“I want to say I’m happy for you, but she’s married, and this situation is as complicated as it gets.”
“You think I don’t know that? It’s why I didn’t want to say anything. You need to stay out of this.”
“I can’t now.” He stands beside me. “How does this end, Ro?”
“Me and her together forever in a house full of kids.”
He rocks back on his heels as his brows climb to his hairline. “I’m so completely blindsided.”
“Me too. This has come out of nowhere, but it feels so fucking right.” I level him with a direct look. “She’s not going back to him.”
“You’ll start a goddamned war.” His jaw pulls taut before he cleaves a heavy sigh. “Whatever you’re planning, stop. We’ll figure this out. Find a diplomatic way to make this work.”
I bark out a bitter laugh. “Diplomacy doesn’t work with that abusive asshole.”
“How bad is it?”
“Not as bad as what Cat endured but bad enough, which is why I’m not putting her back on a plane.”
He scrubs his hands down his face. “You sure know how to pick your moments, dude. This is the last thing I need on top of everything else right now.”
I’m sensing he’s not talking about business. “What’s going on?”
“Something’s up with Cassio, and he won’t talk to me or Cat. I’m trying to play it cool, but he’s openly hostile, and every time he snaps at Cat, I can’t hold back. He can treat me like crap if he likes, but he’s not treating his mother like that.”
Before we can discuss it any further, the ladies return, and we walk toward the entrance doors together. Cat stops a couple feet away from the door to message her kids with an update while Massimo calls his driver to follow our limo to the steakhouse.
“They can’t know my plans for Dominic,” I whisper in Valentina’s ear while we loiter in the lobby as we wait for my friends.
“I’m not stupid, Gage. I know who Massimo is, and I’ve heard all the stories about Catarina Greco.”
“What did she ask you?” I inquire, opening my cell and retrieving the number for the restaurant.
“She just wanted to know if I was safe and being looked after and if things were consensual. I told her they were and that I don’t want to return to Miami and the nightmare I was living.”
I slide my arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t want Massimo to know because it compromises him. The only way I can protect him now is by keeping him out of my plans even if he suspects what I’m going to do.”
“Will he stop you?”
I shake my head. “He’ll trust me to cover my tracks, and he’ll bust my balls after the fact, but he won’t tell me not to do it. Not with the things you’ve had to endure. If we weren’t dealing with the cartel issue, he’d haul Dominic to New York and force him to file for divorce because of the things he’s done and the shame he’s brought to the organization.”
“But we can’t risk that now because we don’t know what he’s planning with the cartel,” Massimo says, catching the tail end of our conversation. “Unless you can shed light on anything?”
“I don’t know much, but what I know, I already promised to tell Fiero tomorrow.”
Massimo drills her with a look I know well, and I shove her behind me, snarling at my best friend. “Quit that shit. This is the only night I can take Valentina out, and I promised her one night where we wouldn’t discuss this. I’ve got it handled, and you need to step away and let me deal with it.”
“It’s your mess. Youshouldbe the one to handle it.” Cat pops her cell in her purse. “I mean no disrespect to you,” she adds, facing Valentina.
“Let’s call a spade a spade.” Valentina loops her arm through mine. “Itisa mess.”
“Glad we all agree on something,” Massimo says in a grumpy tone.
“Let’s talk in the car. It’s too open here.”
When we step outside, thesoldatiworking our protective details tonight fall into line around us, only pulling back when we’re all securely seated in the limo. They’ll shadow us to the restaurant in their vehicles.
Massimo pours champagne for the girls while I place a call to the restaurant advising them to upgrade our table to a larger one. When I end the call, he hands me a cold beer.
