Page 45 of Cavaliere

“Christos Galanis.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” If I find out Nicholas lied to my fucking face, I’m going to destroy him.

“No,” Gio says, face hard. “All of the businesses along the street cooperated, so I was able to find him at just the right angle. I printed these off.” Gio throws a few photos onto my desk.

“What do you mean they cooperated?” I ask as I flip through the photos. If Gio made more of a fucking mess to clean up, I’m going to be pissed. His version of getting someone to cooperate is cutting off body parts.

“I didn’t cut any body parts off, if that’s what you’re asking.” The fact that he actually sounds upset he didn’t get to is the exact reason why I have to ask this every single time.

“This time, they actually just handed it over. Apparently, word got around that we had been watching that block.”

“Do they think we’re going to be protecting it now?” Alessio asks Gio.

“Yeah.” Gio nods his head. “I told him I would talk it over with the boss, but no promises.”

“If they need it, I don’t see why we couldn’t. No one occupies it now. Wren’s piece of shit landlord could use a kick in his ass for how he takes care of that dump,” I say, thinking out loud. “It would give Enzo something to do. He’s been wanting more responsibility.”

“Yeah.” Alessio nods. “It’s about time he gets some guys under him.”

“I’ll talk to him about it. I don’t want to throw him into something that he isn’t ready for. That area is going to take some major work.” They both grunt in agreement. “I didn’t get a good look at this guy when he shot at us, but I want to show Wren to see if she recognizes him. And if it is, and Nicholas knew about it, we’re going to have a major fucking problem.”

“I’m taking it that she finally agreed?” Alessio asks as Gio snickers.

“She agreed to give us a chance.”

“Oh, this poor girl.” Gio laughs. “She has no fucking clue what she’s getting into with you. I can’t wait to see this play out.”

“She can handle it.” I smirk.

“She’s probably the only one who can,” Alessio adds as he flips through the photos. “You going to call her in?”

“Not today. I have something planned tonight, and I don’t want to ruin it. I’ll show her in the morning. I want you two to do some more digging into this though.” I hold the pictures in the air. “I want everything there is to know about Christos Galanis.”

“Already on my list. I just wanted to drop those by and fill you in,” Gio says, his face hardening. “He’s mine.”

“I’ll let you have your fun, but he’s mine,” I say, placating Gio. If there’s one thing you ever need to know about Gio, it’s that he doesn’t like being left out.

“What’s tonight?” Gio asks, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

“A date.” I sigh. These two are so goddamn nosey.

“I never thought I would see the day that you, a guy that is never seen with the same woman twice, would be planning a fucking date. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m fucking loving this.” Gio slaps his hands on his thighs before standing up. “I look forward to hearing all of the details of your first official date. I’m out of here. I’ve got a piece of shit to find and probably a body part to cut off and shove in a hole where the sun doesn’t shine.”

My hand slaps my forehead as I shake my head.

“You’re nervous.” It isn’t a question, but it doesn’t surprise me that Alessio knows that. I’m only eleven months older than him, and we’ve done everything together for as long as I can remember.

“I just don’t want to freak her out. It took almost a month with her sleeping in my bed to just agree to this.”

“It’ll be okay. The right one is always worth the wait. Or so they say,” Alessio says as he throws the photos back on the desk. “I’m out of here too. I’m going to pay Brad a visit and see if they have anything on this piece of shit. Have fun tonight.”

I hope it’s more than fun. I hope this night will mean as much to her as it does to me. This is the start of her and me.

Chapter

Thirty-One

WREN