circumstances,” Luca said, taking a few steps closer.
“Thanks for coming,” she said, shrugging.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“How much sway does Denny have with Warren?” he asked.
“It depends,” Claire said. “Normally, on something that Warren isn’t… worked up about, he has a lot of sway. I always kind of thought of him as the neck that turned Warren in whatever direction he wanted. But, like, today,” she said, waving toward the stairs. “Denny had to physically drag Warren down the stairs when they knew you were coming.”
“You don’t think some time and space would have Warren calming down?”
“No. It think it will just piss him off more,” she said as the microwave beeped.
She turned to grab the plate as I fetched a juice box from the fridge, handing it to her.
“Thanks,” she said, giving me a small smile. “Can I ask… what now?”
“A safe house,” I told her. “Luca is the only one who knows all the locations of them, so they’re as safe as we can get, under these circumstances.”
“A safe house,” she said, voice tight. “So… I should pack?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“When are we going?” she asked.
“As soon as possible,” Luca told her. “Once the baby is fed and you are packed.”
“Okay,” she said, looking pained at the idea of having to leave this house. Which both saddened and oddly pleased me. Because she seemed to be starting to think of it as her home. Which I liked. Even if I hated to have to drag her away from it.
It wasn’t forever, I reminded myself.
“Just me and Judah?” she asked, her sad eyes looking up at me.
“No. I’m coming with you,” I told her.
“Really?” she asked, looking glassy-eyed again.
“Really. I’m not leaving your side from here on out,” I assured her.
“Do you want me to pack for you too?” she asked.
“That’d be good, if you have the time,” I said.
“Judah will think of it like a game,” she said, giving me another small smile, then making her way out of the room.
The look on Luca’s face, dark and tight, let me know he’d seen her pants too.
I shook my head at him, and watched as his shoulders relaxed slightly.
“Dante, tell me everything you know about Denny,” Luca demanded.
