“I notice you left out the exorbitant fees,” Doc muttered.
“Those are set by my firm!”
“Okay, kids,” Romeo interjected. “We have wandered into counterproductive territory here. Let’s all be quiet so Cami can explain about her sister.” His face softened as he added, “I’m sorry for your loss, by the way.”
That was all it took to douse the fire of Cami’s indignation. Her shoulders drooped. She massaged her temples. “My father’s name is Anthony D’ Angelo, otherwise known as Big Tony D. He worked for the Gambino family.”
“Ha!” Doc tossed back his head and laughed. But there was no humor in it. “Oh, this is rich.” Lowering his chin, he settled a penetrating look on Romeo. “What the hell did LT get us into?”
Mia glanced from Doc to Romeo to Cami. Their knowing expressions meant she was the only one not in the loop. “I...I’m a little lost,” she confessed. “Should I recognize those names?”
“The Gambino Crime Family is one of the original Five Families of New York,” Cami explained. “Surely you’ve heard of them.”
Mia’s brain buzzed with scenes from every mob movie she’d ever seen. “Are we talkingI’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuseoriginal Five Families? Thefunny how? Funny like a clown? Do I amuse you?original Five Families?”
Romeo snorted. “You’ve been hanging out with Bran too much.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It was my grandmother who turned me on toThe GodfatherandGoodfellas. Although,Casinowas her favorite.” She wrinkled her nose. “And I always thought it was over-long and tedious. The acting was good, though. You can’t fault the actors.”
A strange look passed over Romeo’s face.
“What?” She tilted her head.
“You’re just one surprise after another,” he told her.
“Did you think all I cared about was history and artifacts?” She frowned.
He didn’t answer, but the look he sent her said he was trying to see inside her head.Just shoot me now if he can, she thought.
Since what she was thinking, what she wasalwaysthinking, was that she wished she could be somebody else. Anybody else. Because maybe if she was somebody else, somebody without an awful, shameful past, somebody who’d been born brave and beautiful, she could be the kind of woman he needed.
The truth was, she agreed with the first part of his statement. Shewasn’tanything he needed—she wasn’t anythinganyoneneeded. But that second part? The part where he said he wasn’t anything she should want?
He was dead wrong aboutthat.
She’d never wanted someone so much in her life.
Shifting uncomfortably under his intense gaze, she was glad when Cami cut in with, “The movies don’t do the reality of the life justice. And yes.” Cami looked directly at Mia. “I’m talkingthoseFive Families.”
“Dear god.” Mia blinked myopically. She was sitting in a life raft with an actual, factual mob princess.
Granny Susan would be thrilled!
Doc was a little more flamboyant with his interjection. “Jesus hopscotching Christ. We hired you tohelpus, not get us killed.”
“I don’t think the plane going down had anything to do with me,” Cami reiterated, and Mia could tell the lawyer was struggling to keep her tone even. “There’d be no reason for someone to try to kill me.”
“I’ve known you less than twenty-four hours, and I can assure you,that’sdebatable.”
“Oh!” Cami balled up her fists and Mia thought for sure Doc was going to come away with two black eyes. “I have been nothing butniceto you, you insufferable...” Mia could tell Cami was searching for the right word and was a little surprised when the lawyer settled on, “Butthead! I could’ve had hotel security haul your drunk ass out of my room, but no! I covered you with a blanket and let you sleep it off!”
Doc opened his mouth, but Mia stopped him from saying anything by quietly calling his name. He turned toward her, his brow heavily furrowed. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” she asked him.
“Hell, no,” he grumbled. “I feel like something that came out of a slow cooker. Why?”
She knew what it was to be mercilessly harangued. Her mother had made a sport of exactly that. Which was why she couldn’t sit idly by while someone else was dragged over the coals. Even if the person doing the dragging was a man she liked and respected.
Becauseshe liked and respected Doc, she made sure her expression was compassionate even though her words held an intentional bite of sarcasm. “Because your mother may love you but everyone else in this raft thinks you’re being a jerk right now. That’s not like you.”
