Twenty minutes later,I meet Lucy in the entrance hall of the Barone mansion, and I pull her into my arms. I bury my face in her sweet-smelling hair and groan in relief. I’ve needed her ever since I pressed the red-hot iron into Emilio’s flesh. To reassure myself that she’s safe. Alive. Still mine.
The scent of burning flesh still clings to my nostrils, but Lucy’s perfume, floral and sweet, starts to wash it away.
As I pull back, I notice what she’s wearing for our night out. Jeans, and the tiniest handkerchief top I ever saw tied around her breasts. It exposes her midriff as well as some cleavage.
My eyes travel down her body slowly, drinking in every curve. She’s all grown up. When did that happen? When did Lucy become so…
I swallow hard.
Sexy.
I raise an eyebrow, trying to keep my voice light. “Looking to cause a riot tonight, sis?”
She puts her hand on her hip and pops it out, and the movement makes my mouth go dry. “Are you going to tell me to change?”
Telling her she can’t go out looking drop-dead gorgeous is like admitting I can’t protect her from other men, and it’s also admitting I can’t handle seeing her like this.
I can handle it. I can.
I step closer and tuck her hair behind her ear, my fingers lingering on the soft skin of her neck. “I can fight. Wear what you want.”
A pretty blush spreads over her cheeks as she smiles up at me, and a warm sensation expands in my chest.
I reach for her hand and hold it tight. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
I drive us to the coast with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on her thigh. It’s a warm night, so we roll the windows down, and her curls dance in the breeze. She tells me about school and her friends, and funny stories that make me laugh and forget about all the bloodshed today. The way Emilio screamed, and the smell of burning flesh.
Lucy makes all of it fade away.
We end up at Giorgio’s Diner, a vibrant, old-fashioned place with red booths and a jukebox. All the kids from St. Peter’s and St. Agatha’s hang out here. As we enter, I take a quick look around.
Antonio and Giovanni catch my eye, friends I went to school with whose fathers are Dad’s capos. Antonio’s father was the one who shot Emilio in the head. Their knowing expressions tell me that they heard what went down tonight. I’ll catch up with them later to discuss it when Lucy’s safely tucked up in bed.
My eyes keep moving. Ariana is in a booth, giggling with her friends over milkshakes. Rafiel Lucania is in another booth with some friends, wearing a tight white T-shirt that shows off the ink covering his arms and throat, and his blond hair is shaved at the sides. He’s a son of the Lucania don, who is currently serving a life sentence. Their family is shattered, and their fortunes are low, but most damning of all, at least as far as Mom is concerned, is that the Lucanias are from the wrong side of the tracks.
Rafiel raises his chin to me in greeting, and I nod back. I don’t know what a Lucania is doing on Barone turf, but I don’t dislike the Lucanias, and he’s not unwelcome—if he behaves himself.
Lucy waves to a clutch of her friends across the room and slides into an empty booth. I slide in beside her, not in frontof her, needing to be close. The smell of burning flesh is still lingering in my nostrils, and I’m not ready to be more than a foot away from her.
We order burgers and fries. Lucy gets ketchup on her finger and tries to put it on my nose. We tussle for a moment, and then she dabs it on her own nose. I lick it off, making her giggle.
My heart feels lighter than it has all day.
“What the fuck, Damiano?”
A shrill female voice cuts through our moment. I turn and see that there’s a young woman in a tight dress standing at the end of our booth.
“We had plans, and you stood me up to go out with someone else?”
Oh, right. I did make plans to go out tonight, but it was nearly a week ago, and I forgot. Between Emilio’s execution and thinking about Lucy, I have no room in my head for whatever her name is.
“Jessica, this is my sister, Lucy. Lucy, this is—”
The woman looks angrier than ever. “Who’s Jessica? I’mFaith.”
“Sorry. Lucy, this is Faith.”
