“Why are you here, Bella? You didn’t need to see that.” His tone was caring and full of love, not scolding me like a child. I appreciated that.
“Apparently, your wife thought she did,” Gray muttered, sounding pissy.
Angelo rolled his eyes but didn’t seem shocked. Maybe it was a discussion he and Vee had already had. After all, she was tits deep in building a female-led mafia; it made sense—in her unique friendship way—that she was trying to toss me in the deep end. Or recruit me.
“Are Rhett and Jace here?” Angelo asked, directing his question to Grayson. “I’ve got something for you all back at my house. Can we meet there in a couple of hours? I need to make sure this mess gets cleaned up first.”
Grayson huffed a laugh. “They stayed back in cultville to try and getthat messsorted. I don’t think Rhett will be leaving for a while, but Jace should be on his way here soon.” He cleared his throat. “So, yep, you have fun withyour mess; I’ll take care of Prickles until you’re back. Keys?”
Angelo handed over his gate clicker and front door key, then told Grayson the alarm codes while keeping me snuggled against his designer shirt. He’d rolled the sleeves up, and his strong, tattoo-covered forearm sat warm against the back of my neck as he held me. It was a good look for him, allmafia chic,but I preferred the rock star Angel. Or the naked one.
“Do you need help with anything else?” Grayson asked, his question loaded with meaning.
Angelo only hesitated a moment before shaking his head. “Nah, we have it handled. The women have been fantasizing about this day for so long it’s like I’ve barely had to lift a finger to tug all the strings together. By the time dusk falls, there won’t be a single person in Siena willing to question the change of leadership.”
“Good,” Grayson rumbled. “That’s what we need.”
Angelo shifted his grip on me, leaning down to kiss me again. And again. Then he got a little carried away, and I found myself boosted onto a table as his hand snaked under my shirt. The only thing that stopped us was Grayson’s pointed throat-clearing.
“Fuck,” Angelo groaned, reluctantly peeling away from me. “Bella, you make it easy to forget the whole world outside of your orbit.”
“Yeah, yeah, save it until you get home,” Grayson rumbled, giving Angel a teasing smirk as my mafia prince needed to adjust his dick inside his suit pants. “I’ll keep our girl entertained in the meantime.”
Angelo made a frustrated sound, then dipped back in to kiss me again. “I’ll hurry. Tell Jace to hurry the fuck up, too. He needs to be there.”
My brows rose. “For… Okay, yeah, I’m game. Should we pick up lube on the way, or…?” I trailed off, squinting between them. “Not what you meant. You weren’t… Yep. I’ll just… see myself out.”
Angelo barked a laugh, grabbing my wrist to prevent me from fleeing back to the car in embarrassment. “Bella, baby, if that’s where our evening ends up, I won’t say no. Just give me a few hours to reinforce my new position, and I’ll be right there.”
Grayson clapped him on the shoulder in a manly gesture of support. They exchanged a few words that gave me warm fuzzies inside as I watched their bromance solidify before my eyes. Then Angelo released my wrist and unlocked the front door for us to leave.
“Be careful, Ricci,” Grayson told him as we exited. “Come home safe.”
I nodded firmly. “What he said. I wanna fuck all of you tonight, and we can’t do that if you’re bleeding out, alright?”
Angelo scoffed another laugh, then dipped his head to kiss me sweetly. “I love you, too.” To Grayson he offered a fist bump, then retreated inside and locked the door once more.
Gray and I slid back into the car, and I nervously chewed the edge of my lip until he dropped his big hand to my knee, giving me a squeeze of reassurance. “Don’t worry about him, Prickles. That man was born for this day. He’s got it handled.”
I didn’t disagree with that statement, but part of me was terrified he wastoogood at it. That maybe he’d change his mind about getting out of the mafia. And then where would that leave us?
No. I had to have faith in Angelo and in how strong our bond was. Even if he did choose to retain his new position of power, he’d always make space in his life for me. Forus. We were a family, tighter than any blood bonds. Of that, I was sure.
thirty-seven
BILLIE
Angelo’sgiftthat he’d been so excited about was for Bellerose and came in the form of shredded paper. A whole bag of shredded paper that he gleefully dumped out on his coffee table when he arrived home. Jace, who must have driven like a crazy person to get here so quickly, arrived at the same time as the mafia man. He poured himself a drink and stared down at the paperwork, just as confused as the rest of us.
“Bellerose is free.”
Angelo’s simple statement told us everything we needed to know. The shredded paper was what remained of the entire Bellerose-Big Noise contract and our elation was high. So high that we all ended up fucking right there on the table on top of the shredded documents. Then again in Angelo’s big old bed in the opulent master suite.
At some stage in the night, Jace and I had a quiet discussion over a midnight snack. We came up with a plan for how to reel in our last remaining enemy and immediately woke Gray and Angelo up to discuss.
As the sun rose, I was buzzing with nervous anticipation. Part of me really hoped this would work. We couldn’t ever feel safe with my father—Wilson—out there painting targets on us. Or on Angelo and Vee, at any rate. Surely, if he wanted me dead, he could have done it long before now.
Then again… he’d had his hand in that bomb at Big Noise. He clearly didn’t care enough to protect me should I end up as collateral damage. So, with that knowledge in mind, I needed to harden my heart against the memory of my sweet, caring father. Bruce Bellerose was dead; he’d died nearly a decade ago in a house fire.
