We need to hit Luminous
& Co. It can’t wait.
I’m not leaving Gi.
This is for Gi, bro. Getting
her back means
Aurelio is on the war
path and knows
we’re ready to strike.
I’m not leaving her side.
God damn it, Tommy.
You know she’s not
safe until this is done.
My jaw tightens, and I squeeze Giovanna’s fingers. He’s not wrong, but the idea of leaving Giovanna alone again—I just can’t do it. She’s been back with me for four days, and Vin has been harassing me nonstop. I understand that this needs to get done, but I can’t bring Giovanna with me in the condition she’s in and I can’t leave her alone.
I was in the same fucking building when she got taken. Even leaving the room to make her food stresses me out. Matti offered to put cameras in the house, but cameras can get hacked. I’m only calm when she’s right next to me.
But I know how important the Luminous & Co. heist is. It’s not just jewels, not just money. Luminous is the warhead. If Aurelio touches it first, everything we’ve fought for, all the work we’ve done to not only break away but take him down, will be for nothing.
And if Aurelio isn’t taken down, Giovanna will never be truly safe. None of us will.
Gi shifts in the tub, and the water laps against the tile. She presses her forehead to my knuckles and sighs contentedly.
Doc told me earlier that her limited medical exam showed her to be physically healthy: the last assault was weeks before and the drugs were out of her system. But the emotional damage would take its own time to heal, and she may push me away or she may hold on to me—or both. There is no right or wrong way for her to respond to this emotionally, he said, and he told me to be prepared and patient.
Gi’s thumb drags over the back of my hand, the same tiny motion she used the first time she held my hand in the coffee shop all those years ago. My vision blurs so much I can hardly focus on the phone.
I’ll do it but not tonight.
I need more security here first.
Move your ass. We don’t
have time to fuck around.
I look down at Gi. She turns her head, watching me with her big hazel eyes in a quiet way that is different from before. Like an ache. She closes her eyes and leans into my palm as if she’s drawing strength from me, the same strength I draw from her.
“I need to get you something to eat,” I tell her, my voice rough. “Then you need to sleep.”
As I stand, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, the smell of herbal soaps floats up. Tiny bubbles cling to her collarbone like snow, and her skin is cold above the water line. I run my hands over her bare shoulders, massaging her as she closes her eyes and groans. I can feel the exhaustion threaded into her muscles.
With her eyes closed, she nods slowly, but when I pull away, she grabs my wrist and turns to look at me.
“You need to eat, too” she says, her voice soft. “And you need to sleep, Tommy.”
I want to argue. I want to tell her that I’ll sleep when that fucker Antonio is dead, but I haven’t told her yet that I have him locked up at the Edge waiting for her to regain her strength.
“Okay. I’ll eat. Then bed. But only if you do.”
