Lenora: jealous?
Me: let’s not do this again
She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow — a challenge. My jaw tensed. No, fuck that. I’d reached my limit with the little jealous games last night. The last thing I needed was for her to openly flirt with the server. When he returned and set a glass of water in front of her, she smiled wider, batting her lashes at him as if he’d just given her a gold brick. My fingers worked like I was possessed.
Me: don’t push me, Principessa. You won’t like the outcome
It was the closest thing to admitting that I was jealous. She didn’t respond to the text, but her smile was blinding. I shouldn’t have texted her. I shouldn’t even care if she smiled at the server, but I was sulking at the thought of another man’s hands on her. I took a breath and cleared our text messages. She’d be married in less than two weeks, and then another man would have his hands on her for the rest of her days. There was nothing I could do about that. I opened up the group chat with the guys. It’s a bullshit excuse for a text chat, considering there are no real conversations. I typed out a text asking what time the meeting is. When I finished, I checked the numbers for Scarab last night. I’d been there for opening night on Friday, but since it was Rosie’s birthday weekend and John wasn’t working at Gio’s club, I’d paid him a generous amount of money to go to Scarab and run it. I’d also asked him to find me a manager. John was good at that shit.
Dom’s phone started buzzing. He looked at it and frowned but answered immediately. “I thought you were leaving town?”
Lenora stiffened. I watched her as she looked at her brother. Dom just kept saying a series of “uh-huh” and “no fucking way” and “Nah, that’s impossible” over and over. When he hung up, he let out a whistled breath.
“What happened?” Lenora asked, sitting up straighter.
“Someone broke into the Connecticut house,” Dom said, brows pulled.
“How?” Gabe asked.
“When?” I asked. “Last night?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“He wasn’t there?” Gabe asked.
“No. He got there yesterday and noticed a few things missing.”
“A few things like what?” I asked. Giuseppe’s homes looked like art galleries. Anything a robber would have stolen would be worth millions.
“Who would do that?” Rosie asked.
“He’ll find out soon enough. He has cameras everywhere,” Gabe said.
“He’s going through the footage of the last month. It’s going to take a while,” Dom said.
“Wow,” Yari breathed. “I’ve only met him once in passing, and he was nice to me since I was with Rosie, but even I know not to mess with that man.”
“Excuse me,” Lenora said, setting her napkin on the table. “I have to go to the restroom.”
I looked at the front of the restaurant and ensured a guard was there. There were two in the back where the restrooms were, so I knew she’d be safe, but I needed to know why she suddenly looked uncomfortable. Who was she texting? Had they scared her? I texted my brother.
Me: Call me
My phone rang a second later. “Mikey’s calling. Be right back.”
“What’s going on?” he said when I answered.
“Nothing. I needed an excuse to get up from the table. Thanks for calling.”
“Since when do you need excuses to do anything?” He stayed quiet, waiting for me to answer. When I didn’t, he said, “Roc, I don’t know what you’re up to, but you better be fucking careful.”
“Who said I’m up to anything?”
“Your silence.”
I groaned. “I’ll be careful, Dad.”
“I’m serious, Roc.”
