26. Tessa
26
TESSA
T he next time I went to the shooting range to practice with the gun Romeo had given me, I met with Max, an older soldier who was missing three of his fingers on his non-dominant hand. He was tortured by enemies and barely made it out alive, but he had. And he was, according to Romeo, the Constellas’ expert marksman.
Romeo was too busy to practice with me today, the same as every day this week, but he told me that I was in good hands with Max.
I was. Not only was he informative, but he was also personable and chatty in a non-obtrusive way. I realized my concentration was much improved, too, because every time I came here with Romeo, he’d sneak up close to me to demonstrate how to hold or fire my gun, which would tempt me with his proximity. Having my man’s arms around me had me aroused and horny in a flash.
“Did you know Joseph?” I asked between rounds of practice.
He nodded. “I did. I knew his father, too.”
“Both of them worked for the family?”
“Yes. Both died in the line of fire, too.”
I sighed, feeling my face tug down with a deep frown. I hadn’t even met Joseph, but I was aware of the day he was killed at that first place I stayed at with Romeo. The more I lived with Romeo and got to know more and more members of their organization, the harder it was to remind myself that they could all die. Sure, we were all getting closer to our deaths with every minute that passed, but these men were soldiers, fighters, spies, and protectors. They put themselves on the line for their leaders, much like the military did, and I couldn’t help but worry about each and every one of them, regardless of how well I might know them.
It was a lot like Liam’s situation. Or Mr. Bardot, Nina’s deceased father. He was a military man like my old friend was, and I had utmost respect for their service. It was different, this privatized army of the Constella Mafia, but still similar.
“Did you get to know him much when he was on the security detail at that house?” Max asked.
I shook my head. “I was only there the one day and night. But I wouldn’t mind going back there.”
Max smiled. “It’s a nice building. I believe it had been in the family for a long time, but vacant for many years.”
“It needed work. It would be a big project to renovate.”
“That was Romeo’s plan. I think he wanted a project to preoccupy himself with while Dante had his new life with Nina.”
I never once thought Romeo was struggling with Nina being in the Constella Family now. But I could see Romeo wanting his own space as a bachelor there. “And a project to preoccupy himself from the guilt about those three soldiers dying on his watch?” I guessed.
Max paused in reloading a gun. “You haven’t been around for long, but you sure know that man well.”
I smiled. “He told me a little about it. Survivor’s guilt. Then again, I assume that this ‘business’ has a high death count.”
“It does. And Romeo is aware of that. He’s grown up with this life and knows how dangerous it is. I suspect those three soldiers hit him so hard because he was personally responsible for them. He was supervising that meeting with the Dominos. And Romeo is very protective of those closest to him.”
I aimed through my sights but waited to actually practice.
“You seem to be helping him, though,” Max said.
I raised my brows at him. “How?”
“By being another ‘project’ for him. Someone else to protect in a different way, in a way he’s never been overprotective before.”
I smiled. “Are you saying he’s never had a girlfriend before?” Yeah, right. That can’t be true.
“Are you saying that you think you’re just a girlfriend for him?”
Whoa. That’s blunt. My cheeks heated with a flush.
“What I’m saying is that you’re giving him another purpose to live for. Not just for the family and for working for Dante. But for love. For a future.”
“I’ve got to say, Max, you’re the most perceptive soldier I’ve met yet.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome. I think.”
“I do miss that house, though. Maybe it was because of the trauma being so fresh and not knowing where I’d go or what I’d do, but it clicked with me. I could see it being fixed up and modernized.”
“That makes sense. At a time of turmoil, it was something to scrub clean and start over with.”
“Well, yeah. But it’s not my place to fix up.”
“It could be. You and Romeo there while Dante and Nina start another family in the big house.”
I watched him, wondering if it could be possible. “But if it’s not secure, with those bikers creeping close and killing Joseph…”
He shook his head. “Nah. It’s not impossible. I think Romeo moved you so quickly because he was nervous at the moment. With more preparation and installing cameras, that property could be as safe as any other in the Constella empire.”
Huh. I enjoyed having a place to stay with Romeo, but the penthouse wasn’t my style. I suspected it wasn’t Romeo’s, either. We’d hopped around a lot lately, and I wondered how Romeo would feel if I asked him about staying there when we could.
Assuming Max and Nina and Eva are right in saying I’m more than just a fling or girlfriend for him…
I planned to ask Romeo about the opportunity to renovate that house. It would give me a good thing to busy myself with.
After the shooting practice, Max saw me back to the mansion where Nina lived with Dante. We had arrangements to go to a store to set up her baby registry, and I was excited to do this with my best friend. Some days, I still couldn’t believe she was pregnant. Romeo and I didn’t use protection, but I wasn’t in a rush to get pregnant. Not until I knew what I was to him.
Hah. As if I’d ever turn down sex with that man. I smiled as I thought about how rabid we were for each other.
On the drive to the mansion, my phone rang and I answered, assuming it would be Romeo.
“Hello?”
“Are you through with those bad men yet?”
I clenched my teeth at my mother’s voice. “How did you get this number?”
“I asked Elliot to find it. He’s got private investigators, you know. PIs who track down criminals like the man you were with.”
“He’s not a bad man.” I was wasting my breath arguing with her, but it was instinct to defend him. He did bad things, but he was a good man. I knew that with every fiber of my being.
Even if he was morally gray, I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
“Your father and I will disown you,” she threatened.
“I thought you already had,” I retorted.
“If you insist on running off with that bad man, you won’t be any daughter of ours. We raised you better than this. We taught you to do the right thing and look forward to stability with an honorable man like Elliot. You?—”
“Don’t contact me again.” I hung up, seething, and quickly set the phone to block that number.
Fucking Elliot. Of course that slimy lawyer found out a private number. He was more corrupt than any Constella.
Being stuck in a traffic jam didn’t help my mood. After dealing with my mom, even for that short amount of time, I wanted to run. To move. I missed the energy of being at the shooting range. Sitting here without any means to vent, I exhaled a hard breath and glowered out the window.
She had no right. She had no place to call and badger me like that, and I wondered if she would ever stop.
My phone rang again, and I frowned at the unknown caller number.
“What?” I answered, half-expecting it to be my mother again, disguised by using another number.
“Wow. What kind of a greeting is that for an old friend?” Liam asked, laughing dryly.
“Liam!” I smiled, immediately happier to hear his voice. “I didn’t recognize the number.”
“Oh. Right. I had to get a new phone when I got Stateside.”
“You’re officially home? For a visit?”
He sighed. “No. I’m, uh, here for good.”
I blinked, shocked. I always thought he’d be a military man for life. Static cut through the line, and I missed every other word of what he said next. “Huh? You’re breaking up.”
“I’m moving home,” he said. “Wherever home will be.”
I bet he could stay close to me and Nina!
“I’m hoping you can help me,” he said, even though I had to guess at a couple of the words.
“Help you? Help you move?” Like, physically? I couldn’t see how he’d have much to move after so long in the army. What possessions could he have accumulated in the service, always on the go and often out of touch?
This call was sort of out of the blue, but his request for help was even weirder. Liam was independent and stubborn to a fault, never wanting to ask anyone for help. He was a go-getter, and I knew for him to ask me for assistance, he really needed it.
“I’m in Utah,” he said brokenly.
“What?”
Static cut through the call.
“Did you say Utah?”
“Yes, I?—”
“Liam, the call’s breaking up.”
“I’ll call again soon, okay?”
“Yeah. We’ll catch up more.” We would, and hopefully, not over a call with crappy reception. If he needed a place to stay, Romeo would let him stay. Because if it would make me happy to see my childhood friend, he would move heaven and earth to make it happen. I didn’t think this with any degree of greed, only honesty.
This wouldn’t have been a good time to catch up with Liam, anyway. We pulled up to the mansion, and Nina was ready to climb into the backseat with me.
“What took so long?”
“Traffic,” the driver and I replied in unison.
“I just got a weird call from Liam,” I told her.
“Really?” She smiled, excited. While she didn’t know him as well as I did, she hadn’t forgotten him. She was familiar with him via my friendship, and they’d gotten along fine when we were younger.
“Yeah. Just now.”
“What was ‘weird’ about it?” she asked.
I filled her in on the few details that he’d shared when the call wasn’t broken up. When I mentioned the preliminary idea that Liam could visit and stay somewhere nearby, Nina nodded. “Oh, sure. Dante said they have so many properties, they could live somewhere different every week and not repeat residences.”
I raised my brows and blinked. “Wow.” Sometimes, acknowledging the family’s wealth meant imagining a staggeringly high amount of money.
Once we reached the store, we shifted from talking about Liam and any Constella properties to discussing baby things. We ooh ed and aah ed over all the adorable outfits, and we both admitted we had no clue what some of the apparatuses and tools were for. Most seemed to be involved with breastfeeding, and I reassured Nina that she had plenty of time to research and prepare.
“I can’t believe he doesn’t want to know what the baby’s gender will be,” I commented of Dante’s refusal to find out beforehand.
Nina shrugged. “Well, he’s already got a son. Maybe he wants a surprise this time.”
To each their own, I guess.
When we left the shop hours later, we were the ones who got a surprise. An unpleasant one. Standing next to the car where the drivers would be waiting for us was a scowling man. He looked haggard and aged, like he’d failed to keep up with the plastic surgery necessary to appear youthful.
I didn’t know who he was, but the pair of rough-looking men flanking him were familiar. I’d never met them, but they reminded me too much of the men who’d come to the cabin for it to be a coincidence.
They kept their attention on us as we stopped short in the small parking lot. With them standing between us and the car, we had no easy means of escape.
“You’re a dead man walking, Giovanni,” Nina said, glowering at the shorter, older man between the two guards.
Giovanni? This had to be Stefan, the leader of the other family. The two-timing, scummy Mafia boss that Romeo and Dante had identified as one half of their biggest problem.
At the sound of footsteps behind us, too close for comfort, I lowered my hand to my open purse, wanting the comfort of the handgun in there. A quick glance back showed that two more men had come up behind us, preventing us from running into the store.
The man in the suit smirked at my best friend. As he pulled up a gun and aimed it at us, I stepped forward and shoved her behind me. I’d be damned if she was targeted. Vulnerably pregnant and unarmed, she had to stay back.
“What the fuck do you want?” I demanded, hoping I sounded a lot braver than I felt.