Matti’s jaw is tight. “We need men watching her. Four rotating shifts, armed, experienced. Two on the house, one on her car, one mobile.”
I nod, irritated. I fucking know this. I pull out my phone. “No shit.”
“And you need to stay away from her.”
My head snaps up. “The fuck I do.”
“It’s my wife’s cousin, Vin.” Matti gestures to Sophie, sitting quietly at the edge of the ambulance with Rossi. “Her restaurant just got firebombed because Aurelio knows she’s connected to you. You think keeping her close makes her safer?”
“The mistake was leaving her alone. I’m not doing that again.”
“She wasn’t fully inside when it happened. She would have been if she hadn’t come out to the car with Siena. She’s alive because she wasn’t there. Don’t you want to keep it that way? Put distance between—”
“No.” The word comes out flat, final. “She stays with me.”
Tommy stops pacing. “Vin—”
“She. Stays. With. Me.” I look between my brothers, my underboss andconsigliere, the two men I trust more thananyone. “I’ll move to a new safe house, somewhere Aurelio doesn’t know about, but I’m not leaving her alone and vulnerable.”
Matti and Tommy exchange a look. Finally, Matti sighs. “I’ll find you a safe house. Give me two hours.”
“One.”
“Fine. One.” He pulls out his phone, already dialing. “But when this is over and Aurelio’s in the ground, you’ve got to leave her alone. She’s fucking family; she means more than your average fuck.”
I glare at him. He doesn’t need to fucking tell me what what she means.
Dr. Rossi finishes with Sophie and packs his bag. I move to her immediately, kneeling in front of the ambulance so we’re eye level. Her gaze is still on the fire.
“Regina,” I say softly.
Nothing.
“Sophie.” I cup her face, turn her toward me. Her eyes are glassy, unfocused. “Look at me.”
She blinks slowly, like she’s waking up. When her eyes finally meet mine, it fucking breaks me.
“It’s gone,” she whispers.
“I know.”
“Everything I built. Everything—” Her voice breaks and she stops, pressing her lips together hard, fighting back tears. She’s always so fucking strong even when she shouldn’t have to be.
“We’ll rebuild it,” I tell her, the words out before I think them through. “Bigger. Better. Whatever you want.”
“Vin—”
“I mean it.” I grip her hands, small and cold in mine. “You want a restaurant? I’ll buy you a whole fucking building. You want—”
“I want to go home.”
Home. She means her house, the shitbox with the refinished coffee table and the bed I put together and the kitchen where she makes me food that tastes like fucking love.
“Not yet, but I’m taking you somewhere safe where no one can touch you. Okay?”
She nods, so tired her shoulders curve inward. I stand and lift her into my arms. She doesn’t protest, just tucks her face into my neck and breathes.
“I’ve got you,” I murmur against her hair. “I’ve got you, baby.”
