“They did recon,” Capone says. “Realized someone from your company dated an employee at the bakery. Doesn’t take a genius to make that plan, and we both know the rest of your family ain’t intellects.”
Jethro waves a hand in the air. “What do you mean when you say they want you back?”
Sighing, Capone looks at me, and I know he’s suspected this longer than I have. And he knows something I don’t. When the SUV looked like something from our past, he probably started asking around. He has connections I don’t.
“Word on the street is that he wants Pacino back in Vegas. There’s talk about a re-org about to happen, and Benito’s sick,” Capone says.
“How doyouknow this?” Zep asks. “Pacino didn’t, and it’s his family.”
“We know each other,” I say. “From back in the day. Our families are… They know each other.”
Capone snorts and crosses his arms over his chest. “Called my brother when we saw the second SUV. Then I heard Ryan was in town, but then I got the message for the meeting. Figured Pacino was already aware his brother showed up here.”
My father being sick makes me more than a little happy. After everything that’s happened, I plan to throw a party on his fucking grave. “What illness?” I ask.
“Lung cancer. My brother saw him with oxygen a couple weeks ago.”
“I hope it’s fucking painful.”
No one has ever betrayed me like my own family. After what they did, I won’t even attend their funerals. I’ll make a trip to spit and piss on their graves after the fact, though.
“What do you need from us?” Jethro asks.
“More protection for Phoebe. Especially at the bakery. My brother’s the one who broke in, and he’s been casing out the place. Then he showed up today, scaring Sarah.”
“What do you think they’ll do if they get ahold of Phoebe?”
I don’t have to think about it. I know. I know because I’ve already lived it. “They’ll kill her.”
“Are you sure?” Kannon asks. “If she was a means to get your attention, won’t they leave her alone now? What good would it be to hurt her?”
“He’s sure,” Capone says. “They’ll fucking kill her without a second thought.”
Swallowing, I know I have to come clean to them. To tell them what I’ve been trying to ignore for a week now. I swore I’d never be Zep, but I fell right into the same fucking trap he did.
“They know the best way to hurt me is to go through women I care about,” I say, clearing my throat. “And I care about Phoebe. If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.”
I can’t make eye contact with anyone as the confession settles among the room. Who would have thought? The grumpy asshole who needed to fuck Queenie to get human affection has started falling for the overly cheerful baker with a past much darker than I ever imagined.
“You care about her?” Jethro asks.
“We’ve been… She’s not just a guest in my house,” I say.
What exactly we are and what I feel isn’t clear yet, but I know I need her. She brings something to my life I didn’t know Iwanted, and now that I’ve gotten a taste of her bright side, I can’t live without it. She’s like the fucking sun.
“I knew you hadn’t been at Velvet in a while,” Penn says, and I can hear the smirk on his face. “Tell me she’s a closeted freak. She looks like it.”
Grabbing his shirt, I yank him up from his seat and glare at him. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that ever again.”
“Woah, man, I was half-kidding. I mean, she does have that look about her, but I didn’t mean anything bad by it,” he says, his hands in the air.
I toss him back into his chair and run my hands through my hair. I’ve already lost the love of my life because of my father. I can’t lose Phoebe, too.
Holy shit. I’m comparing Phoebe to Joanna?
How did this happen? It hasn’t been very long. It’s not enough time.
“Pacino?” Capone asks. “What’s going on?”
