Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Which one?”
“I want you out of town,” Luca told me. “As it is, I’m gonna take your ma and your sisters and lock ‘em up in the hotel safe house. It will cut down on how many guards we need for them, with the private elevator.”
“Okay,” I agreed, but didn’t know how the fuck he thought he could get Smush to just… abandon all her clients out of the blue. “I’ll sleep better knowing I don’t have to worry about them.”
“I’ll see what Lucky wants to do. If he thinks the kids would like going to the hotel too, or if I need to stash them somewhere else.”
“I’m not going to a fucking safe house,” Milo said, making Luca’s lips twitch a bit.
“I wasn’t going to ask you to. I need as many men as possible still. I don’t know how Warren is going to react to this now, knowing Judah is within reach. How soon he will come at us again.”
“That depends on if Denny can talk sense into him or not,” Claire said from behind me, making everyone turn to look at her. “Sorry,” she said, wincing. “Judah needs something to eat.”
“Of course,” Luca said, waving toward the kitchen.
I watched the men’s gazes move to Claire’s face, taking in the damage Warren had done.
My gaze, though, slipped somewhere else, seeing something I’d missed before, when I’d been focused on her face as well.
A rip.
In her pants.
Like someone had grabbed and yanked them…
Fuck.
I waved toward the men, silently asking them to step away as Claire went to the stove, grabbing some of the cold dinner.
I moved up behind her, feeling her tense, then relax when she realized it was me.
Leaning down, voice low so no one else could hear, I murmured, “Angel, your pants are ripped.”
It was a statement, but a question as well.
She tensed again, then relaxed with a deep sigh, turning so that her face brushed my chest, her gaze downcast.
“He… tried,” she said.
“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.
The talk went on for another twenty minutes before Luca finally agreed I had to help Claire pack, because we needed to be on the road.