“Did you lose your way to the kitchen?” Franco stood in the doorway, taking in the both of us.
“I…” I started, hoping he hadn’t heard anything we’d said.
“Save it,” he told me sharply. “Gabe’s ready to leave.”
“Well, we’ll have to appease his royal highness, won’t we?” Dante grinned. “After you, Mia.”
And I trudged out of the room with Franco reattached as my shadow, making sure to break my vow of silence with Dante and fill him in on everything when I got home.
Chapter Eighteen
Dante
“You’re away with the fairies,” Tori said, pushing a hand through my hair as she came around the sofa. “What’s on your mind, love?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you want to try that again?” She stood in front of me with her hands planted firmly on her hips, and I looked up at the woman who looked less than impressed with the unconvincing lie that I’d told her. Letting out a sigh, I grabbed her hips and pulled her into me. Tori came willingly, perching herself on my lap, and I buried my head into the crook of her neck, taking in the cinnamon scent that belonged to her. Tori reminded me of Christmas at all times of the year.
“Dante,” she murmured against my temple. “You’re starting to worry me.”
“You don’t need to worry,” I told her, rubbing the outside of her thigh with my hand. “I’m just thinking about Mia and Luc.”
Tori leaned back to look at me properly. “You can’t fix everything for them. They need to decide if they want to talk. She’s safe with Gabe for now.”
I wished that were true. I had counted on Mia being safe with Gabe but that no longer appeared to be the case. Mia had divulged what she’d wanted to tell me Sunday afternoon through text, breaking the vow of silence we held between us. All of my plans had been derailed and I struggled trying to figure out what the next step would be.
“She’s being looked after. Her and the baby,” Tori assured me. Gabe was her twin and she’d trust him with her last breath. I hadn’t shared a womb with him and my faith in him was severely lacking.
“If you say so.”
“You think Gabe won’t take care of her?” Tori asked, a bite in her tone. It would have been easier to tell her the truth but that would have meant the risk of losing her. “He put a lot on the line to do you both a favor and take her in.”
I sat up straight, Tori still on my lap, and swallowed back the response I wanted to fire at her. Gabriel, despite his namesake, was no angel that was doing us a favor. Gabe was as power hungry as his father. Last night, lying in bed, the pieces had slotted together. Mia’s admission of his plan explained perfectly why Gabe had been so icy toward us all, especially Luc. He was panicking over his position in the family and he had every right to.
“I know he did and I’m grateful,” I said in a steady tone. “I just know she must be under a lot of stress right now.” My phone started to buzz, and Tori got off my lap, not looking pleased at my response. “We’ll talk about this later,” I told her distractedly, seeing Luc’s name across the screen and answering the call. “Boss? I’ll be right there.”
Luc had been MIA since he’d stormed into the house and demanded answers from me. At first, I thought he’d been avoiding me, but a quick round of the rest of the staff brought my ego back down to size. Even Dom had shared that Luc was rarely home as of late, and when he was, he locked himself in his office. Hearing from him for help with a job was a small speck of normality that I needed in the madness that was unfolding around me.
∞∞∞
“Clean it up,” Luc demanded. “I want the entire place spotless.” He dropped the bat on the floor and the clatter echoed through the warehouse. The entire space smelled of a foul mixture of blood and urine. Any scrap of life left in the man in front of us would soon drain away.
Michael and Theo moved in to start the clean-up and I peeled the gloves off my hands, tossing them to the ground alongside Luc’s before we stepped out into the cold night air. I heaved in a deep breath, trying to rid myself of the strong scents that lingered. Out of all the senses it was always the smells that stuck with me. I could push away the memories, but every now and then I swore I could smell gunpowder or blood even when we were out in the open, far away from the horrors of business.
“Don’t worry about coming in early tomorrow,” Luc said as we slipped into the car. “I can manage.”
“Are you sure?” I asked as he pulled away and headed toward my house.
“Yeah. I have a meeting scheduled for the morning but it’s quiet otherwise.”
“What meeting?” As far as I knew there was nothing that needed to be sorted. Any meetings, business or otherwise, I knew about, even if Luc didn’t expect me to turn up.
“It’s no concern of yours,” he told me sharply. The silence in the car sat heavy between us, only the sound of the air conditioner blasting cool air around us could be heard.
“Okay,” I said eventually, as he turned onto my street. “Probably works out for the best.”
“Why is that?”
