Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Milo
There was a possibility that bringing Sable here could put her in the crossfire, but I’d done it anyway. The danger followed me, and now it would plague her because she chose me.
That was the Accetti curse. There had to be consequences for the sins we had committed in the name of our empire. We accepted the risk, but at what costs? The women in our lives would always pay the price.
“Stay behind me.” I squeezed the barrel of my gun and stretched my arm out toward the dunes. The rustling in the darkness heightened my senses.
“Milo,” Sable whispered.
“It’s okay, baby. Just stay behind me.”
I steadied my hand, aiming toward the threat, knowing I would shoot first and ask questions later to protect her. Defending her was my duty in exchange for her loyalty and trust .
“Fuck!” A hazy figure appeared out of the darkness with their hands up. “Milo, don’t shoot.”
“Lorenzo?” I pointed my gun at the ground when I realized there was no threat. “That’s a good fucking way to get yourself shot.”
“I told you not to sneak up on him.” Marchello laughed as he came onto the beach from the path that led to the house. “He’s got a trigger finger.”
The amusement on both their faces irritated me in ways it might not have if Sable wasn’t with me. Having her by my side changed my survival tactics.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two?” I grasped Sable’s trembling hand and moved her to stand next to me. “You can’t sneak up on me when things are the way they are.” Assholes.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Lorenzo grinned.
“Sable, this is Lorenzo,” I said. “He’s a family friend.”
Lorenzo had proven to be a useful asset and a strong ally to my family. He was instrumental in helping us when Lissia got into trouble. He also acted as a middleman for a cartel he had introduced us to. That association had proven to be quite lucrative for my family.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sable. I would kiss your hand, but it appears your boyfriend wants to hurt me, so I’m not going to provoke him.”
“Hello, Lorenzo.” She inched closer to me. “You scared us.”
“He didn’t scare me,” I said. “He’s lucky he isn’t dead.”
“You’re not that careless.” Lorenzo moved closer to the firepit. “Sorry, Sable, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Ax joined us on the beach, waiting by the dunes. He scanned his surroundings, probably making sure he could get Sable out if there was a threat. He had more sense than Lorenzo.
“Are we having a fucking party?” I asked as I shoved my gun into my waistband.
“Sable,” Marchello said. “Ax is going to take you back up to the house.”
Marchello was in ‘the leader of the family’ mode. A role that was familiar to him, and one I wouldn’t challenge. I’d much rather have him making the decisions. I wanted to go back to investigating problems and figuring out a way to fix them.
“Lissia just popped open a bottle of prosecco,” my brother continued. “She’s waiting for you to go into the hot tub. I think she wants to video chat with Ricardo.”
“Sure.” Sable looked at me. “Is it okay?”
“Is Dom up there too?” I asked.
“Dom is with Lissia whenever I’m not,” he said.
Marchello’s tortured gaze burned into my eyes, transferring all of his anguish and regret over what happened in Miami.
He would never forgive himself for leaving Lissia the night she killed Danny Collins.
He blamed himself for what happened, but Lissia taking care of business was exactly what she needed to do.
Her strength proved to all of us that she could handle herself when the situation called for it. She may have been struggling with the residual memories, but there was no mistaking that she was an Accetti through and through.
“Okay.” I took Sable’s chin between my fingers. “Stay with Ax until you get to the house.”
“I will.” She tucked her wind-swept hair behind her ear. “You’ll be okay?”
“You don’t have to worry about me.”
“You didn’t answer my question. ”
The uncertainty in her expression couldn’t be avoided. One minute we were a light and carefree couple, and a heartbeat later, I drew my gun, fully prepared to fire. That wasn’t normal for her. We would never be an average couple. My life didn’t allow for the mundane.
“I’ll be okay,” I said.
Marchello and Lorenzo conversed by the fire while Ax went to the foot of the path, giving me time to kiss my girl.
“I won’t be long.” I brushed my lips along hers. “If Lorenzo is here, it’s important.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“No more than usual.” I exaggerated that part, because I had no idea what Lorenzo had uncovered. My family business always came with some element of danger, but in the last few months we’d had more than our share. “I’m sure Lissia will appreciate your company.”
“I’ll see you soon.” She trailed her lips to my ear and whispered, “I really like the beach.”
“I bet you do.”
I held the side of her face for a second or two, taking in her beauty. I’d barely had time to recover from our last encounter, but I already looked forward to the next. The sexiest thing about being in Sable’s clutches was she didn’t even realize she had managed to take hold of me.
I never expected the rush that came with falling for her. I had never been the type to lose myself in a woman, but then again. I had never met anyone quite like Sable.
“Milo,” Chello snapped. “Lorenzo needs to get back to Miami.”
He can fucking wait a minute. I leaned down and kissed Sable, running my fingers through her hair before nodding toward the path. “I’ll see you soon.” I winked at her. “Ax, don’t let anything happen to her. ”
“I won’t.” Ax met Sable on the beach and escorted her to the path. “You got some sun today.”
“So did you.” She hooked her arm in his as her white sundress swayed with each delicate step she took. “I like this weather much better than what we have at home.”
“I do too,” Ax said. “We’re supposed to get a storm in the next few days. I’m not a snow person.”
Sable had managed to captivate Ax in a matter of days. Whatever she had, she should bottle.
Once they disappeared into the darkness, her absence created an overwhelming void from deep in my chest. It was as if my body, mind, and soul rejected the idea that she wasn’t close to me. Hell!
“I’m really glad you’re getting your dick wet,” Lorenzo said. “But you need to get your head back in the game. You know, the head you’re supposed to think with.”
“I’m not distracted.” I joined them by the firepit. “But someone could have warned me you were coming, and then maybe I wouldn’t have almost blown your head off. The one you don’t seem to think with.”
“I wasn’t sure if our visits would coordinate.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver flask. “Here.” He handed it to me before taking another out of his other pocket. “You’re probably going to need a drink for this conversation.”
“That doesn’t sound promising,” I said.
Marchello unscrewed the cap off his flask that he had been holding since stepping onto the beach. “I asked Lorenzo to help me look into something.”
“What’s that?” I asked before twisting the cap of my flask off. “It must be important if you flew here.”
“Your family always keeps it interesting.” Lorenzo took a sip from his shiny container. “Every time we avert one crisis, another one causes a clusterfuck.”
“What’s coming at us now?” Were we ever going to catch our breath? “Isn’t Diego enough for this week?”
“This might have something to do with Diego,” Marchello said. “I looked into the botched Pier 57 job, because a sharpshooter getting that close to you didn’t sit well with me.”
“Me either.” I sucked more vodka from the flask as I looked at the scar on the side of my hand that the bullet had left. “Plus, they took out the guy who could give me the information on the stolen cars.”
“Lorenzo is being you, while you’re being me, while Dad’s away.” Marchello emptied what was left in his flask into his mouth, leaning his head back and draining the vodka. “And I don’t know who I am at the moment, but my job is still to protect this family.”
“You’re still relevant,” I said. “We all have a purpose in this organization. But at the moment, we have to do those jobs a little differently than we’re used to.”
It was difficult for Marchello to be so far away from the business, but his first priority had to be to protect Lissia. I’d give anything to have both my father and brother back home running things with me. We were much more effective when we were together.
“The stolen cars were a nuisance, but if someone legitimately took them, we wouldn’t have gotten them back.” Marchello’s profile was illuminated in the glow of the fire. “That was meant to be a distraction for you while something else was at play.”
“Like Diego setting up sex trafficking cells?” I gripped the flask. “Faster than Dad can dismantle them.”
“Dad knows what’s happening, and he’s going to need more help with that, but now we have a bigger problem to deal with.
” When Marchello glanced at Lorenzo, my instincts kicked in.
Their silent communication concerned me more than I would have liked.
“As I said, Lorenzo has been digging, and what he has potentially uncovered directly affects you and your security.”
“What have you found?” I inched closer to the fire as the ocean breeze ghosted my skin. “Did you find out who the shooters at the pier were?”
“Not yet.” Lorenzo swept the sand from his calf. “But my investigation brought me to an unsettling revelation.”
“Tell me so we can deal with it.” I finished what was left in the flask, savoring the smooth vodka as it slid down my throat. “What’s one more problem?”
“There was clearly an informant involved,” Lorenzo said. “How else would someone know where you would be and that you had captured one of the thieves involved?”
“I thought about that.” I pushed the empty flask into the front pocket of my shorts. “But none of our people would be that stupid. They would know there would be nowhere for them to hide and no one to protect them if they betrayed me.”
“There’s always the possibility that someone could go rogue,” Marchello said. “But I went over the team you took with you that night, and I can’t find a reason for any of them to turn on us, so I widened the search, but I’ve come up empty.”
“The shooter could have taken you out.” Lorenzo pointed at me. “But they created a scenario that brought the police to your doorstep.”
“The cops did get to the pier pretty fast that night.” If it hadn’t been for Sable providing me with an alibi, I would have been hauled to the station and hassled for hours. “Someone wanted me on the NYPD radar.”
“If the guy who stole the cars really didn’t know who hired him, there would have been no reason for them to take him out that night,” Marchello said. “They knew you were going to be at that pier and wanted you to run into complications.”
“I chose that pier because it’s discreet. We’ve never had an issue there.”
“You have a traitor in your organization.” Lorenzo’s jaw tightened. “Maybe not in your most intimate circle, but there is a leak.”
“That’s impossible.” I shook my head. “I don’t discuss business in front of… fuck .” When I said someone would have to be really stupid to betray me, I should have known.
“Fuck what?” Marchello glared at me.
“Lucas and I had a conversation at the shop the day of the pier incident. He told me our guys had someone for me at the pier.”
“Who was there when the conversation took place?” Marchello asked.
“Chance.” I clenched my fists, pushing back the rage that threatened to explode. If I went off now, without the proof I needed to back my suspicions, there would be no coming back with Sable.
“Milo.” Lorenzo put his hand on my shoulder that was so tight the spasms ran across my back. “How much do you know about this woman and her brother?”