I was surprised, though I really shouldn’t have been. “Now’s a good time. Tell her to come inside and have dinner with me.”
Benny smiled, and I was fairly certain I’d just been played, then he rushed outside to escort her in. But no matter. I had questions that needed answers, and something told me Mama Lina was more likely than anyone else to shoot straight with me.
“My sweet girl, I’ve missed you. How are you? Have you been eating? I was so heartbroken to hear about your mama. What can I do to make it better for you?” Mama Lina grabbed me in a tight hug and squeezed a little tighter with each question she rattled off.
“I’m glad you’re here, Mama Lina. It’s good to see you. Sit down, let me fix you a plate of this delicious food that was just dropped off at my house.” I cut my eyes at her and laughed at her obviously proud smile.
After I grabbed the plates, silverware, and drinks, she jumped up from her seat and took over. “You sit, and I will take care of you. I enjoy being a mother. You will be a good mother too. I can tell.”
Did she know? Had Damon already told her?
“I hope you’re right. I feel a little lost now without my mother here to help me. It’s scary, thinking about bringing a newborn home alone.” I watched her closely and waited for my words to sink in.
She drove the fork deep into the dish of baked ziti with chicken to scoop out my helping, then froze. Her eyes met mine in an instant, then she stumbled trying to take the seat beside me. She reached out and placed the palm of her hand against my cheek, a myriad of emotions swimming in the same dark chocolate eyes her son had.
“Do you mean you’re…pregnant…right now?” She stammered her words, just barely above a whisper but filled with so much hope.
“Yes, I just went to the doctor yesterday morning to confirm it. I thought that’s why you were here—I thought Damon had already told you.”
“Damon knows?” She straightened her spine and pushed her shoulders back. The tough, take-charge Mama Lina was back.
“Yes, he knows. He was waiting outside my doctor’s office for me when I left, then he showed up here a little while later. You didn’t come with him?”
“No, bellissima regazza. He must not have told you everything either.”
“What do you mean?” I’d known the other shoe would drop soon. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.
“Damon has been here in Louisiana for almost three months now…to protect you, cara.”
“I don’t understand, Mama Lina. What are you saying?”
“Damon loves you, sweet girl. He’s been worried sick that Lorenzo and his men would get to you before he could. He wasn’t about to take another chance like what happened with your mother. He went against Vincenzo’s wishes and left New York to be here for you—when you needed him. He’s barely slept for keeping watch over your house at night. His men are here too, so you’re protected at all times.”
Tears sprang to my eyes and my hands covered my gaping mouth. The words were there on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t speak them. My mind alternated between being confused and comforted by Damon’s protectiveness. I chalked it up to prenatal hormones, but deep down, I knew there was more to my emotional response than that.
“My mother’s funeral?”
“He was there, watching you from a distance. It killed him not to be able to tell you, to be the one you turned to for support. But he knew what he’d done was wrong. And it was wrong, Jillian. Don’t think he didn’t get an earful from me over it. And from Vincenzo and Leo and Maria. I raised my boys better than that, and his father and I expected more from him. Rest assured, he has learned his lesson.
“He knew you weren’t ready to forgive him, it was much too soon. But if you ever did, it would only be because he had earned your love. What he should’ve done in the first place, yes?”
The donation that paid for my mother’s funeral…that had to be from Damon.
“Mama Lina, I have to ask you about my mom’s death. I have to know what happened that night…why none of you told me…why you kept me in the dark. I mean, what if it had been Damon? Would you have forgiven Vincenzo for not telling you right away?”
She grabbed my hands in hers, and tears welled up in her eyes. “Jillian, I pray every single day that very scenario never happens and that I’m never faced with finding out exactly what I would do. Their work, it’s dangerous, cara. They protect and provide for the family, and the family always comes first for our Marchetti men. But sometimes, to put family first, you have to protect the people in the family. Even from themselves.
“Let me explain. When Vincenzo gave the order to sit on the information until his men confirmed his suspicions, he did that out of love for you. I know it’s hard to understand, because you weren’t raised in this world. But he protected you, cara—that’s all. He only wanted to protect you, because he’d already accepted you into the family.
“He knew how much you loved your mama and how you took such good care of her—even when you traveled for work. My husband, he knew you’d rush home and fight to the death to help her. He wanted to spare you from having to carry all that weight on your shoulders. We were just too late. The Sanfratellos were already there, waiting for you to walk in. You, your mother, and her sitter would all be dead…including your baby. Vincenzo is a good man, Jillian. He makes mistakes like any of us, but he would die for his family. You are part of our family now, and we both love you.”
As the tears fell down her cheeks, so did mine. She pulled me into her arms, and I went willingly—immediately. For the first time in the months since I buried my mother, I released all my pent-up feelings at once, and I sobbed against Mama Lina. Crushed against the bosom of the only mother I had left in the world, I allowed her to provide the comfort only a mother knew how. She petted my back, stroked my hair, and murmured encouraging words in my ear. But, most of all, she didn’t try to stop my cries. She stayed in the same position as long as it took—as long as I needed her—and just held me.
When the sobs subsided, and I had no tears left to cry, I raised my head and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Mama Lina. I needed that, and I needed you. I’m going to wash my face—I’m sure I look a mess—then we’ll reheat the food, if you still want to stay.”
“Of course I want to stay. We have so much more to talk about, bellissima regazza. You go wash up, and I’ll have your plate waiting for you when you return.”
I couldn’t deny how good it felt to have her there to take care of me…to mother me. One of the reasons I was still so angry with Damon was because he’d taken away the big family I thought I’d finally have. I lost not only him, but all of his extended family, at the same time I buried my mother. The loss was excruciating, but I realized while I sobbed into her chest I’d never fully dealt with the stress and pain of it all. How I’d held on to my sanity, I’d never know.
When I returned to the table, I purposely kept the conversation light to avoid another complete meltdown while we were eating. I had more questions, and she had the answers. But I’d push for those answers after dessert—because she brought the most scrumptious looking cheesecake I’d ever seen.
Great, food is already dictating my decisions. Is this normal pregnancy craving?
3
CHAPTER THREE
Damon
“What the fuck happened to the feed? I can’t hear a damn thing inside her house. Mobilize the soldiers—right now. Lorenzo may be in there with another signal jammer. Fuck it, I’m going over there myself.” If I found one hair harmed on Jillian’s head, I’d become instantly worse than any serial killer in history. Jack the Ripper wouldn’t have shit on me.
“Damon,” Percy called sternly.
“What?” I barked back. “Are you fucking deaf?”
“You can’t go over there, Damon.”
“What the fuck do you mean I can’t go over there? Of course I fucking can, and I fucking will. Right fucking now. Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me that
?”
“I’m sorry, Damon. But we have orders.”
Fuck. Me. He pulled rank on me with my own team.
“Dad called?” I put my hands on my hips and drew in a deep breath, trying to avoid losing my cool any more than I already had.
“Yeah, Damon. I’m sorry, man. He gave a direct order to keep you away from the house today for a while. He said you’d know when the time was right.” Percy wasn’t happy about relaying the message to me, and his angst showed in his rigid features.
“It’s not your fault, Percy. Dad must have something else in play that he’s keeping close to the vest. If he says I’ll know when the time is right, then I’ll know soon enough. He knows I’m not leaving here without Jillian.”
“Does she know that?”
“Not yet. But she will.”
“Think she’ll move back to New York with you?”
I laughed, a short grunt with no humor behind it. “First, I have to get her to willingly walk across the street with me. I’m not even there yet. When I convince her to forgive me, maybe I can employ my entire family to help me get her to move to New York. With her mom gone, I don’t know that she has anything else to keep her here.”
With my plan of attack thwarted by my father, I planted myself on the couch in front of the television and tried to lose myself in something mind-numbing. It didn’t work, though. My thoughts drifted back to what was happening at Jillian’s house, and questions of why my father wouldn’t have told me about it first.
“Fucking hell, Percy.” I flew up off the couch and stomped across the room until I stood over him. All my fury burned in my eyes. “You know, don’t you?”
“Know what, Damon?” His eyes were big and round, his pupils dilated, and his leg jumped from nervous energy.
“My mother is at Jillian’s right now. Isn’t she?”
“Damon, you know Vincenzo doesn’t run his plans by me. He tells me what to do, and I do it.”
“Answer the question, Percy.” I grabbed his shirt and hoisted him up from his chair in front of the surveillance equipment.
“Yes. Lina is with Jillian right now. Vincenzo said we weren’t allowed to listen to what they say.”
“Son of a bitch! I knew it.” I released him and started pacing the floor, running my hands through my hair and trying to figure out my next move.
“Come on, man. You just said you’d get your family to help sway her to our side. If anyone can do it, it’s your mom. She has a way of making all of us do whatever she wants.”
Then I did laugh, a real one. “That way she has about her is called Vincenzo Marchetti. If she doesn’t get her way on one hand, he’s always there to back her up and make sure she gets what she wants on the other hand. The man lives and breathes by her.”
“Then you want your mom in your corner, right? This must’ve been her idea—to lock you out of the conversation so she can assure Jillian she’s not lying to her. You need Jillian to trust the family, Damon. Let her start by trusting Lina.”
“You’re right, Percy. I know you are. Jillian hasn’t had much reason to trust the family, especially me. You know, man, it’ll just be hell admitting my mom had to talk my wife into marrying me.”
“Whoa. You’re already thinking marriage? You just met the girl.”
“The girl is pregnant with my baby. And I love her. I don’t need more time to know she’s the one I want—the only one I want. Apparently, I just need more time to get her to realize that and want to be with me again.”
Over three hours later, the sound in Jillian’s house mysteriously kicked back on, but all I heard was dead bolts locking. We had cameras installed too, but those were only turned on when I was watching alone. If I had caught any of my men gawking at my girl, I would’ve ripped his eyeballs clean out of their sockets. I’d never been a jealous man until I met Jillian. Jealous was the wrong word…I was possessive of her. Not that I thought of her as anything I’d bought or owned, but I craved her. And I wanted her to crave me just as much.
Mama was right when she said I’d know when I met the one.
After telling Percy to take a break, I pulled the headphones over my ears and listened to every sound in her house. From the creak of wood floors to the faint squeak of closing doors, I pictured her every move. When I heard Percy’s snores from the other room, I flipped the switch for the cameras and watched Jillian on the flat-screen monitor. She took my breath away, and just the thought of losing her could bring me to my knees.
I kept vigil in that spot for hours, watching her move from room to room. She’d pick up her laptop, scroll through a few pages, then walk back to the spare bedroom. She held the screen up to the wall and stood back as far as her arms would allow, trying to envision the decorations. Then she’d go back to her desk, scribble a few words, and add to the sketch in her notebook.
She was making so many plans and preparations for a tiny baby—and loving every minute of it.
Before long, she went into her en suite bathroom to get ready for bed, washing her face and brushing her teeth. Then she walked back into her bedroom and sat on the bed. She opened the top drawer of her nightstand, removed a gun, and placed it within reach beside her bed. Did she have a bad feeling? In the weeks upon weeks I’d watched her at night, she’d never done that before.
“Percy, get in here!”
He came rushing into the room. “What? What happened?”
“Something’s off. She feels it. I feel it. You sit here and listen to everything. If you hear a limb scratch her window, you tell me. I don’t care what it is. I’m going over there now, and I’ll sit on her front porch all night if I have to. But I’m not staying here another second when she needs me there. Do not turn on that camera unless I say so.”
“You got it, boss.”
When I’d first moved to Louisiana to watch over her, I bought a house that was only two streets over from hers. Closer would’ve been preferable, but the one I found was already empty. We could’ve persuaded another owner to part with his home, but that would’ve aroused too many suspicions in her small town. The extra attention would’ve hurt more than helped.
Under the cover of night, I moved between the houses, following my route I established on day one. Avoiding dogs, fences, and security lights, I arrived in Jillian’s backyard completely undetected. Percy was in my ear on a small two-way transmitter, feeding me information about what he thought she was doing from the sounds he heard.
Movement in the ornamental shrubbery caught my eye, and I crouched in the shadows to scope out the threat. When he moved again, my blood ran ice cold. An intruder, dressed in all black with a ski mask over his face, slowly reached up toward Jillian’s window. Lorenzo had sent an assassin, but he had signed his own man’s death warrant instead. When I got my hands on him, I wouldn’t need a gun or cement shoes to finish him off. I wanted the pleasure of watching the life drain from his eyes.
I slid my gun out of the holster and attached the suppressor, silent and deadly just like I was trained to do. Then I moved closer behind him, keeping low to the ground, staying light on my feet, but picking up speed as I went. Before he knew I was behind him, I grabbed him in a headlock around the neck with one arm and placed the barrel of my gun against his head with the other.
“Don’t. Fucking. Move.”
He nodded, as much as he could with my choke hold secure around his throat.
“Are you here to kill Jillian?” I asked calmly. Walk right into my trap, dickhead.
His eyes darted around the yard, making me wonder if he had backup somewhere I hadn’t yet seen. He tried to stall, not wanting to give me an answer. Not knowing which reply would get his brains blown out of his head.
“Answer me.” I closed my arm tighter around his neck with a swift jerk.
He nodded again. “Yes,” he croaked.
“That’s too bad, fella. Do you know who I am?”
Another single nod.
“Then you know what I do to men who try to hurt
my family.” The unmistakable smell of ammonia filled the night air, causing my eyes to drift down to his crotch. “Excuse me, but did you just piss yourself? You’re a hit man, for Chrissakes. Have some dignity. Fucking amateurs, crawling around at night, getting picked off by real hit men. It’s embarrassing, really.
“Back to what I was saying. That’s too bad—your being here to kill my girlfriend and all. That means I have to kill you now and get rid of your body tonight. I was looking forward to finally getting some sleep.”
The big guy started flailing, trying to break free from my hold. His adrenaline spiked, and the fight-or-flight mechanism kicked in. He wanted to fight and flee, no doubt about that. He would disappear into the night if he could just break my stranglehold around his throat. In our scuffle, and my carefulness not to shoot myself with the angle I had the gun trained on his head, he managed to break free.
No matter, I could still do what I had to do to protect Jillian whether he was on his feet or on his knees.
“Lorenzo has a message for you,” he taunted with a smug expression.
“Yeah? Let’s hear it.”
“He said to tell you her time is coming.” He pointed toward the window to Jillian’s bedroom. “But it won’t be slow or easy or painless. He plans on having some fun with her first. Said he bets she’s a real screamer in the sack, and he wants to hear her scream his name before she dies.”
“I have a message for Lorenzo. You tell him I said he’s not man enough to make her scream.” Then I leveled my gun at him and shot him between the eyes. His body fell limp to the ground, and I stood over him, firing another round for good measure. “On second thought, I’ll tell him myself.”
“Cleanup crew is on the way, boss.”
“Thanks, Percy. I’m going in to stay with Jillian now, whether she likes it or not.”
“Good luck.” Percy chuckled in my ear, and I couldn’t help but smile along with him.
I knew exactly what he meant. She was just as likely to use her gun on me as she was to let me into her house. Maybe after I explained the very real danger she’d just narrowly escaped, she’d change her mind faster.
Warning: The Complete Series Page 12