Page 43 of Above ’N’ Beyond

Tony’s lips had twisted into a disappointed frown as he glared at her. Of course, he’d side with his mother. Marco’s face was a blank mask. Jimmy’s dark brows had lowered. If Bella wasn’t mistaken, the look he shot Paola was chock full of malevolence. Half a second later, the look was gone, replaced by one of indifference that matched Marco’s.

As Bella brushed past them, Jax touched his nose to her hand, uttering a sad whine. Her chest shuddered with sobs she couldn’t, wouldn’t let anyone see, and her eyes backed up with unshed tears. Just short of running, she raced to the front door and leaned over to grab her shoes. Without putting them on, she flung open the door and went outside into the pouring rain.

She stood by the Mini Cooper with her fingers curled around the handle but didn’t open the door. Warm summer rain mixed with the tears now streaming unchecked down her face.

Paola Mancuso’s moral code ran on a completely different track, and she had no qualms about mowing down anyone who got in her way. Including her. Blood ties were meaningless if there was no love there.

Remaining part of Paola’s world had become too painful. Bella wanted nothing more than to sever all ties with the woman, but that would mean walking away from the Bistro, her investment, and the employees she’d welcomed into her circle. Even they were more of her family than Paola had ever been.

Her body shuddered with sobs she could no longer suppress. The truth was devastating.

Cutting ties with Paola would also mean she’d have to walk away from everything and everyone that she did love.

Chapter Fourteen

The FBI had it wrong.

Jamie had already begun to suspect Bella either had nothing to do with using the Bistro as a front to launder mob money or, at the very least, wasn’t a willing participant. The heated argument he’d just witnessed pretty much confirmed it.

Tony had remained silent, frowning throughout the tirade between his mother and cousin, but was it because he didn’t approve of Bella’s attempt to extricate the Bistro from his mother’s iron grip, or because he didn’t approve of his mother’s treatment of her? The former, most likely.

At first, Marco’s expression had been undecipherable. But as he’d watched Bella’s hasty escape, Jamie saw it. The look of compassion in the man’s eyes. Marco definitely felt something for Bella, and she seemed either completely oblivious or completely not interested.

For whatever reason, Bella’s disinterest in the other man pleased him. As for himself, the wounded, defeated look in her eyes splayed his guts wide open, leaving his mind searching for answers as to why that was.

Bella reignited the kind of feelings he’d suppressed for so long now. The more time he spent with her, the greater the risk she would reignite the humanity in him. The side of him that wished he were a better person.

Jamie bit back his emotions, shoving them into the deep dark hole where they had to remain. The urge to chase after Bella and comfort her was a burning need inside him that had to be snuffed out. At the top of his to-do list was maintaining a professional distance from these people. Which meant kissing her again was at the top of his to-don’t list. She wasn’t his problem, and her problems couldn’t become his. But as Tony indicated they join Paola in the sunroom, he felt like crap for the havoc and grief his actions would ultimately cause Bella.

His chest tightened, and his fingers twitched with the need to hit something hard enough to snap his equilibrium back on rock-solid footing before he did something stupid. Worrying how his actions while undercover would affect someone didn’t normally happen. Bella was the first person who made him worry about what would happen to her when this case was over.

Paola gave a quick shake of her head and smiled. Talk about cold. Like she hadn’t just crushed every one of her niece’s hopes and dreams beneath the bottom of her shoe. Taking this woman down would be a gift to humanity.

“Mama.” Tony’s voice dripped with commiseration as he held out his hands to his mother and kissed her on both cheeks. “You shouldn’t get upset over this. Let me handle it. I’ll talk to her. She just needs to be reminded we’re all family, and we need to stick together. Family is everything, right?”

The Mancuso family is everything wrong. And he now had the definitive answer to one question. Tony’s frown had been directed at Bella.

“Mama, you remember Jimmy?” Tony draped his arm around Paola’s shoulders.

“How could I forget?” A twinkle of mirth glittered in her dark eyes as she extended her hand, a clear invitation to greet her the same as he’d done before. Like a queen.

Beside him, Jax stiffened, and in that instant Jamie understood perfectly. “Easy, boy,” he whispered. The last thing he needed was for Jax’s spot-on instincts to undermine the investigation.

Jax didn’t like Paola. Bella, however, he’d loved at first sight, as if he’d been struck with a bad case of canine colpo di fulmine, the lightning bolt of love. When Paola had slapped Bella, Jax had been on the verge of tackling the woman. So was I. If they’d been alone, Jamie would have high-fived his dog for being an excellent judge of character.

Jamie took her hand and raised it to his lips, doing his best to avoid the ring on her index finger. The diamond was the size of a small meatball and big enough to gouge out his eye. As it had been the first time he’d kissed Paola’s hand, her skin was cool and dry. Like the woman herself.

Marco scoffed his disapproval. Not that Jamie gave a shit what Marco thought. The man was of no consequence and would go down with the rest of the Mancusos. Apparently, Paola didn’t care, either, and completely ignored Marco’s snit.

“This must be Jax.” When Paola leaned down to pet Jax’s head, Jax actually jerked away.

Rather than laugh outright as he was inclined to, Jamie cleared his throat. “He’s a little shy around people he doesn’t know,” he lied. For a German shepherd, Jax was as friendly as they came. With people he liked, that was.

“I understand.” When she reached out to give him another pat on the head, he sensed Jax was about to retreat farther and nudged his dog, a signal not to move. He tolerated Paola’s touch like a real trooper.

“Jax,” Jamie said, planning on giving his dog lots of treats when they got back to the apartment. “Sit pretty for the lady.”

Still sitting, Jax raised his upper body and held it there, paws extended.