“LaSalle, I don’t know. The way I felt when I destroyed that room, I wouldn’t put anything past me.”
“Do you want me to have the room cleared out?”
“No, I don’t think I’m ready for that.”
“Okay, I’ll clean it up and make it as if nothing happened.”
“Thank you. Babe?”
“Um?”
“Would you be angry if I said that’s it? I thought I could have another, but it doesn’t sit well with me right now. I can’t replace her.
“I know that’s not what we’d be doing, but a part of me feels like it would be. I don’t want to feel that way. Another baby wouldn’t deserve that.”
“Tasha, I love you with everything in me. You have given me four other amazing children. I smile and laugh daily; my heart is always full, and I’m never in lack of a little face smiling up at me.
“Whatever you want, I will do. If that’s another baby, we can keep trying. If that means you want to table another for now and come back to it later, we can do that.
“If Lucia was our last, it is fine. As long as you are happy, I am happy and content. I’m a man fulfilled.”
“Are you sure?”
“Have I ever lied to you?”
“No.”
“Then you know I’m sure. I get to make love to you either way,” I tease.
“This is true,” she says with a smile in her voice.
“Are you feeling better?”
“A little.”
“You ready to eat something? I was planning to surprise you and cook for you.”
“LaSalle, did you get the chef to cook something you plan to pass off as your own handiwork again?”
I chuckle. “No, I really do have plans to cook for you this time. I knew I shouldn’t have told you about that.”
“Then that would mean you lied to me. I’m glad you told me. Not only will it be forever funny, but it showed me I can always trust you.”
“In that case, I’m only air-frying sausage links and fries,” I laugh.
She bursts into laughter. “I’ll take it. As long as you’re making it for me, I know it will be made with love.”
“Everything I do for you is out of love. Everything.”
CHAPTER 27
Betrayal & Anger
Elizaveta
I down anothertumbler of vodka as I pace the room with my emergency phone in other hand. I have waited long enough. Spinelli should have called by now.
For a month, I have heard nothing. Not a child killed, not a boy dead. He has my money, and I have no results.
