The Woman with the Wallet (Costa Family #10)

Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Max

Salvatore’s office, from the outside, looked abandoned. There was paper on the filthy, barred windows, so no one could see inside.

But on the inside, the place had been completely redone, from the dark tile floors to the freshly painted walls. There was even an actual sitting room, but it was set up with long, comfortable couches, a huge TV, gaming consoles, and a snack and coffee station.

I guess even a mafia’s doctor office needed a place for loved ones to sit, wait, worry, and convene with one another.

“Sal?” Miko called.

Not a moment later, Salvatore made his way down the hall.

“How is she?” I asked, my tone just shy of desperate.

“She’s alright. She was really lucky, actually. The head wound looked a lot worse than it was. She’s got two broken ribs. A lot of bruises and swelling.”

“What about her knee?”

“That was where she was the luckiest,” Salvatore said. “Swollen like that, I was worried it was an ACL or meniscus tear. She ended up dislocating her patella—kneecap. It needs to be immobilized. And there’s gonna be a fair amount of physical therapy in her future, but she’s not going to need surgery.”

“Thank God. Is she alright? In pain?”

“She refused pain meds until she got to talk to you guys. But she needs it,” he said, giving Miko a look that said So make this quick .

“Got it,” Miko agreed.

Sal waved us toward a room, and we moved in to find Lil sitting on one of those chairs like the dentists had. She was reclined back. There were bulges in her midsection, like maybe her ribs were wrapped, and there was a bulky brace on her knee.

In the hours since the attack, the bruises had really started to settle in, mottling her face in shades of purple and blue so dark they almost appeared black.

“Oh, Lil,” I said, wincing.

“Yeah,” she agreed, trying to sigh, only to wince and fold forward, her hand pressing into her ribs.

“Why are you being a hero about the pain medicine?”

“I don’t want to be fuzzy about the details until I give them to you.”

“Okay. Let’s get that over with then,” Miko said. “We want you comfortable.”

“There was a knock at my door. I was expecting a delivery. So I didn’t have my guard up,” she admitted, launching right into it.

“But the second I opened the door, he pushed it wide and moved inside, blocking my exit.”

“Did you know who it was?”

“Not exactly. Not until he started talking about diamonds. I mean, he had the piercing blue eyes you mentioned. But so does the guy at the bagel shop I go to every week. But once he started talking about how many diamonds he had, how he wanted to move them, I immediately figured this had to be the same guy.

“I had been in contact with someone earlier this morning who works at a jewelry store. He said there was someone in claiming he had ‘family’ diamonds to sell. But given that they were all loose, the store got squirrelly and asked him to leave.

“I should have been expecting him. Been ready for him.”

“Hey, no,” Miko said, shaking his head. “What you’re not gonna do is blame yourself for what that fuck did.”

“I was careless,” Lil said, shrugging. I understood why she was being so hard on herself. I had impossible standards for myself too. It was hard not to when you were a woman working alone in a potentially very dangerous field. You only had yourself to rely on. You couldn’t afford not to be on guard at all times.

“Anyway, he must have sensed I was getting suspicious. By the time I managed to get to my gun, he was on me. Then, well,” she went on, waving at her face. “I had no idea where my phone went in the mess until you started calling. Over and over,” she added, attempting a small smile. “I really have your impatience to thank for being alive right now.”

“Always happy to put it to good use now and again,” I said.

“What about before you were suspicious? Did he have anything to say? Where he was staying, his name, anything?” Miko asked.

“He didn’t. He was being careful. He gave me the same spiel he gave the jewelry store. His grandmother died, they went through her jewelry where they found all these loose diamonds. As if that is even halfway believable. I mean, even if someone did have that many diamonds just lying around, it wouldn’t be in a fucking jewelry box.

“The guy was clearly careful, but stupid. Definitely not any kind of pro. Anyone who knew anything about diamonds wouldn’t make up such an idiotic story.”

“What about your security system?” Miko asked as Lil started to absentmindedly rub her hand over the brace on her knee. She needed medicine. We had to finish this up.

“I will get that for you when we get back to my place,” she said.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t at least strongly suggest you don’t go home,” Miko said, though everything about his tone said he knew his words were falling on ears that didn’t want to listen.

“I’m going home. Believe it or not, it’s actually safe there. If I hadn’t opened the door for the fuck, he wasn’t going to get in. There’s a reason my windows are barred and the door has reinforced bars and so many locks. If I’m in there, and it’s not on fire, I’m safe.”

“That may be true, but I’m gonna have to insist I have someone watch your place,” Miko said.

“Hmm,” Lil said, looking at Miko for a second before turning her attention to me. “I get it.”

“Get what?” I asked.

“Why you’re into him. That protective thing is surprisingly hot.”

“Well, just wait until you hear his plan to hire a nurse to take care of you while you heal then,” I said.

“I’m fine. I can take care of myself.”

“Christ, are you all like this?” Miko asked, shaking his head at us.

“Like what? Strong? Independent?” I asked.

“Stubborn is the word that comes to mind.”

“Well, he’s got us there,” Lil agreed. “But, really, I’m fine.”

“You say that,” Miko agreed. “Until you try to get off that chair. Go ahead,” he invited, knowing she was going to rise to the challenge in his tone.

But she was quick to learn that none of her strength, independence, or stubbornness could save her from the pain ravaging her body right then.

“Fuck fuck fuck, goddamnit,” she hissed, fingers clutching the side of the chair when she finally got her legs off of it.

“Sal,” Miko called, moving toward the door. “I think she’ll take those pain meds now.”

“So, a nurse?” I prompted a few minutes later when Lil’s face wasn’t twisted up in complete agony any longer.

“Fine. I mean, I don’t need a nurse . Just someone to fetch me shit would be enough. And only for a couple hours a day. I like being alone.”

“Conveniently, I also know someone who likes being alone,” Miko agreed, reaching for his phone.

“Not Venezio,” I said, thinking of poor, defenseless Chuck.

“Nah. Gavino. He’s got nothing else going on. He will hate this as much as you do,” he said to Lil. “So, I think it’s the perfect match.”

With a plan in place, we waited for the meds to kick in before we moved Lil back into Salvatore’s car. All three of us helped her back inside her building.

“You guys are the best,” Lil said, looking around at the cleaned-up space.

“We think we got them all,” I said as she used Miko’s arms for leverage to lower herself into her bed.

Salvatore set up her nightstand with meds, propped up her leg on pillows, and got her tucked in as I rushed around to try to grab anything she might need to have nearby. Her phone and charger, the remote, drinks, snacks, her tablet, extra blankets, and her office chair to use to roll herself to the kitchen or bathroom.

By the time we were all done fussing, Lil was a mix of thankful and frustrated.

It was right then that her temporary nursemaid, Gavino, showed up.

Like seemingly all these damn Costa guys, Gav was tall and attractive with great bone structure and dark hair. The only difference with him was he had deep blue eyes that managed to look both annoyed and resigned as he moved into the room.

“Gav, this is Lil. Lil, Gav. He’s here to help you with anything you need. Getting you food, meds, pushing you in the chair to the bathroom, whatever.”

“We’re probably going to hate each other,” she said to Gav, getting a nod of acknowledgment from him.

“Gav hates everyone,” Miko said with a shrug.

Salvatore was the first to head out, promising to check in on Lil the next day as Miko pulled Gavino to the far end of the room, talking in hushed voices.

“Here,” Lil said, handing me her tablet. “The surveillance video. “Take it with you. See if the cute watermelon pants guy can do anything with it.”

Then, as Miko joined us again, she looked up at him with her one non-swollen eye.

“Get the bastard,” she demanded, voice hard.

“That’s the plan,” he agreed, wrapping an arm around me. “Get some rest, Lil. And don’t be a hero with the pain meds. We can get as much as you need.”

“I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow too,” I told her.

“I’ll be fine ,” she insisted. But I knew a guard when I saw one. I had too many of my own. And because I did, I knew all of the soft and squishy that was hiding behind that.

“And I will be back to check on you. And fuss over you. And make sure Gav here is doing enough fussing too.”

He gave me a little nod.

I got the feeling that while he wasn’t happy to be a nursemaid, he would do a good job. If for no other reason than Lil was in awful shape.

We said our goodbyes and heard Gav locking up behind us.

“He’s armed, right?” I asked when we both moved onto the street, heads on a swivel, keeping an eye out for Lil’s attacker.

“Yeah. I made sure. And he knows the protocols for coming and going or answering the door. Gav can be a bit of a dick, but he has a baby sister. Each time he looks at Lil, I’m sure he’s thinking about Lore and how he’d want her taken care of in this kind of situation.”

“Wait… Lore?” I asked as we started walking toward the cross street to grab a cab. “Isn’t that Zeno’s sister?” The Costa family was huge. It was hard to keep them all straight, but I was pretty sure that I was right about that connection.

“Yeah.”

“Wow. They’re… nothing alike.”

“Yeah, not at all. But all those brothers are very different. Ready to go home for a bit?” he asked.

I knew I probably shouldn’t be so happy to think of Miko’s place as home so quickly, but I couldn’t stop the warm feeling moving through my chest at the idea of being able to keep spending nights there, wrapped up in his arms.

“We never picked up my clothes.”

“I’ll order new ones to be delivered,” he said as we slipped into a cab.

I should have objected to that. But all I could think of was getting some alone time with him. The last thing I wanted to do was insist on going back to my apartment to grab clothes.

“On a scale of one-to-ten, how frustrated do you think Venezio is after a full day of Chuck?” I asked as Miko plugged in his code.

“Knowing Venezio, he won’t say anything, but you’ll see it in his—“ he cut off as we moved into the apartment.

And there was Chuck.

And Venezio.

But someone else as well.

“Cosimo,” Miko said, voice tight.

Cosimo?

Miko’s boss?

Shit.

I got a feeling things had just gotten even more complicated.