Page 56 of Two For One

“Who was she?” he asked, as he took a deep drag.

She was a server at the front end of Valentine Town. I signed. She was perfect. She is perfect but turns out she cast a love spell on us, and now O thinks everything that happened was just to get information from us.

“Did you give her information?” He cocked his brow. “Did she ever ask for information?”

I took another deep breath of the cigarette, thinking back on every interaction we had had with her.

I shook my head.

“Did she do anything that made you suspicious?”

I shook my head again.

“Sounds like maybe the universe was just answering a need,” he said, blowing out smoke. “Claudia would tell you that a little bit of magic is all the pull we need to get what we want in life. She calls it some woo0 woo shit.”

“I heard that!”

I chuckled, seeing Claudia walking over, looking ever the mob boss’s wife with a sway in her hips and a ‘don’t fuck with me’ look.

“Girl trouble, Ezra?” she said, leaning against Saint.

Yeah, but— I signed before she interrupted me.

“You love her?” she asked.

I nodded. Everything is a mess and our job is finished, so what's the point? O and I fly back in a couple of days anyway.

“Bring her,” she said, like it was really that simple.

She won’t come, her grandparents are here and they raised her. I can’t ask her to leave.

Claudia nodded. “Then stay. Saint always needs someone in the states.”

I looked between her and Saint, biting my lip so I didn’t smirk. If Claudia asked, then Saint would do it.

“I like how you're telling one of my best guys to stay here,” he smirked. “You know if he stays, O stays too.”

“Is that so bad?” she raised her brow. “You’re always sending them somewhere, so why not let them stay here? There are things called phones, zoom calls and planes.”

Saint scowled, sighing loudly. “You have it all figured out, don’t you?”

“Of course, don’t think you got successful all on your own,” she said, kissing his cheek. “Now, Ezra, when you go get your girl, I expect you to bring her over even if it’s just for dinner. Maybe we can meet in New York.”

She cupped my cheek in a motherly way, even though we were the same age.

Yes, ma’am. I signed.

“Chop, Chop, Saint, I miss my Candy Cane,” she said, walking away.

I chuckled, seeing her boss him around was one of my favorite things to witness.

“Let me know what you decide,” he said, clapping my shoulder. “I would rather have you in Europe with me, but if this is how your relationship is going to work, then we’ll need to restructure, but I won’t give you too much leeway. When I call, I expect you to come.”

Yes, Sir. Thank you for understanding and helping me. I signed.

He nodded. “Good luck. If she's anything like my girls then you’re going to need it.”

I was going to need it. I promised her abuela I was going to stay away except I couldn’t. Something told me she might not be so hard to convince, it was O that I had to be worried about. He was furious beyond anything I had witnessed before. O had massive trust issues, I mean we all did. O’s family never took care of him the way they should have, and he had never recovered from that. An expensive upbringing had done nothing for the little boy who only wanted to be loved.