Enough of that for now. I have to get my head in the game. We’re meeting at a restaurant on the south side of town, somewhere Gabriel and his crew use as a base of operations. It would be closed at this time of day, so we’ll have the place to ourselves. “We have a few bodies in place,” Nick confirms, checking his phone. “All doors covered, everything secure.”
I don’t know how many meetings like this one I’ve attended over the years. So many I should be used to them by now, definitely. Yet here I am, one knee bouncing, my fingers tappingan uneven rhythm against it. This is the first meeting where the stakes were this high. I only thought they were before.
That was another lifetime, the pre-Aurora days. When I could afford to be sure of myself. When vengeance carried me through. What matters now is protection, because she needs me. I am all she has in this world. Donovan made sure of that—no matter what, she would always be in need. Never capable of taking care of herself. I plan on undoing all of that, but it’s not the kind of thing that can happen overnight.
A pair of men wait outside the doors to the restaurant, now dark inside, the grates pulled over the windows. They nod in greeting when we step out of the SUV, then follow us inside. Two of my own men are already waiting, drinking coffee in a room that smells vaguely of garlic and onions. They finish, gulping it down, then fall in step alongside us as we walk into a back room after passing a few dozen empty tables.
Gabriel is waiting, hunched over a plate of fried eggs and bacon. “I would offer you something to eat,” he tells us, gesturing to the chairs across from him with his knife and fork, “but Enzo whipped it up and he’s going to come out and join us now.” He gestures, and one of the men standing next to a swinging door on the other side of the room opens that door and jerks a thumb, beckoning Gabriel’s brother out of the kitchen.
“Not to worry.” Nick and I take a seat and the guards stand behind us.
“Well?” He wipes his mouth with his napkin, then sits back. His brother joins us, slinging a dish towel over his shoulder after he finishes drying his hands. “Where’s my bride?”
Straight to it. “She’s not coming,” I announce.
Enzo barks out a laugh. “I told you,” he mutters to Gabriel, who hasn’t reacted. “I told you he was going to worm his way out of it. Maybe you and Blackwell have more in common than you thought.”
Gabriel holds up a hand to silence him without breaking eye contact with me. “Explain. Why isn’t she coming?”
“Because I’m offering a change in terms.”
“You don’t get to come in here and decide to change the terms all on your own.” The air in the room changes and his eyes go hard. No sense in pretending to be friendly anymore. “We had an agreement. I lived up to my end of that agreement. A real man would do the same.”
“I’m not turning this into a dick-measuring contest. But I am changing the terms. I cannot offer her up anymore.”
When Enzo reaches into his waistband, Nick does the same. “Let’s see hands,” he murmurs. “No need for violence.” Enzo inclines his head though he’s clearly seething,
“What would you give me instead?” Gabriel asks, folding his arms.
“Money. Plenty of it.”
“I don’t need money,” he informs me, sounding almost bored. “I need a wife. Which is why, when I made this arrangement with you, I arranged for a wife. Not for more of what I already have.”
“It’s all I can offer you now. Aurora is off the table.”
Enzo growls, but Gabriel does not. His eyes narrow, lips pursed like he’s thinking it over. His men shift their weight from one foot to the other, clearly affected by the energy crackling in the room. My men already had their orders: shoot to kill if someone points a weapon at one of us.
“All right, then.”
Nick sits up a little straighter, but I don’t flinch. That was too easy. “Really? Just like that?” he asks.
“I’ll still have my bride,” Gabriel assures me with an easy smile I don’t take seriously in the least. There’s something cold and hard under it. “If not Aurora, then her sister. Donovan’s other daughter.”
Mariella? “She’s too young.”
He waves a hand like it means nothing. “She’ll be eighteen soon enough, and when she is, I will take her to Italy with me and make her my bride.”
His voice drops to something close to a whisper. More like the hissing of a snake. “Take it or leave it.”
“And if I refuse?” Because I have to. Aurora would never forgive me. I’ve worked hard to earn her trust, to build something real between us. That would all be shot to hell if I go home and tell her she’s safe, but her sister isn’t.
A knowing grin starts to spread across his face. I watch, holding my breath while pretending to be calm, while Gabriel reaches inside his charcoal suit jacket. “I thought you might do this, so I brought along a little extra incentive.”
He withdraws an envelope. Unmarked, plain. “Hand Mariella over to me at the appropriate time, and I’ll tell you where to find your sister.”
Laura. No. That can’t be. My mind won’t accept it.
Nick grunts, leaning forward slightly. Like an animal that’s scented something on the wind. “Bullshit.”
