Meirna surprises me and reaches for my hand that’s still running lines across her skin. “Stop it. There’s no need for it.”
“There’s definitely a need. I didn’t want to do it in front of you.”
“Why? Do you think I’ve never seen a fight before?”
“Not my kind.”
“Mhm.” She laces her fingers with mine, and the action simply steadies my pulse. “Tell me what you’ve been doing since you dropped me off from Prague. You’ve texted, but it’s been vague and all about what I’ve been doing.”
“You’re more interesting.”
“And you’re evading.”
“I’m not.” I lift her hand and press a kiss to the top. “But it’s not the kind of news you tell someone over the phone.”
“News?” she repeats. “Do you have another brother?”
“No. The world has enough on its plate to have a third of me.”
“Don’t I know it,” she mutters. “It’d be a damn pandemic.”
I fix her with an impressed stare. “Two of me fucking you would be a fantasy, Daydream. I know how you think and operate.”
She rolls her eyes purely for the fact that she wants to show me it’s not something that would make her come twice as hard. “Love to see that you’re still humble after forty-eight hours.”
“Well, I put my fair share in. I went to Chicago. And paid a visit to Franco Giordano.” I feel Meirna freeze underneath my palm, and her skin pales. “You’re off the table. Whatever ties you had with Bobby and his dealings, it’s over.”
“Over?” she whispers. “Did I have many?”
“One is too many.” She remains still and quiet, mulling over information she doesn’t have and can only imagine. “I handled it, Daydream. You’re no longer linked to anything regarding Bobby anymore.”
“How? What did you do?”
“Threatened him.” Meirna’s face appears defeated even though I’m giving her good news. Nonetheless, organized crime doesn’t abide by rules and laws, but they do listen when you have more power or money to throw at it. “Bobby sent him a text message the day we were leaving Prague, promising the money he owed. He was going to steal the million I gave you for your nonprofit.”
“How?”
Good, now she’s mad.
It’s easier to swallow for me when she doesn’t look like she’s about to cry or scared to death of the repercussions of thingsshe didn’t do.
“Not entirely sure,” I reply. “But I’m sure he could figure it out.”
“What makes you think he still won’t?”
“I have millions in droves, Daydream. However, I needed to make it perfectly clear to Giordano that any money coming from Bobby that had my name on it would be his funeral.”
“Bronte,” Meirna warns, giving my hand a squeeze. “Please don’t tell me you’re capable of murder or?—”
“Not for money, no. For you, yes.”
She tosses over an exasperated look. “Stop it.”
“Telling you the truth? Or having meetings with the mob?”
“The mob, of course,” she immediately replies. “The truth always.”
“Then the truth is that I didn’t want you, in any way, thrown into danger. That I have the means to stop Giordano if he decides to mess with me and mine. I’m never going to stand by and wait for someone to do something. He needed to be brought up to date on what was happening because I know Bobby won’t tell him the truth.”
