“In his bedroom,” the flight attendant said and Bella began to make a beeline for the back of the plane. “But he doesn’t want to be disturbed, Miss Caine.”
“Oh child bye,” said Bella, dismissing the attendant as she made her way to the back of the plane.
But Mick was taking a large security detail to Rome with him, and one of his capos was guarding his bedroom door. When Bella went to open it, he moved his big body in her way. “He doesn’t want to be disturbed, Miss Caine,” he said.
“I need to talk to him.”
“He’s making phone calls, ma’am.”
“So? I still need to talk to him.”
“He not going to be disturbed, ma’am.”
Bella looked at the capo. He would not have spoken to her that way unless Mick had ordered him to. Which was a shame. Sometimes it broke her heart the way Mick treated her. But other times he treated her like she was his queen, and that made up for days like this.
It was the yin and yang with Mick. Always ups and downs. But she knew better than to press her luck. She went back up front, and sat down.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The plane touched down in Italy under heavy security. It was around one p.m. that afternoon when they left Philadelphia, and it was an eight-hour flight to Rome. But Rome was in the Central European time zone, which made it six hours ahead of Philly time. That meant, when they arrived in Rome, it was three a.m.
Which had Bella jetlagged as hell. She still hadn’t gotten used to the time swings even though she spent half of her time in France.
But her real concern was Mick. She was a still pissed that he didn’t bother to come out of that bedroom and speak to her during the entire eight-hour flight, and now she was being escorted off of his plane and placed in one of three waiting SUVs as if she had no say in her movements whatsoever. But that was Mick too. He always had to control her.
It would be another half hour before Mick got off the plane. Which was ridiculous to her. But he was supposedly making contacts. He was supposedly handling business. Besides, beggars couldn’t be choosey, she knew. She waited it out.
She knew something was about to go down when security suddenly tightened around the airstairs. She even saw sharpshooters appear on the rooftop. She knew it was bad in Rome, but she never dreamed it wasthatbad. Her heart was even more worried about Dory.
Because the driver and senior capo occupied the front seats of the SUV, Mick got in on the middle row next to Bella.Then with one SUV in front filled with Mick’s men, and another SUV behind them filled with Mick’s men, the SUV carrying Mick and Bella made its way through the heart of Rome and then toward the outskirts.
Nothing was said for several more minutes as Mick was back on the phone again. He was confirming security details. By the time he ended the last call, Bella was texting.
When she finished and looked at Mick, she realized Mick was staring at her. “What?” she asked him.
“You were smiling while you were texting. Who is it? One of your boyfriends?”
“I don’t have any boyfriends. Do I have male friends? Yes. That was Datvey.”
“Who the fuck is Datvey?”
“A friend who happens to be male.”
Mick shook his head. That woman put every man she touched through the ringer. He was a living witness.
“I’m sure Deuce told you about Ron,” Bella said.
Mick was looking out of the window as they rode. He didn’t respond.
“Ron is suddenly telling everybody he’s not the father.”
Mick looked at her. She was still a strikingly beautiful woman. Still a pain in his ass. “What do you mean heclaimshe’s not? Is he or is he not Dory’s father, Bella?”
“He has DNA results that shows he’s not Dorian’s father. But they could be fake.”
Mick wanted to ring her neck. “Cut that shit out, Bella, and I mean for good! Now you tell me the truth.”
Bella exhaled. “He took a DNA test that shows he’s not Dorian’s father.”
