“That’s all true. I can understand why you’d feel insecure knowing I spend time in a place that operates on beauty and sex appeal. But the way I want you—fuck. I can’t get enough of you. There will never be enough time with you even if we spend the next seventy years together.”
“You expect us to live into our hundreds?”
“I might not get my dick up by then, but I’ll still have my fingers and tongue.”
She giggles and shakes her head. “You’re ridiculous, but I get your point.”
She sighs as she burrows against my chest. Would that we could stay just like this, but we both know we can’t. She pulls away as I loosen my hold. We share a soft but far-too-quick kiss, then she’s climbing off my lap.
“Do you need me to do anything to help you get ready?” She glances around the room as she speaks.
“No. I have everything I need.TíoEnrique wants to speak to you, then we’ll head out.TíaElle will take you to Maks and Laura’s.”
“Is it safe for her to go out?”
“Nothing will happen to her there.”
Her eyes widen. “I never thought it would. I meant on the way there and back. Is it safe for her to leave the house?”
“Yes. You’ll take an SUV and have guards too.”
“Then why does she have to come? Javi, I don’t want her to take any unnecessary risks for my sake.”
“She said she had some errands to run, so she’s going out, anyway.”
That’s sort of the truth. One of countless half-truths I’ll tell Maddy in the seventy years to come.
“I’ll text Laura. I don’t want to hear her or Maks gloat.”
“I called Maks already. He knows.”
She stares at me, then nods. When she turns toward the door, I catch her forearm.
“Maddy, his family and mine had things to discuss, including my over-the-top demands for your protection. For your safety and his family’s, he has to know some of what’s planned. But he doesn’t know all of it. No one outside my family—not even our men—know for sure. After what happened at the estate, we trust no one who doesn’t share our DNA within one degree.”
“Daddy, I believe you, and I trust you.”
She rests her hands on my waist as both of mine cup her neck. I lean forward to kiss her as she rises onto her toes. This is more than lust. It’s more than infatuation. It’s not quite love—at least I don’t think so, but how the fuck would I know since I’ve never been in love—but we’re getting there. When we pull apart, her expression tells me she knows this is something real. Something deep. Neither of us is caught up in the moment. It isn’t danger propelling us toward each other. It’s longer lasting than that.
I hope I survive to enjoy it.
“How the fuck did they know where we were?”
I swing the crowbar at José’s left ribs, making sure the hook catches on the bone. Miguel brought him to our place. It’s a bodega the other families assume is in Queens. We have one there where we run our underground—literally and figuratively—gambling rings and whereTíoEnrique can hold court with people who survive the meeting but need to understand it’s only by his good graces that they do.
This bodega is on Long Island. The bratva and Mafia have their places in Queens. We suspect the mob is in the Bronx, and we’re out here. The O’Rourkes and my family prefer some subterfuge. The Kutsenkos and Mancinellis couldn’t give two fucks from Sunday and are willing to risk being discovered for the sake of convenience.
José is on death’s doorstep. He looks like shit. Miguel knew we’d expect to see his former brother-in-law. That meant he got in a beating before it was our turn. He knew he risked our wrath by taking it upon himself, but he counted on us understanding why he wanted his pound of flesh. The damage Miguel did meant José couldn’t put up a fight, but he wasn’t so incapacitated as to be useless.
“They found out.”
“No shit. You told them where we were.”
“No. They found out about Miguel and Tómas.”
“Why the fuck would the mob in Albany give a fuck about a couple of our guys tucked away in Connecticut?”
“Not the Irish in Upstate. The bratva here.”
