“No,” he said gently, his gaze softening when our gazes collided. “The man is dead,” he said plainly.
Dead. That word landed hard, but it wasn’t the fact of the statement—the man was dead—it was the way Enzo said it, in that flat and controlled voice, as if it didn’t matter to him. I reminded myself that he told me I would see this side of him and I might not like it.This is his world,I told myself.
“Do you think the woman is still around?”
“Yes,” he answered quickly. “I need to figure out who hired her.” His jaw clenched as if that one fact was causing him anxiety.
I pulled the small pink USB from my pocket and laid it right in front of him. “This is everything they submitted—applications and photos.”
His lips twitched. “It’s all probably lies, Ren.”
My jaw clenched. “Maybe so,” I conceded. “But my system weeds out most bullshit early in the process. If even a shred of it holds up, it might be worth looking into.” I watched him, waitingfor him to doubt me again. He didn’t. “Also, they filled it out digitally and sent it through the ENS database, so maybe have your people look into it.”
His brows rose. “My people?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Hackers, henchmen, muscle, enforcers, and bagmen.People.”
He laughed softly, but his eyes crinkled at the corners, and once again, I saw a glimpse of the man I used to love. “When did you get hip to mob lingo, Ren?”
I crossed my arms and lifted my chin. “I watch movies,” I insisted.
His smile faded into something more serious. “Thank you, Ren. This matters.”
“You’re welcome. Ready to get out of here?”
He nodded and started gathering Mattie and his belongings while I found Toni near the front door.
She hugged me tight. “Take care of yourself, Serenity. You matter too.”
I squeezed her back and nodded. “I promise I will. I’ll also be in touch regularly.” I watched Toni slip into the passenger seat of a sleek black SUV that I knew her billionaire husband demanded carry her to and from the office. I was suddenly incredibly thankful for his foresight.
Enzo settled Mattie in the backseat while I fastened my seatbelt in the passenger seat, and then we were on our way back to Lucky.
The house came into view as the sun dipped low, light spilling through the trees. It felt like home.
That realization unsettled me because I wasn’t sure how, or when, it happened.
And I wasn’t sure what it would cost to make it true.
Chapter 18
Enzo
Mattie was already asleep, and the house was finally quiet. Another long day wound down into a peaceful kind of quiet I knew wouldn’t last long.
Ren and I sat on the sofa with a bottle of wine between us, her feet tucked into my lap like no time at all had passed. It was like this was any other Saturday night where we’d stay inside with wine and pizza, turning on a movie that acted as background noise while we talked, lost in each other. She leaned against the armrest facing me, relaxed in a way I hadn’t seen at all since she came back into my life. Her shoulders were loose and her guard lowered just enough that I could sneak in if I wanted to.
I did. Really fucking badly.
The stem of my glass rolled back and forth between my fingers while I watched her talk.
“The nanny was fresh out of college and eager to prove herself, and I’d just taken on a new family with three kids, all under the age of five. They were chaotic and rambunctious, but she was determined. One hour later, I was driving to the other side of Houston to help her out.” She threw her head back andlaughed. “I handled it with what I’d like to say was grace, but the minute I was back in my old office, I cried like a baby.”
“I’m sure you were the epitome of grace.”
She laughed again, smiling all the way up to those blue eyes that haunted my dreams even now. “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
I leaned in and listened to her the way I used to, like she was the only other person in the world. I listened to the story as if our time here wasn’t limited. “You love your job.”
