Chapter Seven
BECCA
O wen sits across from me with his forearms braced on his thighs, his knees bouncing like a jackhammer.
It’s a little frustrating, considering I asked him to come over to calm me down.
I don’t know what he’s so nervous about.
He’s the one who suggested Gianni offer himself up like a sacrificial tribute.
“Can you not do that?” I ask.
“Do what?”
I fling my hand to his twitching leg. “ That . Your anxiety is cranking mine even higher.”
He stops. “Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry,” I say with a sigh. “I don’t mean to take this out on you. You probably shouldn’t even be here. Gianni told me you have to be careful about being seen with us.”
“I can make my decisions for myself, Becca,” he assures me. “Besides, I’ve been a player in the federal game long enough to know all their moves before they make them.” The corners of his mouth tighten in a forced smile. “Well, most of them, at least.”
He’s talking about Henry. I want to tell him not to beat himself up, but I know it wouldn’t matter. He and Gianni are more alike than either of them would like to admit. Both are proud and stubborn, each believing in a system that failed them and a friend who betrayed them.
Which is why a sane person would accept the comfortable silence settling between us. Unfortunately, I don’t possess the ability to stop myself from asking the one question that’s tormented me since he picked up the phone. “Why did you send him that text?”
For a moment, I don’t think he’s going to answer. He just sits there with his eyes lowered and his hands clasped tightly between his knees. Then, he lets out a heavy exhale. “I assume you’re aware of the deal Gianni made with the Authority concerning you.”
“You mean the one that resulted in ‘’til death do us part?’” I brush my thumb over the diamond on my left hand. “Yeah. I witnessed a mob hit, so he had to marry me or murder me.”
“It’s not quite that cut and dry.”
“I know, all right?” Hitting my feet, I swing my arms out wide, my voice pitching an octave too high. “I’m a walking liability that Toscano guy would prefer to crush under his shoe. What I don’t know is why you encouraged Gianni to crawl under the feds’ shoe, instead.”
Owen’s eyebrows slam together. “Did he not tell you about Toscano’s stipulation?”
My stomach knots. “What stipulation?”
“Apparently not.” He shoves his hand through his hair. “Fuck. He’s going to kill me.”
“Owen…” Softening my voice, I take a small step toward him. “This is my life, and it’s hanging by a thread. Pl ease don’t shut me out of it.”
I count one beat of silence after another.
I’m about to beg when he drops his hand in his lap and groans.
“What the hell. I’m probably not going to make it out of this alive, anyway.
Toscano told Gianni there was a stipulation to their agreement.
If it was ever found you’d talked to the feds, the deal became null and void, and… ”
“And...?”
“And you’d be taken care of.”
Which is a nice way of saying I’d be relocated to the bottom of the Hudson.
My knees start to buckle, so I sink beside him.
“Becca, I sent that text to Gianni because I promised I’d do everything in my power to protect you, even if it put him in danger. I don’t like it any more than you do, but I gave him my word. It’s the only thing I have left. I can’t lose it, too.”
I refuse to cry. Mafia wives don’t fall apart at the first sign of danger.
Drawing in a deep breath, I turn toward him. “So, what happens now? Are we all just living on borrowed time?”
“I don’t know.” He lays a comforting hand on my wrist, forcing me to fight the tears that much harder. “Gianni feeds me information on a slow drip, but I suspect this goes much deeper.”
It always does.
I tug my glasses off and press my thumb and forefinger against my eyes. “Feeling helpless isn’t something I’m used to. I don’t like it.”
“I get that, but believe me when I say all it’d take would be the perception of you talking to the feds for the Authority to make good on their threat. Gianni left a lot of unhealed wounds when he broke his oath, and now with Marcello’s betrayal, their trust is at an all-time low.”
I shift my fingers and side eye him. “But Gianni is talking to the feds right now. Isn’t that like refusing to skydive only to jump off a cliff?”
He shakes his head, his expression softening. “Not to him. He’d sacrifice himself in a hundred lifetimes for you. Besides, Gianni has dealt with these particular agents before. He knows how to keep them chasing their own asses. He’ll be fine.”
“And if he isn’t?”
“I gave him my word, Becca. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Well,” I hear as the front door slams. “Isn’t this fucking cozy?”
Owen and I spring apart like two snapped ends of a rubber band, the sound of my husband’s sharp, hostile tone the equivalent of an air horn in a library.
“Gianni…” I slam my glasses back onto my face, my heart racing. “Is everything … I mean, are you okay?”
“I was until I walked in the door.” He saunters toward us, his gaze shifting between us.
He looks worn and depleted. Dark circles cradle hollow-looking eyes, and the five o’clock shadow that’d been steadily ticking up the clock is now almost a full beard.
“Care to tell me why you two were huddled together on the couch?”
“Come on, man,” Owen says, shoving his palms forward. “I was just comforting her.”
I wince. Ooof. Bad move.
“I see.” Gianni drags his tongue across his teeth, his arms folded tightly across his chest. “Owen, walk outside with me. We need to talk.”
For the love of…
This has gotten out of hand.
I grab Owen’s arm before he can take a step. “You stay right here, and you…” Pent-up emotion explodes across my face as I swing my other finger toward Gianni. “Pick yo ur knuckles up off the floor. He’s right. It was all perfectly innocent.”
“He was touching you.”
“Because I was worried about you !” The jealousy-infused rage on his face settles as the magnetic pull between us draws me toward him.
“Now, let’s sit down and talk like civilized adults because if anyone has cause to be pissed here, it’s me.
” I cup his face and ground both of us. “But I’d rather just be thankful you’re here. ”
Before I can blink, his arm slings around my waist, and his lips are on mine. He kisses me like we’ve been apart for years and this moment is all we have. It’s hard and desperate, and I can’t get enough. He demands, and I submit because this is who we are.
We kiss.
And kiss.
And kiss.
Until the sound of a throat clearing slams us back into reality.
I spin around, my cheeks burning as I see Owen looking anywhere but at us. Mortified, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, only to look back and find Gianni smirking. Before I can figure out how to apologize, he takes my hand in his and jerks his tie loose with the other.
“So, tell me what all I’ve missed,” he says, attacking the buttons on his collar while dragging me into the sitting room.
Twenty minutes and a fourth of a bottle of whiskey later, I’ve filled him in on everything from when and why I called Owen, to what we discussed, glossing over the part where he confessed about the whole Toscano/fed thing.
Gianni takes it all in with zero emotion.
After a few moments of heart-thumping silence, he stands and discards his empty glass while shrugging off his suit jacket.
“Then, I suppose I should thank you for helping Becca in my absence. However, it’s late, and three’s a crowd, Henley.
You know the way out.” He tosses his jacket on a chair and holds his hand out toward me, the look in his eyes daring me to argue.
Considering our history, I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a deterrent or incentive.
However, with everything that’s unfolded in the last few hours, I decide it’s in my best interest to not churn calm waters. So, I rise and take his hand. Without a word, he turns and stalks toward the staircase, his grip so tight I have no choice but to follow.
“Actually…” Owen calls out. “I have an update I think you need to hear.”
Shit.
We come to an abrupt stop inches in front of the first step, the toned muscles in Gianni’s back stiffening as he tips his head back. “Fine. Let’s step outside.” Dropping my hand, he lowers his chin, leveling his eyes to mine. “Wait for me upstairs.”
Not this again…
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I sputter, moving in front of him before he can take a step. “I’m in this just as deep as either of you. I refuse to be sent away because I’m a woman.”
“This has nothing to do with you being a woman.”
“Yeah?” Tilting my head, I allow my mouth to spew attitude I know is only inciting a storm. “If I had a dick, would you say the same thing?”
His eyes darken with warning. “If you had a dick , none of this would’ve happened.”
“Whoa, come on, you two…” Owen intervenes, eyeing the door like he isn’t sure whether to diffuse the situation or break for the exit. “Arguing won’t make this any better.”
“Christ, I’m too goddamn tired to fight you both,” Gianni groans. I hide my smile as he reclaims my hand and leads me back into the foyer. “ What have you got?”
“I’ve been looking into Henry’s burner cell, but the bastard covered his tracks pretty well. There are no programmed numbers, and the call history has been deleted.”
“Can it be recovered?”
He shakes his head. “Not without a warrant, and only by the cell provider. While my badge carries some authority, I’m not a federal agent. I have a lot of eyes on me right now. I can’t draw any more.”
That’s putting it mildly. A few days ago, Gianni decided it would be best for all involved if Owen stepped out of the shadows and reclaimed his judicial halo. Ever since, Owen has been interrogated within an inch of his life and has lived on the wrong end of “big brother’s” scope.
But he doesn’t look bothered by it at the moment. In fact, he looks kind of smug.
“There’s something else,” I blurt out.
Owen nods like a proud parent. “I have a friend in Quantico who owes me a favor, so I asked him to keep a watch on the number in case it activates again. Saddler’s phone lit up about two hours ago, and he triangulated the signal between three cell towers.”
Gianni’s flat expression gives nothing away. “Where?”
“Teaneck. I pulled Henry’s personnel files and did a deeper dive into his background.
The only family he had was a single mother who died a few years ago in Brooklyn, no other family or siblings,” he says, rattling the information off like he’s reading a meter report.
“Looks like a real low-income upbringing. He didn’t have it easy. ”
How fucking tragic.
“Did cross-referencing him with Cillian Doyle produce anything?” Gianni asks.
I blink. “Cillian Doyle?”
He turns that dark gaze my way. “The real name of our late friend, Dice.”
I stiffen. The man I condemned to death for a crime he didn’t commit. I hug my arm to my chest, the ink on the inside of my wrist burning at the memory of his fiery fate.
Owen clears his throat. “Unfortunately, no. If there’s a connection, I couldn’t find it.”
“Keep looking,” Gianni instructs crisply. “My father was way too paranoid to send a dirty badge to his dirty link and trust they’d toe the line and keep their mouths shut.”
I glance over to find a hardness on my husband’s face that turns my stomach. “You think Henry and my mother’s killer already knew each other?”
“Put it this way … records show zero unidentified activity on my father’s phone. If your whole operation was falling down around you, would you call the man who put you in charge of it, or a turncoat marshal you’d just met?”
Owen blows out a heavy breath. “I have a bad feeling the blindsides aren’t over, Gianni. In fact, I think they’ve just begun.”
“I agree, which is why I’m tripling Becca’s security.”
I spin toward him. “The hell you?—”
“A new threat has crossed state lines, so you’re now on a twenty-four-hour alert,” he continues, cutting me off as if I’m not there. “If she calls, you go immediately.”
It’s like I’m a prisoner all over again. I understand Gianni’s fear and the need for extra precaution, but he has to understand my need to breathe. There has to be a middle ground.
“Don’t I get a say in?—?”
“Understood,” Owen says, avoiding my eyes with a curt nod. I cut him an accusatory glare, which he deflects by staring down at his wrist. “Wow, it is late. I should go.”
“Your watch is on the other arm, genius.”
He shoots me a tight smile which I answer with a middle finger.
After the door closes behind him, Gianni and I engage in a battle of wills, stretching a tense beat of uncomfortable silence into several awkward seconds. I shuffle from foot to foot, convinced we’ll be standing here when the sun comes up, when he lets out a weary sigh.
“I’m not trying to control you, Doc. I’m just doing everything in my power to keep you safe. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.” He closes his eyes, his posture slumping. “I’d become … something else.”
He doesn’t have to say the words. I know this man on every level. I know every twist of his thorny vines. Even the ones he tries to hide.
“Gianni, listen to me…” I take a half-step closer, craving the solace of his arms, but not daring to touch.
He’s pulled too far inward. I can throw a lifeline, but he has to be the one to grab it.
“No matter what happens to me or to us, you will never be your father. I don’t care that you share blood or who raised you.
Even at your darkest, you’re nothing like that man. ”
“My butterfly,” he murmurs, reaching out to stroke a lock of my hair. “You see me how you want to see me, not how I am, and that’s precisely why I can’t lose you. You keep me grounded. You keep the man stronger than the monster.”
“You give yourself too little credit.”
“And you, too much freedom.”
“You’re punishing me for calling Owen?”
“Not for calling Owen, cara mia . I’m angry because willfully ignoring instructions and going rogue at this stage could get you killed.”
“Did you really have to use that word?” I grumble.
A low chuckle rumbles in his throat as he pulls me to him. I inhale sharply, absorbing the moment, the calmness, and him . “Just promise me you’ll always keep your phone on you.”
“Why?” Tilting my head back, I gaze up at him. “Does it have a listening device implanted in it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I raise an eyebrow. “GPS?”
“No, I don’t need one.” I have no clue what that’s supposed to mean, but I’m too exhausted to question it.
“I just need the peace of mind of knowing you can do exactly what you did tonight in the event of an emergency. I’ll raise every level of hell to get to you, but it may not always be in time. That’s why you have two backups.”
I feel my face fall.
Right. Two backups…
Owen and Anton.
One who just risked everything to come clean…
And one who may very well be pulling the biggest con of all.