Chapter 12—Bobby
“What did you find out?”
Danny lets out a sigh at the other end of the phone. That alone tells me I won’t like the answer.
“Arson. Someone chose that building specifically.”
“Shit.”
Willow’s former neighborhood wasn’t the best. Payton, Tommy’s girl, was even attacked in the same building they shared to steal cash from her—which, coincidentally, belonged to the famiglia in a way.
Tommy told me last Tuesday that he bought the property as an investment opportunity, to make sure Payton, who danced for money, would be free from being mugged in the future.
Of course, the part about him buying it and not allowing Payton to live there again points to two different theories.
One: Tommy knew he was always going to have Payton. Two: He wanted her safe, even if she didn’t yet know that she belonged to him.
I had hoped that when I saw Jimmy, which led me to ask Tommy about owning the place, that meant the famiglia’s name was widely known in the neighborhood. Meaning no one would fuck with what’s ours.
Someone missed the memo.
“Anything else?” Like leads that can pinpoint whose kneecaps Marco is going to break?
When Jimmy called to tell us what was going on, Marco was as frantic as I was.
He won’t say it, but he thinks of Willow’s girls as his sisters.
He had three when he was young, but they were all killed in a horrible accident.
He was too young himself to do anything about it, which is a blessing, as he never turns that anger on himself, which I’ve seen more than a few times.
Marco only misses them and their memories and wishes he could have seen them grow up.
Just like I expect he plans to do for Lily and Ivy. No matter how close I get to the Frazzer family, I have a sinking feeling that my second’s loyalty is being split a bit.
I have no doubt that if he had to choose a life to save, it would be mine. But there would be hesitation. And that’s the issue. Hesitation can kill just as easily as it can maim.
“Yeah. Not that you’re going to like it,” Danny says.
“Tell me anyway.”
“The fire destroyed everything from the first to the third floor. The fourth and fifth have water and smoke damage. Doesn’t look like much was saved for anyone living there.”
Double fuck.
“Your girl, she was on….” He leaves it open for me to finish.
“The third.” And I don’t correct him calling Willow mine.
“I’ll see what I can do. Also, Vinny wants another meeting.”
“About?”
“What do you think? He wants blood for blood with the thugs in Harlem who tried to take over one of the places Pops helped out when he started the business.”
“Fine. Text me times. I’ll be there.”
He hangs up, and I just stand in the hall for a moment longer. The girls’ giggles carry down the hall from the living room, along with footsteps coming in my direction.
“Everything okay?” Willow asks as she slows and stands within reach, but still a respectful distance away.
“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem like anything will be salvageable.” I might not know everything about Willow, but I know she isn’t the type to prefer the truth being kept from her.
She nods as if she already assumed as much, then smiles, even though it’s forced.
“We can always buy new things. I just got a bonus, after all.”
Her wink has my shoulders shaking in laughter and brings a real smile to both our lips.
“Thank you for letting us stay here.” She gestures to the apartment walls.
“Not a problem. It’s company housing we keep ready for when I try to wine and dine people into doing what I want.”
“And a spare apartment does that for them?”
“Ah, but it’s not just about the apartment. It’s what’s above it.”
She tilts her head in curiosity, expecting I’ll just tell her. But why say it when I can show it.
“Care to see?” I offer the challenge and my hand.
Her smile falters as she looks at my hand. Hers is already halfway to mine before she looks back at me. “What about the girls?”
I drop my hand to her back, guiding her down the hall. “They can come too. But only if they believe in fairies.”
I say the last part a little louder as I enter the main living space.
It’s a corner apartment, and the windows take up the entire side of the wall, slanting into the living room to give it a triangle effect.
The design team placed the kitchen on one wall, next to the master bedroom, and the couch on the other wall, backing into the second bedroom.
I didn’t have time to have a third bed brought in, but I know the girls share, so I hope it works for tonight.
“What about fairies?” Ivy asks just as Lily says, “I believe in fairies.”
“Then you should come with me and your mother to see the fairy garden.”
Both girls drop the markers they were using to color with Marco and run toward us, but Lily pauses halfway and turns back.
“Aren’t you coming, my giant?”
Marco looks up from his coloring book. “Seen it, kid. Besides, fairies fear giants. Don’t want them to go into hiding when you go and say hello for the first time.”
Lily turns back to us, and I guess it’s enough to appease her.
I raise an eyebrow at Marco, who gives me a one-shoulder shrug. This side of him is something new, and I’m not going to poke holes in his theories. But it also doesn’t mean I won’t tease him mercilessly about it later.
“This way.” I lead the charge as we go to the door and across the hall to the elevator. I select the top floor, and within seconds, the doors part and the girls all take a collective breath.
“Fairies,” Lily whispers as she makes her way out first, followed by her sister.
I guide Willow out as well with a steady hand on her lower back. I have half a mind to grab her hand, but I don’t know if that would upset the girls. And with everything else going on today, I don’t want to add any stress for them.
“This is otherworldly.” Willow looks around in awe, and I can’t help but agree.
There are more plants than in most garden centers on the top deck of the roof, with so many solar twinkle lights and paper lanterns lining paths that all lead to the center, where a comfortable seating area sits among the flowers.
“Mommy, come here, come here,” Lily shouts, and Willow rushes over as she sees what her daughter is pointing at: tiny houses set at the base of one tree. “Fairy houses, Mommy.”
“I see that, baby.”
“I’ve called them villages myself,” I tell them. “And this is just one of five.”
“Five.” Ivy’s eyes light up as she smiles so big at me and then grabs her sister. “Come on.” They run down the path, and with them out of sight, I take a chance.
I slide my hand over Willow’s and lead her to one of the outdoor couches. I hold her hand for a second more as we both sit, until she pulls it away. Not in a rush, more like a glide along my skin as she sets it in her lap with her other hand.
“Thank you for today.”
After we left, I insisted we get food. My mama always says that food fixes most things. So Da Nonna Leone was our first stop, and then we came here.
“It was nothing.” I shrug it off as I look out past the flowers to the city lights. The weather is a bit cold, but the garden blocks most of the wind with the way the planters are set up.
Her hand lands on my thigh, and my attention shifts from the city to her.
“It was everything.”
My phone chirps, and I move to pull it out. I don’t hide my screen, and I know she can see that it’s a text from Marco.
“The clothes have arrived.”
“Clothes?”
I slide my phone back into my pocket and then move my hand around the back of the couch to pull her close, just enough to lean into me. “Just something to sleep in tonight and wear tomorrow.”
I used the girls and her being tired as an excuse to buy things for her. In the morning, I’m sure she won’t be completely on board with how things are about to go. But as the fairy lights twinkle around us and the girls’ laughter floats on the wind, I settle in.
For the first time, I have Willow in my arms, and if she lets me get away with it, it won’t be the last time either.
I hear the front door shut, followed by Marco’s Italian leather shoes on the tiles.
“How did it go?”
“Not good.”
I set down my paper with a frown. “What happened?”
Yes, I’m still old-school enough to enjoy my morning coffee with a physical copy of the paper and look at Marco’s grimace. Followed by the appearance of a rumpled, but still beautiful, Willow as she rounds the corner.
“What happened was….” She trails off, taking me in as I stand quickly when I see her. She looks me over and then the rest of the room. “Did you spend the night here?”
“Yes.” I nod in confusion.
“Why?”
I look at my second-in-command, who only raises his hands in confusion as well. “Why wouldn’t I sleep in my own home?”
She grabs the seat at the other end of my dining table to catch herself as she stumbles. “You live here?” she whispers as I move quickly to her side. Marco is there first and grabs her elbow to help her sit down.
“Water, please,” I tell him, and he goes to the kitchen to get some. “Have you eaten today?” I ask her as I run the back of my hand along her cheek and across her forehead, then squat down before her. She sits a little taller, and I enjoy having the chance to look up at her from this angle.
“You said this is corporate housing.”
“It is.” I dip my chin once in agreement.
She shakes her head. She needs more from me, and not just the simple parts. Marco hands me the water bottle, and I uncap it and then hand it to her to drink it down.
“I’m going to check on the girls.”
He doesn’t need to. This building is not only one of the safest in the city but in the world.
It’s a family building, not just famiglia.
The Leone family takes this as a personal building, one I just happen to call home as well.
My brothers each have areas that are theirs in this place, and some select members of the famiglia live here too.
Like Marco. The apartment I had Willow and girls stay in really is used for guests. Just those who are close to us.
“Since I own the building, I take certain liberties in the wording.”
“I thought this was a place where people from the company live. Like a housing plan or something like the military has.”
It’s actually not a bad idea. If I provide opportunities to secure housing for new hires, we might be able to grow certain departments that have run stagnant because the cost of living in the city is too high for some qualifying individuals to even apply.
I pocket the thought for now and focus on what’s important.
“Sorry for misleading you. I didn’t think you’d accept my offer to help last night if you knew the full details.” I brush her hair away from her face but keep my hand flat against her cheek.
She has a slight wave to her hair that I always thought was done with products, but from her fresh face and pajamas, I know now that it’s natural.
For the first time, I also see its length, since she usually has it in a ponytail or bun.
It comes to her elbows and frames her face with the small hairs that seem to highlight her warm cheekbones and bright eyes.
She came up here on a mission, and every part of her that she usually hides behind the work mask of makeup and a corporate outfit is gone.
The clothing I had sent over was a matching sweatsuit.
I won’t tell her that it cost more than a week’s wages.
And of course, the girls had matching ones.
Why only splurge on one when I can do that for them all?
While I know them to be pajamas, unless she slept in the nude last night, she still looks put together, only rumpled a bit at the pants, and there’s still a crease against her cheek from her pillow.
I thought the girls would have been up by now, taking a guess that they were early risers.
But perhaps a 7:00 a.m. breakfast delivery was too much.
“You’re right.” I half wonder if I said that last thought out loud until she speaks again. “I definitely would have said no.”
“Too stuffy?” I smile as I pull my hand away.
“Too perfect,” she says softly, and I feel as if I’ve been punched in the stomach.
She’s looking at me like I’m her salvation. The man who fights the wars to keep the monsters at bay. She doesn’t know that I’m one myself, just in a suit. That everything I’m doing for her and the girls is more for my needs and wants than hers.
I can only hope she feels the same when the other deliveries arrive and she realizes I plan for them to not only stay in the apartment but make it their home as well.