But Carmine wasn’t her concern anyway. He was Reno and Trina’s concern. Duke was her concern and she was going to fight tooth and nail to keep him out of the family business.
But as her smile faded, Duke could see that distressed look on her face as if something heavy was on her mind. Hestopped the treadmill and removed the Bluetooth from his ears. “What’s wrong, Ma?”
More and more, he was becoming her confidant. Teddy was still her go-to guy. But with him working overtime all the time, Duke was a close second. “I’m trying to figure out the best way to approach your father.”
Duke already knew. “That girls’ trip to Essence with Nikki?”
Roz had forgotten that she’d already confided in him about that. “Yes.”
“Forget about it, Ma. Daddy is not going to let you do that.”
“What makes you so certain?”
“If you don’t know that,” Duke said as he shut off his treadmill, grabbed his towel, and stepped off, “then you’re being willfully ignorant.”
Roz was offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Ma, you have to know good n’ well that Daddy isn’t letting his wife go anywhere on some cross-country trip without heavy security. And I mean heavy. You know this.”
“It’s not up to him,” she said defensively. “I can do whatever the hell I wanna do. I’m not his child. I’m his wife.” Then she dismissed him. “I don’t know why I even brought it up to you anyway. You always take his side,” she added, and left.
Duke smiled and shook his head. His mother was the toughest woman he knew. And in their family there were a lot of tough broads. But when it came to his father, she didn’t stand a chance either. She knew it, but she never wanted to admit it.
Then his phone buzzed. When he saw that it was that same girl calling him again, he didn’t bother to answer. He told her what time it was. But like his mother, she wanted to ignore it too. So he ignored her, and made his way to the power rack.
CHAPTER FIVE
Mick stood in the shower stall with his hands flayed against the shower wall and his head dropped down beneath the wide rain showerhead. It drenched him and tried to loosen every stiffened bone in his big body. Then he leaned his head all the way back and allowed the water to careen down his neck. He still couldn’t believe it. After that ambush behind that shoe factory building, he spent many hours of his own time and many days of his men’s time searching for her, putting the word on the street, trying to figure out just what went down. Why was she targeted? What had she done? Why was there no blood? Was it a performance and not a hit?
But nobody knew anything.
He assumed, after months of nothingness, that maybe she was gone. Maybe it wasn’t as it seemed to him. Maybe.
And what about that note Bella gave him? She could be full of shit. She did her share of attention-seeking plots and schemes on the regular. But she wouldn’t play about a thing like that. And he saw the terror in her eyes. She was truly afraid. But what was that about? And it was signed his past? Which past? He had a lifetime of pasts.
Still reeling, he got out of the shower, dried off, and made his way to the edge of his bed where he sat down.
Now Cleo was back? Was her sudden sighting related to that note? Had it been any capo other than Robby Yale, he would not have believed that sighting. But it was Robby. He was there through all of her bullshit with Sal. He knewthat backstory. If Robby said he saw Cleo, he saw Cleo. And according to him, she was alive and well two years later.
Mick rested his elbows on his knees and leaned his head down. Mainly because he was emotionally drained. But also because he knew Cleo wasn’t in Vegas to gamble. She wasn’t in Vegas to see her favorite singer. She was in Vegas to get something. That was what she did. But what was she trying to get?
And why Vegas of all places? Was it because of Sal? Or Reno? Or was it the perfecthide in plain sightalternative because everybody knew that Sal had it in for her ass and that Reno, although they fought like cats and dogs, always had Sal’s back? He didn’t know.
But he knew if Cleo Burgess was involved it was going to be something big. And chaotic. And all kinds of ways messy. That was what she did too.
He ran his hands through his thick, messy hair. And then he laid all the way back on his bed. His body was naked, but his soul felt exposed too.
CHAPTER SIX
Although she’d seen Mick’s Escalade on their circular driveway, he was nowhere to be found downstairs. So she made her way upstairs.
And there was Mick, lying in bed, under cover, in their master bedroom. The cover was pulled down along his waist, revealing his bare chest, and he had one hand behind his head, and his other hand scrolling through his text messages. It was so strange to see him in bed before midnight that Roz automatically assumed he was ill.
“Good evening,” she said. “Welcome back.”
He looked her up and down with a look in his eyes that proved he missed her, and then he exhaled. Roz was always his place of refuge when the world wore him down. He could only hope she wasn’t full of drama tonight too. “You’re okay?”
She nodded. “I’m good. But what’s up with you?”
