“Ever,” he states plainly, but I hear certainty along with a bit of rage.
Ethan nods this time.
“Next point,” Cage says, pointing to the papers.
It takes two hours, but when we’re done, I feel better about things.
“This doesn’t make you a ‘made man’,” Sera tells me. “You have to earn that if it’s what you’re looking for.”
“I’m undecided,” I admit.
“Sometimes the decisions are made for you,” Cage tells me.
“However it goes, I’m in.”
I sign the papers and Ethan signs a new NDA.
Russo Security. Russo Famiglia.
Safety.
38
LUCY
“Nana,” I sigh, giving her a hug.
“I see we have some issues with Kierah.”
“Me no like Kierah. Me Kiki!” Kierah shouts.
“Don’t you take that tone with me, young lady,” Nana starts, and Kiki crosses her arms over her chest. “You don’t frighten me child. Not with your look, your attitude, or your posture. I’ve got more mojo in my little finger than you do in your entire little body.”
Kiki looks at Nana now, curiously.
“Me see?” Kiki asks.
“What do you want to see?” Nana asks in return.
Jesse books it out of the room. “I don’t want to see shit. I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t see anything. I don’t know anything. Good luck.”
I laugh.
“Can you bring the flower lady?” Kiki asks, and Nana falters. Lily. She means Lily.
“I’ll see if she’s around.” Nana sits in the chair, closing her eyes, her fingers twitching occasionally. Then I smell it. Flowers.
“Sera. I should get Sera,” I mutter.
“I already reached for her,” Nana tells me.
A tear runs down my cheek.
Kiki’s mouth is shaped with a tiny O. “You smell pretty.”
Lily must talk to Kiki somehow. I watch as Kiki nods.
“I not a bad girl. It funny,” Kiki defends.
