Chapter Nine
Dante
Lying was a part of being a member of organized crime. No one really liked it, but we accepted the necessity of it.
That said, lying to Hazel had been unexpectedly hard. Especially when I caught the wide eyes and quivering lower lip on her pretty face as I fed her the lies.
She hadn’t been wrong.
There had been a body in the woods.
One that warranted half the family coming out to discuss it.
Because it was one of our own.
Big Ed had been an associate of my older brother Massimo and a fixture in the Family for a solid six years. Mostly, he did protection work around the docks, since the guy was a giant. But he did odd jobs for most of us when we needed an extra hand.
Most recently, he’d done an odd job for me.
And now he was dead.
Stabbed to death in a brutal attack in the woods of my garden center.
Judging by the lack of decomposition, our best guess was that he’d been murdered during operating hours, his final screams likely swallowed up by those of guests and the scream tracks on the speakers.
It was beyond fucked up.
What we couldn’t figure out, though, was why Big Ed was even at the garden center.
If he needed me, he knew my number.
After a lot of debating, we’d concluded that he’d likely come as a guest himself, just someone who wanted to enjoy the haunted woods like everyone else. Only to get, what, lured off the path and murdered?
And by whom?
I did have some cameras around the property, but most of them were trained on the parking lot, the outside of the building, and inside the shop. The only one that even slightly looked toward the woods had been knocked askew, likely when decor had been set up a few weeks back.
Unfortunately, none of the other feeds showed anyone suspicious—just the usual guests and employees.
It was frustrating to say the least.
As for Big Ed, well, while he was a beloved member of our family, he had none of his own.
In a sick way, that worked out for us. No cops, no funeral home, no one to ask any of us any uncomfortable questions.
Or, worse yet, close down and investigate the garden center.
Because while we were careful to hide the dirty money, there was always the fear that someone who was looking for it might find it.
It had been Domenico and me who’d loaded Big Ed’s body into one of the wheelbarrows from the farm, took him deeper into the woods, and spent the night digging a sufficient grave.
By the time we were done, it was dawn, we said our goodbyes and a prayer, then climbed out of the woods.
Because we wanted to scour the woods for any clues in the daylight, I’d had Dom start the chain to the employees, telling them we were closing down. I’d updated our socials. Then we’d gone home, showered, changed, and come back along with a couple of my brothers to look for something, anything.
Unfortunately, because there were so many people in and out of the property on a daily basis, it was hard to tell if anything that we’d found on the ground had been left by a killer.
So we were nowhere.
Except, now we needed to close ranks, watch for any other threats. And, of course, tear apart Big Ed’s entire life to see if he had any personal enemies not attached to the Family.
I was inclined to believe, though, that it felt pointed to murder one of our men on the property belonging to one of us.
It meant that we were pulling soldiers and associates off of some of their usual duties to guard Family-owned businesses. Including the garden center.
I’d told the guys to dress down so they didn’t look so conspicuous. That said, I noticed the way not only Hazel but the other employees eyed them up.
I would need to cut them back a bit after family night. Otherwise, there were going to be questions I didn’t have answers for.
That said, it was time to tamp down my concerns about lying to Hazel, and the possible threat to the organization, put on my game face, and act like nothing was wrong for the sake of the wives and kids.
While we did keep them informed when security was ramping up, it was generally understood that we didn’t bring the wives, moms, sisters, or kids in on any specifics of what was going on. We never wanted them to be able to be used against us if the law started sniffing around.
Since everyone had been looking forward to a spooky fun night, we’d opted to hold off saying anything to anyone for one more night.
Among the performers in the woods, there would be several of our most trusted men decked out in costume (and heavily armed) to keep an eye on everything.
“How’d she take it?” Domenico asked, moving beside me to watch me look at Hazel as she stared at the woods with a blank, unreadable look on her pretty face.
“Disbelieving at first. But she seemed to come around at the end.”
“Seems a little off tonight, though,” Dom said, watching her with me.
“How so?” I asked, hating that he knew her and her habits better than I did.
“She’s usually always on the move. Fucking with this, fiddling with that, greeting people, comforting people who got too freaked out. She’s barely moved tonight. Except to say hi to your ma.”
I’d seen that.
My mom, true to form, pulled Hazel in for a big hug, then turned her toward me as she, I imagined, sang my praises.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to overstep on family night,” I said.
“Maybe,” Dom said, shrugging. “Just seems off to me. But I don’t know dick about that kind of thing, so don’t trust me. I’m gonna go pick up the pizzas.”
With that, he was gone and I couldn’t help but make my way over toward the coffee cart, getting two, then approaching Hazel.
“I got—” I started, only for Hazel to let out a shriek as her whole body jolted hard. “Shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
“Sorry. No. I’m just a little jumpy tonight,” she said, looking a little pink in the face at the admission.
“Maybe this isn’t the best idea then,” I said, gesturing with the coffee I’d gotten for her.
“Oh, no. I need that,” she said, snatching it from me like she was afraid I’d rescind the offer.
I watched as she took a long sip, her eyes closed, a little moan escaping her that went right to my dick.
I sucked in a deep breath, reminding myself that my entire family was around.
“It seems like the kids are having fun,” she said, watching the picnic tables full of my nieces, nephews, and their cousins as they did autumnal crafts.
“Completely unaware of the terror they are about to face,” I said, nodding toward where the performers were lingering near the woods. “Better for them to get the scare part over with before the pizza gets here.”
“I can lead them in,” she offered, but she looked a little green at the prospect.
“That’s not necessary. That girl there—what’s her name?—she can take them in.”
“That’s Brit. She’s good at the tours.”
“It’s settled then,” I said, calling Brit over and asking her to get started.
“You’re not going?”
“Been through it,” I said, shrugging as I led her over toward the picnic tables as the kids rushed to line up with their parents.
“You’re going?” I asked my mom as she piled all the crafts into her oversized bag for safekeeping.
“I am.”
“You hate being scared.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said, avoiding eye contact. “I love doing all sorts of things with my grand babies. Hazel, you’ve been on your feet all night. Sit. Rest. Dante, make her rest,” she insisted before literally running off to catch up with the others as Brit led them all away toward the woods.
The two parents hanging around with babies caught a look my mother sent them and both made bullshit excuses about changing diapers and nursing before hustling off to leave the two of us alone.
“They’ve got the subtlety of a car alarm at three in the morning,” I said, shaking my head.
“It’s sweet. They just love you and want to see you happy and settled. If you didn’t want that I guess it would be a different story.”
“I guess you’re right,” I agreed, sitting down next to her.
And for once, my mom was onto something with Hazel. Not only was she beautiful, but there was a spark. That magic that you couldn’t manufacture.
It was a shame that it was the one woman I really needed to keep my hands—and everything else—off of.
“Any progress on finding your mom a date?”
“I’m keeping myself out of that one.”
“Because if she knows you were in on it, she would feel even more vindicated about trying to set you up.”
“Something like that.” I turned to set my empty cup behind us on the table.
When I turned forward again, she was looking at me, our faces just inches apart. Up close, I could see the sleeplessness in the smudges under her eyes, but all I could seem to focus on was the way her eyes clouded over, how her lids went heavy with desire.
Her gaze slipped down to my lips, then back up again. My own were helpless but to do the same.
When our eyes met again, there was a tension in the air, drawing us closer, begging us to give in.
My hand lifted.
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Where is everyone?” Valley called, making us both snap back from each other just a second before our lips could brush.
Turning, I saw her approaching with a tall, older man at her side—all brown corduroy slacks, a button-up, and a bulky tan sweater with elbow pads, and salt-and-pepper hair.
“I guess that answers my earlier question,” Hazel said in a whisper before turning to shoot my sister a smile.
“Hey, Val. They’re in the woods.”
“Mom too?”
“Somehow, yes.”
“Okay. Well, this is Dr. Leonard Sheldon,” Valley said, waving toward the man beside her.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, offering my hand. “Do you work with Valley at the academy?”
“No. No, Dr. Sheldon was one of my professors in college,” Valley explained.
“Really? What class?” I asked.
“Ethics,” Dr. Sheldon explained.
“Ethics?” I asked, nearly snorting.
“Ethics,” Valley repeated.
I could see Hazel glancing between us, confused, not in on the joke. To his credit, Dr. Sheldon seemed completely unbothered by it.
“Would you like a snack or hot beverage?” Hazel offered, leading him off.
“Really, Valley? An ethics professor? For a matriarch in a crime family?”
“The beauty of it is he genuinely believes ethics are subjective. We had a long debate once about murder.”
“Murder?”
“Yeah, and most people pretty much concluded that there were times when it felt morally right to kill someone.”
“Like when?”
“Mass shooting events came up. When it is to protect others. That sort of thing.”
“Pretty sure us killing to protect the family isn’t the same as taking out someone committing mass murder.”
“You never know. I mean, there were some people in the class who insisted that there was no such thing as a good reason to kill another. Not even to stop them from killing dozens of others. So it says something that he believes there can be reasons.”
“Well, we don’t even know if it matters since we don’t even know if Mom wants to date.”
“True. But you never know until you try. Speaking of trying,” she said, nodding over toward where Hazel and the professor were speaking. “I think I was interrupting a moment.”
“Probably for the best.”
“Why?”
“She works for me.”
“So what?”
“So, I need her to keep working for me.”
“And the two of you are immature eighteen-year-olds who couldn’t possibly navigate the aftermath of a hook-up. Oh wait.”
“You know how complicated it—”
Just then, Domenico walked up with the pizzas just as the squeals started from the final performer in the woods, cutting off our conversation.
Which was good.
Because the last thing I needed was someone giving me permission to hook up with the woman who not only worked for me but who I’d just lied to mercilessly.