The driver came to a stop. No longer able to speak, Artie’s moans turned to howls.
I glanced at my phone. An image of Maggie and Ella smiled at me from the screen. Dear God, I can’t allow this.
“You ready, boss?” My father’s guy stepped out and tugged the accountant toward him.
I stepped from the car; humid Louisiana air and the musty odor of swamp hit me like a freight train. I squared my shoulders and walked to the back bumper. I had the beginnings of a plan, but I had no way of knowing how the other men would react. “Stay here. I’ll handle this alone.”
The large man arched a skeptical brow. “He’s bleeding. I’ll drag him down to the river for you. No sense in ruining your fancy clothes.”
I motioned for him to get on with it.
Artie went, but he didn’t go quietly. I wondered if I’d behave the same way in his shoes. I would like to think I’d have more dignity, but no one knew how they’d react to being kidnapped and dragged to their death.
The thug shoved Mr. Guzman to his knees in the soggy earth, turned, and handed me his gun. “I’ll be in the car.”
I’d held firearms before, but the weight of this one sent a chill down my spine.
“Please.” Artie’s stare bore into me.
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure my father’s guy had gone and squatted beside the accountant. “I’m not going to hurt you, but I need some assurances.”
The man’s swollen eyes widened. “Thank you. Yes. Anything.”
“You have to disappear. Today. Don’t go home. You have to run and never return.”
He nodded, but I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. “My dogs…”
“I’ll make sure they’re taken care of until you’ve found a place.” Making a mental note to call Leo about the poodles, I pulled out my wallet and handed him a few hundred bucks along with my personal card. “Call me from a new number when you’re safely outside the city. I’ll get you enough money to start over, but you have to stay gone. Got it?”
Artie stared at the black embossed card with my name and cell phone number. “Yeah…yes…thank you.”
“Wait here until you’re sure we’ve gone.”
He nodded again.
“Screw this up and we’re both dead.” I fired two shots into the water before walking back to the car.
“Thanks again. If this doesn’t convince her to hire a nanny, I don’t know what will.” I hugged Hildie for the third time. Not because I loved and appreciated her, which I did, but because I desperately needed to return to some sense of normalcy.
I’d taken a huge risk letting Guzman go, and I prayed I wouldn’t live to regret it.
“Mmm hmmm.” Hildie patted my cheek. Her gaze fell to the blood on my shirt, but she glanced away without comment.
Smart woman. I didn’t know what to say. She’d scrubbed every inch of the house, somehow removed the long-dead Christmas tree, and made supper in the time it’d taken me to oversee my first would-be murder.
“I left contact information on the counter for a woman I know who’s looking for a nanny position. She’s a good, God-fearing soul and will care for the children like they’re her own.”
“I’ll give her a call.” I folded my arms and rocked on the balls of my feet, a habit I thought I’d lost once I’d hit puberty. Spending time with Hildie made me feel like I was eight years old again. Only this time, I felt like an eight year old who’d almost done the unspeakable.
I waited until she pulled away, waved, and walked back into the house—and into what smelled like a sewer.
Ella tensed and turned red from the top of her head to her tiny toes.
I groaned. “You couldn’t have done that five minutes ago?”
The baby’s mouth hung open a solid five seconds before she worked up the wail, but when she did, I shot into action.
I grabbed a diaper and the wipes and settled the infant on the changing table I’d pulled out of the attic.
A car door shut outside, but the dog didn’t bark. It had to be Maggie.
I stripped out of the ruined shirt and shoved it under the bed.
The front door closed. “Gabe?”
“I’m changing Ella.”
Maggie came down the hall but stopped before she came in the room. “Can we talk?”
“Sure, give me a sec. You don’t want to come in here. She’s toxic.” I glanced over my shoulder and stilled.
Maggie didn’t look happy. “I’ll be in my room.”
Oh boy. Not now. Not today. I finished diaper duty, settled Ella into her crib, and went to find Maggie. “Rough day?”
She shrugged. “Can we talk a minute?”
“What’s up, gorgeous?” I sat on the edge of the bed.
“How are the kids?”
I had the feeling she hadn’t asked me in here to talk about the kids. “I had a situation that had to be dealt with in the office. I had Hildie come sit with them.”
Maggie sighed and dipped her chin to her chest. “This isn’t working.”
“Where the hell is this coming from? I thought we were good?”
“We’re far from good.” She shook her head and stood. “Since you got here, everything is different. Someone put an engagement announcement in the paper. My boss and most of New Orleans saw it. You seduce me, sleep in my bed, make me nuts with your stupid grins and compliments, and the kids are getting too attached. I think you need to go.”
I listened to everything she had to say. By the time she quieted, I had to unclench my jaw to speak. “My turn?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t want to leave.” My voice cracked.
She stared as if waiting for me to say more, but I’d cut through all of the bullshit and said what I needed to.
Unfortunately, Maggie disagreed. The woman exploded. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Of course, you don’t want to leave. Too bad, Gabe. We don’t always get what we want.”
“Ah, there it is.” I stood.
“There what is?”
I knew better than to argue with her when she was like this, but that didn’t stop me. “You’re pissed because I screwed up your perfectly planned out life.”
“What plan? I haven’t had a plan since Rebecca and Joe died.” She tilted her head and studied me like I was one of her books.
I had no intention of going anywhere for long, but we both needed time to cool off. “I’ll leave if that’s what you want, but don’t lie to me or yourself.”
“It’s true.” Maggie’s voice cracked. “I have no idea what I’m doing with the house, or the kids, or you.”
I lowered my voice. “Do you want to know why I ended things with you?”
She stared at her hands. “I remember every word you said to me, but go ahead and tell me again.”
“You had a plan for everything. I couldn’t figure out where I fit into it. You didn’t want kids. I want a house full. You wanted to live in New York. I live here.”
“That’s crap. I loved you. It killed me when you threw me away with the whole—you deserve a chance to follow your dreams—routine. I always thought you’d found someone else, that you’d woken up and realized I wasn’t good enough for you.”
My mouth fell open. How could she be so wrong? She acted as if we’d lived through two different relationships. Sure, I’d ended things, but I’d always regretted it. “There has never been anyone else for me.”
“Then why did you never return my calls?”
“I thought it’d be easier for you. A clean break.”
“No, Gabe, it was easier for you.” She turned her back to me. “I was twenty-one and stupid. I had big dreams, but I would have changed them for you.”
“And I was twenty-six and loved you too much to ask you to do that.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’ve never stopped loving you.”
“You honestly expect me to believe that? I’ve been back in New Orleans for a year. You never called or stopped by. Not u
ntil you needed something from me.”
“It killed me knowing you were so close and hurting, but I couldn’t see you.”
“Why? What was stopping you?”
I couldn’t tell her, not without telling her everything. Today wasn’t the day for it, not after what had happened in the swamp. “I had no choice.”
“Let me guess. Your father forbade you? Why? Because he thought someone murdered my sister?” She stalked to her computer bag, pulled out a stack of folded up papers, and threw them on the bed. “There’s the police report, but it’s wrong, isn’t it?”
Fuck me. This is what this is about? I can’t get into this with her. Not now, not like this. It didn’t take a degree in female psychology to figure out that none of the shit she’d said up until that point had anything to do with her telling me to leave. That was all ancient history, but this business with her sister…was an entirely different animal. “Maggie…the police ruled—”
“I want the truth.” She balled her hands. “Was it a mob hit?”
My brain stuttered. I’d always known she’d figure it out, but I found myself ill-prepared to explain the situation. Instead, I dodged. “Why would you ask me that?”
“What did Chantal have to do with it?”
“Nothing.” Before I could explain, Maggie continued the barrage.
“Was my sister murdered?”
“I don’t know for sure what caused Joe and Rebecca’s accident. None of us do. But you’re right. My father assigned a security detail on the kids and ordered us to stay away.”
She folded in on herself. “I want you out of this house.”
A stone wall rose between us. Even the temperature in the room grew a few degrees cooler. As much as I wanted to reach out to her, I couldn’t. If she reacted to the truth about my family like she had the accident, Maggie would have yet another target on her back.
Call it self-preservation or cowardice, but I needed a break. I took a breath and forced myself to speak in a professional tone. “I’m going to check on the kids. We’ll finish the conversation when we’ve both calmed down.”
“It won’t make a difference.” Maggie sighed.
I ignored her and walked into the living room.
“Uncle Gabe.” Chloe ran toward me and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Hey, munchkin, when did you get home?” I knelt to put myself at eye level with her.
“A little bit ago. Why were you and Aunt Maggie arguing?” She set one hand on each of my cheeks and pressed her brow to mine until our noses touched.
I’d never felt like such as asshole. I’d blown it. I never should have let things get so heated. “Grown-ups do that sometimes.”
“Are you leaving us and going back to heaven?”
My heart shattered like tempered glass, only sharper. “Is that where you think I’ve been?”
She nodded. “I thought you went with Mommy and Daddy to heaven. You didn’t come back after the funeral, except at Christmas…like an angel or something.”
My throat began to close before I could swallow back my emotions. Maggie had been right about one thing. These kids had suffered enough loss for two lifetimes. I refused to add to their pain. “Here’s the thing. Once you go to heaven, you can’t come back. If I went there, I wouldn’t be able to visit you or your brothers. Your mom and dad are doing fine up there with the angels. I think I’ll hang around here and look after you guys for a while. Okay?”
“Okay.” Chloe smiled, showing teeth that looked too big for her mouth. “I like having you here. It’s almost like having my daddy back.”
I stood and she slid her hand into mine. Chloe was the spitting image of Rebecca, except her eyes. She had the same green eyes as me and my brothers. I’d always loved her, but in that moment, I wanted her to be mine.
Maggie sniffled from the hall.
I nodded in her direction and spoke to Chloe. “I need to talk to Aunt Maggie real quick. Can you go keep an eye on Ryan?”
Chloe gave me a knowing look and nodded. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn she had played me. The girl skipped through the kitchen and headed upstairs.
Judging from the look on her face, Maggie’s mood hadn’t improved. She folded her arms.
I closed the distance and lowered my voice. “I’m staying.”
“The hell you are.”
“Did you know Chloe thought I died and went to heaven with Joe and Becca?”
Maggie’s eyes widened.
“I stayed away too long.” Leaning closer, I whispered, “I’m not going to walk away from them again. It’s a big house. We can both behave like adults until we figure things out.”
“And if I say no?”
“You won’t, because you would walk through fire for those kids. It’ll hurt them if I leave.” I’d played dirty, but I didn’t give a shit.
Maggie chewed her bottom lip. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”
“Honey, I don’t walk out on my commitments. I may not have planned to be Ella’s father, or a stand-in-dad to Joe’s three, but I am. Like it or not, we love each other, and we’re going to work this out.”
She frowned, but for once in her life she didn’t have anything to say.
I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Go wash your face. We’re going to sit down and eat dinner at the table like a normal family. The kids deserve that much.”
Maggie nodded and walked down the hall.
One thing had gone my way the entire fucking day.
23
Gabe
Courtrooms and churches had the same smell—wood soap, old papers, and desperation. I placed my hand on Maggie’s knee to stop it from shaking the table. “We’ve got this.”
We didn’t have this. Not with her representing herself. Not if my father had bought the judge. But I had to believe it would work out in the end.
She nodded, but her gaze slid past me to my parents and their attorney.
I put my face in her sight line. “Don’t look at them. Focus on me.”
Her eyes danced back and forth like her knee had moments before.
Even in her current state, her beauty quickened my pulse, but her inner strength humbled me. There were plenty of pretty faces in the world, but precious few could match my girl when it came to courage. She was the total package, the real deal, the whole enchilada.
“Maggie,” Zach whisper-shouted from the first row of the gallery.
She turned toward the kids.
He gave her a thumbs up. “Don’t worry. You’ve got this. We love you.”
I may not have had a part in making him, but I’d never been prouder of the kid. He sat tall between his sister and baby brother and held each of their hands.
“You got this!” Ryan pumped his fist.
Nadine shushed the kids and moved to Maggie’s side. “Mary Margret. You must sit up. No judge will give custody to someone who slouches.”
I’d never wanted to smack a woman more in my life, but this wasn’t the time, and it certainly wasn’t the place. “Thank you, Nadine. Maybe you could keep your comments to yourself until after this is over?”
Maggie gasped, but her mother took the freaking hint and sat her ass down.
Thankfully, the judge came into the courtroom before Maggie had a chance to chastise me for calling Nadine out.
I risked a glance toward my parents. Evelyn stared straight ahead, but my father met my gaze. His blazer hung loose on his shoulders and dark circles shadowed his eyes. He needed to be home with his feet up, not in a courtroom listening to family drama.
“This is LA-07-337, in the matter of Evelyn Marchionni and Mary Margaret Guthrie. I understand the petitioner filed a motion for the children to be interviewed during the formal proceedings. Motion denied.”
Maggie exhaled a breath.
Santiago whispered something to my mother, who nodded. Neither appeared happy by the judge’s decision. But what did they expect? Putting the kids on th
e stand and making them choose between their grandparents and Maggie would have been traumatic for everyone.
The judge flipped through several pages before glancing up. “I will send the children out of the courtroom during the formal proceedings.”
Santiago shot to his feet. The judge’s order seemed to have surprised him. “Will you interview the children after the hearing or simply review their affidavits?”
“Affidavits?” The color drained from Maggie’s cheeks. She leaned close and whispered. “When did Evelyn get affidavits?”
“No clue.” I turned and glared at my mother.
“Yes. Section 770.04 states the court, in its discretion, may consider the wishes of a child to his guardian. This is to ensure neither party had unduly influenced the child’s testimony.” He eyed my parents, and then Maggie. “Not that I’m suggesting this happened here.”
Thank Christ. I eased back in my chair and stared at my father. Whether he’d tried and failed, or had been bullshitting me, he hadn’t gotten the judge in his pocket.
Maggie stood. “Your Honor, I was not given copies of the children’s affidavits by opposing counsel. Nor was I aware of their existence.”
The judge nodded. “Another reason for the court to interview the children in chambers. The transcripts of the recordings will be sealed. Neither party will be given a chance to review the statements.”
Nadine and the children followed an official-looking woman from the room.
Maggie slumped into the chair but seemed to remember her mother’s words and sat ramrod straight.
I took her hand under the table, but had to release it when we were sworn in. I’d only been to court once in my life. I had been twelve and Leo had been eleven. We’d been up on shoplifting charges for stealing a couple of boxes of candy out of the back of a delivery truck. The experience had scared me shitless—much like today’s proceedings.
The judge motioned to Santiago. “Counselor, are you ready to proceed?”
“Yes, your Honor. I’d like to call Gabriel Marchionni to the stand.”
Absinthe Minded: A Mafia Romantic Comedy (Bourbon Street Bad Boys' Club Book 1) Page 14