Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
S eptember 6 th
I love my friends. They always show up. Even when you don’t want them to. Like at eleven at night at the airport. With signs and handcuffs.
Leah, Amelia, and Eli were in bright, colorful wigs holding great, huge signs and screaming. Max was not. He was frowning. Great, now what?
Paige turned bright red at the attention she was getting from her fellow passengers as Eli broke out into song and dance while Leah and Amelia did their best background singer impersonations.
They finally stopped and ran to hug her when Paige reached them. They all talked at once, but Paige couldn’t focus when Max was glowering like that. Why was he here? Why was he so pissed off?
“We want to know everything!” Eli said.
“And I will tell you everything tomorrow at Café Felix. I will even bring gifts,” Paige said with a smile, even as she kept glancing at Max. “But tonight, I just want to crash. I have to be at work tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Amelia groaned. “Just give me a hint on our gifts.”
“Come on,” Leah said, throwing an arm around her. “I’ll take you home.”
“Let me,” Max said, finally speaking up. “We need to wait for her luggage so it might take a while. Go ahead. I’ll bring her home.”
Leah and Paige turned to stare at Max.
“It’s okay,” Paige told her. “Who knows how long this will take? I can’t wait to tell you everything tomorrow. Thanks for coming to surprise me.”
“Are you sure?” Leah whispered.
“I’m sure. I love you all so much!” Paige hugged her friends and she had Max take a photo of them together with the signs before they left. “Now, care to tell me why you’re pissed off at me?”
“Which one is your bag?” Max asked.
Paige pointed and Max grabbed it. They left the airport, and instead of heading to her apartment, he was heading to somewhere she never wanted to go again. “Why are we headed to your precinct? Max, what the hell is going on?”
“I’m here on official police business, Paige. I’m sorry, but because of our known connection, I was ordered to pick you up.”
“Please don’t make me go back to the precinct. Can’t you do whatever you need to do at my apartment?”
“You’re putting me in a tight spot, Paige.” Max pulled out his phone and made a call. “Meet us in five at the police diner. We’ll be in the parking lot to keep chain of custody.”
Paige felt as if her heart had left her body and stopped pumping because she was so scared. “Do I need an attorney?”
Max turned to her and she’d never seen his jaw look so tight before. “Did you bring anything back that you shouldn’t have?”
“What? No. This is all over smuggling in some salami or something?”
“Or something. You are not under arrest but are being questioned. It’s up to you if you need an attorney. Only you know if you did something illegal. I just wish you’d listened to me, Paige. I’ve always only looked out for you.”
Max looked so dejected that Paige reached out to him, but then there was a knock on his window and a badge was flashed. “Homeland Security. We have some questions for you, Miss Turner.”
“Okay,” Paige said slowly, getting out of Max’s car as he reached into the back seat and handed her bag to the guy from Homeland.
“Can I search your bag?”
“Not until you tell me what you’re looking for,” Paige said, glancing at Max.
“Do you know this person?” Homeland asked instead, turning his phone around to her.
“Yes, that’s Nikolas. He’s a friend of mine. He lives in my boss’s building.” Oh shit. Maybe he did kill Dario.
“And can you explain why you were with him and the head of the Luciano crime family in Rome, shopping?” Homeland turned his phone once more and there was a picture of her in Rome shopping with Nikolas’s family.
“Nikolas isn’t the head of a crime family, is he?” Paige asked Max. Max shook his head. “Oh, no. Tell me it’s not Vito. He didn’t seem the type.” Max shook his head again although his jaw was now so tight she didn’t know if he could speak. “Franco? Huh. He seemed more go with the flow.”
“No, Miss Turner,” Homeland snapped. “ Mrs . Luciano is the head of the family. She took over after Nikolas’s father was killed.”
“Mrs. L? No way. She’s so nice.” Paige shook her head and Max audibly groaned.
“Paige,” he snapped, “tell us everything about your time with the Lucianos.”
“They didn’t do anything illegal in front of me if that’s what you’re asking. They actually saved me from this male prostitute who was about to rob me in a dance club. Honestly, I still don’t know if he’s a gigolo or a prostitute.”
“What a crock of shit,” the Homeland guy muttered as she heard Max release a sigh of relief.
Max actually grinned at that. “Nope, it’s not. That’s just another day for Paige. Go on, jailbird. What else happened?”
“I had a bad experience with a guy on the plane, too,” she said, telling them about Dario and the grandmother’s curse. “So, they offered to show me around to make up for it.”
“A virgin? Look lady, I’ve heard some crazy stories in my time, but—”
“She’s telling the truth. You brought me in on this because I know her. I can have ten people here within an hour to confirm that this is, strangely, all perfectly normal for her,” Max said to Homeland, leaping to her defense. “Dario sounds like a winner, but how did you know he was engaged to Vito’s little sister?”
Paige cringed at that. “Yeah, about that. I didn’t know that and was telling them about Dario by name and Vito got a little mad. But, look, I didn’t know he was going to stab him in the balls like I did to Patrick Bolten. But Rocco swore to me that they didn’t kill him.”
“If Dario did that to my sister, I’d stab him in the balls too,” Homeland admitted. “But this has nothing to do with that. Are you telling me they never once mentioned drugs, guns, wars, or anything?”
Paige shook her head. “Never. They were . . . nice. Except for the testicular thing, but that was kinda my fault since my, um, incident with Patrick gave them the idea.”
Homeland shook his head as if he were too tired to deal with this. “Can I search your bag now to put this whole thing to rest?”
Paige looked at Max again. “He wants to make sure they’re not using you as a mule, Paige.”
“Oh, no, they’re not. They’ve never asked me to do anything illegal. They’re my friends.”
Max groaned again as Paige shoved the bag to the Homeland agent who searched it. “Get better friends,” he said as a warning before leaving.
“This is why you’re mad?” Paige asked, zipping her bag back up.
“I told you to stay away from him, Paige. He’s dangerous.”
“Not to me, Max.” Paige paused and then laughed. “I swear I’ve read that line in at least fifty books and was like, ‘girl, you’re so stupid.’ He’s a criminal. But it’s true. Nikolas and his family are not a threat to me. And they never discussed any kind of criminal business around me at all.”
“You know what?” Max asked. “I believe you. Come on, Paige. Let’s get you home.”
They rode in silence to her apartment. She went to reach for her bag, but Max grabbed it. “I got it.”
“Thanks, Max.” She carried her tote bag while he carried her luggage and a bag he’d picked up from the back seat up to her fifth-floor walkup.
Paige unlocked the door and Max followed her inside. “I got this for you,” he said, handing her the small bag.
She opened it and pulled out a romance book with a cop on the cover. “You got me a book? That’s so sweet! Wait.” Paige dug into her bag and pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to him. “I got this for you too.”
Max reached in and unfolded it then grinned. “A sweatshirt from Rome.”
“I figured I owed you one.”
Max looked up at her and his lips twitched in amusement. “I guess that means I’m not getting mine back. Did you lose them?”
“Um, yeah. Lost.” Paige darted a glance to the NYPD sweatshirt on the couch in plain sight.
“Thank you, Paige.” Max took the sweatshirt, but paused. “You’re a good person—a nice person—and so I understand Nikolas’s behavior with you. I don’t think he’ll hurt you, but I don’t want to risk it. Just promise me you’ll be careful around him.” Paige saw that Max wanted to say more, but in the end he didn’t. “Welcome home, Paige.”