“Yeah, but I don’t know what he was thinking when it comes to you.”
“Do I get to keep my job?”
“For now, yes. But if someone comes after you, I can’t protect you at work.”
“Alright, what the hell, Gino!” Juliet yells as she storms intothe office, Drew right on her heels. The look on his face tells me he’s been listening to her tear into him the entire way up.
“Sorry,” Gino says. “I needed to ask her a few questions, and I didn’t want you moving around the house while we made sure no one was lurking outside.”
“A half hour?” Juliet snaps. “You waited a half hour to come get me?” She turns to Vanessa. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Vanessa says.
Juliet studies her more closely. “You look flushed. And your wrists are red.” Her gaze snaps to us. “Gino. Mateo. What did you do?”
“Technically, Drew did it,” I say.
“I already slapped him, so I guess that leaves you.”
She steps over and smacks my arm, not hard, but I still play it up.
“Jesus, woman. Why’d you have to hit me?”
She crosses her arms. “Let me think. You tied her up after she patched up Ryan.” Then she adds, pointedly, “By the way, he’s awake. And he’s fine.”
“That’s good, at least,” Gino says. “And we didn’t do anything to her. We just asked her a few questions.”
Juliet studies him. “I’m assuming you were satisfied by her answers.”
“Yeah. Drew, see if you can bring Ryan up. Also call Gabe, Jake, and Marco.”
“You got it,” Drew says before heading out.
Gino turns back to us. “Juliet, can you help Vanessa get changed? Kevin and Lucy are coming over for dinner. Mateo and I will start cleaning up.”
“Okay,” Juliet says, already moving. She looks at Vanessa and gestures toward the door. “Come on, let’s head to my room.”
Juliet and Vanessa leave the office together, and the tension in the room finally begins toease.
Gino closes his office door, then turns to face me. “I’m going to need you to stay with Vanessa after dinner tonight. Keep an eye on her. Those guys who showed up here clearly followed someone, and who knows how long they were out there listening.”
“You got it. Do you really think someone would go after her this fast?”
“We both know the rumors about my dad. We don’t know who else knew about Vanessa besides him, Kevin, and Lucy.”
“How much do you think she knows about your family?” I ask. “About the businesses?”
“She knows a little bit, but not much. Based on what was in that Manila envelope, and what Kevin told me, she knew Dad was in the Mafia, but not how high up he actually was. He did that on purpose.”
“To protect her,” I finish for him.
“Do you know why he did that, though?” I ask. “Why he didn’t bring her to New York when he came back after those few years?”
“I asked Kevin the same thing. He said when Mom died, it broke him. Then he met Alicia—and when she died, it destroyed him.”
“How did she die?”
“Kidney failure,” he says quietly. “She didn’t get a transplant in time.” He exhales. “At least it wasn’t a bullet like my mom. But watching someone fade over months instead of losing them in hours… that might be worse.”
