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“He and Jack are cleaning up the foyer. It looks like a murder scene.”
I’d barely noticed. After a moment, I said, “Thanks for sending that doctor to us. He was really something.”
“Yeah, he’s a rock star.”
“I’m just curious why you’d help Marcus, after spending the last month or so trying to find him and kill him.”
“I was helping you, because Adriano asked me to. And we weren’t going to kill him,” Dante said. “We just wanted to talk to him and make it clear that he was done messing with our family.” I shot him an incredulous look, and he admitted, “Okay, so maybe we were going to smack him around a bit, to get our point across. But that’s it.”
“But that’s over now, right?”
He nodded. Then he pulled a gun from the back of his waistband and removed the clip before checking the chamber. “A couple things before I take off. This was in your boyfriend’s rental car, which is now with a mechanic friend of mine. He’s going to fix the busted back window and the bullet holes, because it looked like a felony on wheels.”
He placed the emptied gun on the dresser and pulled Marcus’s phone from his pocket. As he put it next to the gun, he said, “I also had someone hack into your boyfriend’s phone to check his messages. That’s how we figured out where he went last night. I sent my brother Vincent to clean up the crime scene, so there’s no evidence of what went down there. He also did some digging, and it turns out the guy Marcus shot is alive. He had the sense not to go to a hospital, and the doc-for-hire that patched him up expects him to make a full recovery.”
“How’d you find that out?”
“We have a lot of connections in this town,” Dante said. “Ask the right people, and you can get just about any answer you need.”
“I’m surprised you did all that.”
“Adriano asked me to help you, so that’s what I did. What good would it do to patch up your boyfriend, only for him to get thrown in jail?”
It was both amazing and slightly alarming to realize just how easily Dante could make a crime disappear if he wanted to. “Thank you again. I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate all your help.”
He shrugged, as if he hadn’t just worked a series of miracles. “That’s what this family does, we look after our own.” I didn’t bother reminding him I wasn’t actually a Dombruso, because that detail didn’t seem to matter to him. Then he said, “Alright, I’m out of here. Charlie’s about to fall asleep, so I need to get him to bed.”
After he left, I moved my chair closer to Marcus’s bedside and checked his pulse, even though it was already displayed on the monitor. Then I began stroking his hair as I said softly, “I love you so much, and I was terrified, Marcus. My god, what if I’d lost you?”
“Why didn’t you tell me how you felt about him?”
The voice from the doorway startled me. I glanced at Adriano, who was leaning against the doorframe. He looked exhausted, and there was a gauze bandage around his arm, from the blood donation that had saved my boyfriend’s life. “You’d already made up your mind about him, so I didn’t think it would make a difference.”
“It does. But shit, Romy, this is really tough for me. Even knowing what he means to you, I just don’t think I can trust him.”
“Then trust me instead. I love you, Reno, and I’m so grateful for the way you’ve always had my back. But I really wish you’d try to see me for who I am, instead of who I was. I’m not a naïve little kid anymore. I’m a full-grown adult, and you can trust my judgement.”
“I know that. But what if he hurts you?”
“He won’t.” My brother looked skeptical, so I said, “Instead of taking my word for who he is, please just talk to him when he’s well enough. Get to know him. Also, find out why he started that feud with you in the first place. Here’s a hint—it goes back about five and a half years.”
“But I only met him for the first time a year ago.”
“No, you didn’t. Let him tell you the story, and put yourself in his shoes. Try to factor in where he was coming from, too. He got locked up at nineteen and spent nearly ten years in federal prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He’d only been out about six months when you two first met. All he knew how to do was act tough, because that was how he learned to survive.”
“I promise I’ll listen to what he has to say.”
