I stared at Chiara asleep in her crib later that afternoon, my heart swelling in my chest at the sight of her. My parents, as well as Natalia and Ryan, had met us at the airport an hour ago. Chiara had nearly jumped free from Mom’s arms to get to me. After I gave her a million kisses, Enzo stole her from me, and I’d swear that man held her as if he might never let go.
I’d sent Natalia and Ryan home, but my parents stubbornly followed us back to my place. My parents didn’t know the entire story of what had happened, and they didn’t need to know. But the Costas had assured them we were all safe and we would be protected.
“She always passes out on car rides.” I folded my arms, continuing to stare at my beautiful daughter.
“Let’s not wake her. Come on.” Mom lightly grabbed my arm, urging me to leave, but it was hard to unglue myself from Chiara when I’d been away from her for far too long. But I supposed Mom was right, so we left her room, though I kept the door slightly ajar.
Dad was in the living room talking in private with Enzo and, from the sounds of it, in Italian.
“Give them a second more alone,” Mom said, holding me back from entering the room.
“Don’t tell me he’s lecturing him? Threatening him that if something happens to me yada-yada-yada?” I asked her with worry, because that was the last thing Enzo needed right now.
“No, not at all. He’s giving his blessing.”
Well, that wasn’t what I’d been expecting her to say, but I was all for it.
Mom looked over at the two men, then focused back on me. “Enzo was tasked long ago to keep you and your sister safe, and your father’s worried Enzo may feel as though he’s crossing some type of line by loving you, which he so clearly does. And who are we to stand in the way of true love?”
I needed to hear that. I hadn’t realized just how much until now. “You’re turning over that new leaf for real this time, hmm?”
She smirked. “A work in progress.”
Her words brought me back to Enzo saying the same thing in New York. My man . . . my everything. I just wished I didn’t get the feeling something was still bothering him and he was keeping it from me. “I thought we were done with secrets.” Shit, did I say that out loud?
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. Ignore me. I’m tired.”
“Mm-hmm. Well, I overheard Natalia talking to you on the phone yesterday, and you told her you’re having nightmares. Bet you haven’t told Enzo that.”
“It was one nightmare. And now Enzo’s back with me, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I hoped I would be, at least. But who could blame me? I’d had to watch Enzo take lives to protect us, and then he’d been ripped away from me by the FBI. That was the definition of “a lot.”
“I’m just relieved Thomas wasn’t part of whatever happened.”
I folded my arms. “You really did a lot of eavesdropping on my conversation with Natalia Saturday, I see.” I’d texted Thomas on my way home that I was back and had Chiara. He’d yet to answer, and I hadn’t heard from him all weekend, which was shocking, so I had to assume he was still out of town.
“I think we should head out and give Maria and Enzo some privacy,” Mom said a moment later, more than likely trying to dodge a lecture from me about her invading my privacy. So much for the new leaf.
Mom and I joined Enzo and my father, and my gaze landed on our luggage by the couch. Bianca’s unedited story was inside Enzo’s bag, but he said he wasn’t ready to read it.
When I looked up at him, his eyes were on me, and there was that uneasy look from him again. What was going on?
“Well, we’re glad to have you home.” Dad came over and hooked his arm around me, pulling me in for a side hug. We all exchanged our goodbyes a few seconds later, and once they were gone, Enzo closed the door and kept his back to it.
“How’d it go with my dad?” I reached for his hand and threaded our fingers together, and he pulled me to him, our linked palms the only thing between our bodies as he dropped his focus to my mouth.
“It went better than I expected.” He bent in and kissed me, and I wished it would have been enough to melt away my lingering worries, but nothing short of a promise from him everything was okay would do that.
When he lifted his mouth from mine, he palmed my cheek with his free hand.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered, drawing my eyes closed as I waited for him to drop bad news on me, and I could feel it coming.
He slid his thumb over the line of my lips. “I just need to check something on my work computer next door.”
“Your laptop for catering? Or are you planning to go into your Batman lair?” I opened my eyes while pulling away, searching his gaze for comfort and security, but I didn’t find it.
“There’s one possible loose end. I could be worrying for nothing. I hope I am. But I need to make a call and look into something, and there’s no need to unnecessarily worry you if it’s nothing.” He lifted our palms and kissed the top of my hand. “I don’t want to leave you alone, though. Maybe wake Chiara and you two come with me?”
“I’m just next door. Nothing will happen. And I think you’re being paranoid, and there are no loose ends.” I let go of his hand. “Please. The sooner you close the book on your concerns, the better for us all.”
His shoulders fell. “Don’t open the door for anyone but me. I don’t care if it’s a neighbor. No one. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.” That was supposed to come across as sexy and teasing, to help ease his nerves and produce a smile, but he was clearly on edge, because his lips remained in a harsh line.
“The walls are thin,” he went on. “You shout, call, scream at the top of your lungs if you have to if something is wrong. I’ll try and be quick, but come over with Chiara if she wakes before I’m back.”
“Okay,” I responded in a softer tone despite now feeling on edge.
He leaned in and kissed me one more time. “Lock the door. Dead bolt,” he ordered before leaving, and I did as he asked and went straight for Chiara’s room once he was gone, needing to put eyes on my daughter.
I sat in the rocking chair by the crib, mindlessly rocking, doing my best not to think about the last few days, but memories kept popping up.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at my front door, followed by a ring. Chiara remained asleep. That must be Enzo. His key was probably in his luggage in my living room.
I carefully shut her bedroom door and went to let Enzo in.
But shit, it wasn’t him.
Thomas stood outside my door in the hall, and he had Chiara’s favorite stuffed animal tucked under his arm. Great, you couldn’t call first?
I went for the knob, then remembered Enzo’s directive not to let anyone in. But if I called Enzo to come over, with how edgy he was, there’d probably be another showdown between the men.
Thomas knocked again, so I reluctantly unlocked and opened the door.
“You’re back.” I frowned. “Thank you for bringing Stuffy. You could’ve called first.” He handed me the bear and walked around me without an invite. “You don’t live here,” I reminded him as the door swung shut, and I turned to find him heading for Chiara’s room.
“Yeah, well, I want to see my daughter. I’ve been away from her.”
I set her bear on the chair in the living room as I followed him toward her bedroom. “So have I. And she’s asleep. Let her rest. Come back when you’re invited.”
He stopped outside her room and faced me. “Where’s Enzo?”
“He’s next door. He’ll be here any second.” I folded my arms. “So don’t do anything that might piss him off.”
“What, like breathe the same air as you?”
“Funny that you mention that. Not funny ha-ha but like . . .” What am I saying? “You should go. Please.”
“Fine.” He leaned against the hall wall with no plans to budge from the looks of it. “You were with him in New York.”
“He’s the head chef of the restaurant, and we’re considering a second location. Of course he went.”
“You’re a horrible liar.” He pushed away from the wall, and I stumbled back a nervous step.
There was something in his eyes that triggered me to hold my hands up defensively, like I’d never once done during our marriage. “Someone had to let me in today. I lost my key fob, can you get me a new one?”
I stared at him for a moment as a memory from the attack last week resurfaced. “Key fob,” I said under my breath. And then another thought crossed my mind. “Who told you about the attack? I never did ask you.”
I knew it was Alice’s handiwork to set Thomas up, but in all the chaos, I never stopped to wonder how she’d managed to let Thomas know. I doubted she played an old-school game of telephone, leaking the attack to someone at the restaurant, hoping it’d get back to Thomas.
Now he was the one taking a defensive step back. “I don’t remember.”
You’re even worse of a liar. But then it hit me, and I realized Enzo’s loose-end feeling was about Thomas, and he hadn’t wanted to say anything to me without proof. “What’d you do?” I rasped.
“No clue what you’re talking about.” His voice was dead. Flat. A sharp contrast to the worried look in his eyes.
“I defended you. Told him you’d never do it. It was out of character,” I went on, knowing I was right. No doubt in my mind now. “Why? You don’t love me, that’s not it.”
He tore his hands through his hair, shot a look toward my bedroom, and then started that way.
“What are you doing?” I went after him, trying to yank his arm to stop him, but he didn’t face me until he was inside.
“He doesn’t know. Not yet,” he muttered, jerking his arm free from my touch. “I wouldn’t be alone with you if he did.”
“Thomas.” I shook my head as he paced alongside my bed, tears in my eyes at the fact my daughter’s father would betray us by being involved. Cheating was one thing; this was something else altogether.
When I’d only thought he’d been pissed and hired the wrong people to beat up Enzo, even that had been hard for me to believe. But knowingly help the mafia? No.
“Talk to me. If you’re thinking about doing something rash, remember you have a daughter down the hall. You’re still her father,” I calmly said, trying to maintain control of the situation. Talk him off any type of cliff of crazy. And hope I could do it before Enzo did show up and tear the man apart.
Thomas stopped walking and faced me, and he was barely recognizable to me right now.
“Maybe you hate Enzo.” I shook my head. “But that’s not why you helped them, and you did, didn’t you?”
His hands landed on his hips, and now his boldness facing Enzo the day before the attack when he picked up Chiara made sense. He thought his time with him was short-lived because he’d been privy to Alice’s plan.
“Your mother never had a heart attack, did she?” I took cautious steps closer. “Please talk to me.” I showed my palms, letting him know I wasn’t a threat. And hoped like hell he wasn’t one to me, either. Not with his daughter down the hall, at least.
“Money.” He shook his head. “Why else would I do it? I lost my shirt in the stock market last month, and the next thing I knew, I was being offered a chance to deal with my cash-flow situation.”
Money. That I believed as an excuse. Not love for me.
“I figured if they wanted to beat the guy up, he probably deserved it,” he rushed out. “I need to get out of here before he shows up.” He came my way, and I blocked him.
“Beat him up?” I cried, my hands on his chest. “No, Thomas. They planned to kill him!”
“Move,” he barked out, and he snatched my wrists and flung me away, but he’d done it with too much force, and I slammed into the dresser headfirst.
On my knees, breathing hard, a metallic taste filled my mouth. I wasn’t sure where the blood was coming from, but I pivoted to look over at him staring down at me.
“Fuck. Shit,” Thomas hissed. “That was an accident.” He took a knee, and I reeled my hand back and slapped him.
