King of Hearts

by C. A. Szarek

The problem was he couldn’t get a clean shot; the fucker kept shifting behind Elise.

  Falcone knew the game they played.

  “Let her go,” Maddie ordered. “And you don’t have to die today.”

  Falcone chuckled. “Oh, I won’t be the one dying today.”

  Their teammates all filed in behind them, in formation and waiting.

  Watching.

  Guns cleared holsters and were aimed.

  From his peripheral vision, he caught the nod Griggs threw him.

  Looked like the lead marshal was going to let him do his thing, despite the caution last night of him staying out of the way to save his job. Not like Gio would back off now anyway. He’d deal with Patton and Olinsky consequences later.

  This was his sister. In danger.

  “Cuffs are better than a bullet,” Maddie said. “Less permanent.”

  Falcone shook his fat head.

  Too bad it wasn’t fat enough for Gio to get a damn clean shot. He wouldn’t risk hitting his sister.

  “This didn’t have to go like this,” Cockstain started. “I would’ve really married you, you know. You had to be a fucking nosy bitch, didn’t you?” Falcone ranted and raved, sticking his sister a little bit with every word. “Too smart for your own fucking good. Why couldn’t you have just believed me? It could’ve been good. You’re a great fuck. We’re compatible. It would’ve worked out.”

  Elise didn’t move a muscle. She had several bleeding cuts on her neck now.

  “Mads, you got a shot?” Gio asked as low as he could manage.

  “Nope. You?”

  “Shit.”

  “If you get one, take it,” Maddie said in the same low tone.

  With pleasure.

  Falcone was still yelling, and cutting his sister, spittle gathering at the corners of his mouth and flying. “We could’ve run this place together. Run it, and owned it. The whole thing should’ve been mine. It’s supposed to be mine. Mine! Just like you!”

  “The only thing that’s yours is my next bullet,” Gio said.

  “Elise, duck!”

  His sister obeyed Maddie’s order, at the same time the bang reverberated in his ears.

  Falcone didn’t go down, but he did drop the knife, only to clutch his left shoulder.

  Elise came running toward them, but the cockstain was on her heels.

  “You bitch!” he yelled, but this time his anger was aimed at Maddie. “Your son is dead, now. You hear me?”

  Gio stepped in front of Falcone and rammed the butt of his Glock in the fucker’s face. The little backup gun was smaller than his duty weapon, but it did the trick just fine.

  The asshole went down like a sack of bricks, sprawled spread-eagle in the hallway, on his back.

  He leaned down, staring into fluttering dark eyes.

  Blood ran from Falcone’s nose like a faucet.

  “Don’t fuck with my sister or my son.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “I don’t need to get checked out,” Elise complained.

  Gio tilted her chin up to examine her neck. The cuts were all superficial and had stopped bleeding.

  “Maddie, talk some sense into him.”

  They made eye contact.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted.

  Maddie smiled as she approached. “I’m so glad you’re fine. Gio, leave her alone. She’s a tough girl.”

  He growled, but took a step back so his sister could throw her arms around Maddie.

  “You saved my life!” Elise settled her hands on her upper arms and squeezed, when she pulled back. “Thank you so much.”

  “If you hadn’t run your damn mouth, it wouldn’t have gone down like that,” Gio grumbled.

  Elise cast her eyes down, and bit her bottom lip. When she glanced up, she had the decency to appear sheepish.

  Maddie bit back a laugh. “She was just exercising her Giovanni-ness.”

  “Yeah, you know, apple, tree and all that. Sibling peas in a pod?” Elise beamed.

  He shot both of them visual daggers.

  Griggs approached then, concern and exhaustion in his expression. “Has the dust settled over here?”

  “Just about,” Maddie said.

  “Are you okay, Miss Giovanni?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

  “Thank you for today, and I’m glad you’re okay,” the marshal said. He smiled, and didn’t seem so tired.

  “Falcone make it to the hospital yet?” Gio asked.

  Griggs rolled his eyes and Maddie smirked.

  She wouldn’t have thought her colleague capable.

  “Whined all the way. ‘Do you know who I am? You’re all in for a serious law suit,’ blah, blah. Wish you would’ve knocked him out, Detective.”

  Gio chuckled. “Detective? Nah, not today. Just concerned big brother.”

  “I can’t imagine what that report is gonna have to look like,” Maddie said.

  “What d’you mean, Granger? You’re in charge here.” Griggs winked and laughed. His mustache twitched with his amusement. Then he walked away.

  “Perfect.” Maddie shrugged.

  Gio offered a soft smile and slid his arms around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Mads, I’ll help you clean up the mess.”

  “What help is a suspended cop gonna be?”

  “Hopefully, Randall’s not a yeller, like Olinsky and Patton.”

  Maddie sighed. “Elise, are you really okay?”

  She nodded and offered a small smile. “I’m glad I could get revenge on that fucker. Does this mean it’s all put to bed? Dad and I are free and clear?”

  “There’ll be some red tape, but we’ll get it figured out.”

  “Promise,” Gio said.

  “When do I get to meet my nephew?”

  Maddie looked at Gio; he was looking right back at her. “Soon. I’ll let the marshals protecting them know it’s safe for them to come back to Vegas.”

  “So, you’re sticking around?” Elise asked.

  “Planning on it, if today didn’t get my ass fired.” She grimaced.

  Gio tugged her tighter to his side. “You’d better not; we both can’t be unemployed badasses.” He winked.

  Maddie cringed. “Don’t even joke about that.”

  “C’mon, Randall has to recognize your prowess. You got the bad guy, and I’m sure Griggs will help.”

  She was back to hoping and praying.

  “Let’s go get our kid, then you can worry about the ‘splainin’ you gotta do.”

  Chapter Thirty

  “Hey, Dad?”

  “Yeah, champ?”

  “How come you don’t live with us?”

  Maddie paused with her hand on her bedroom doorknob. She could hear their voices, but they wouldn’t be able to see her where she was—down the hallway and around the corner. Her pulse quickened.

  How was Gio going to answer?

  When she’d left them moments before to get dressed, Jake had been eating breakfast and Gio had been sitting across from him sipping coffee. Since the apartment had an open floor plan, sound carried.

  “C’mere, buddy.”

  There was a screech, probably her son scooting his chair back. Then the hurried pattering of bare feet, so he must’ve rounded the small breakfast table.

  She crept forward, chiding herself.

  Maddie should make her presence known, but she wanted to see how her lover would handle a serious conversation with their seven-year-old.

  Jake was Gio’s as much as he was hers, and the man wanted to be in the little boy’s life.

  Too bad she wasn’t clear on where she fit into that.

  Their case might be over, but they hadn’t put…perimeters on their relationship.

  Her chest burned.

  She needed more than sex, as much as she was a fan of him rocking her world.

  Maddie loved him; as much as she loved his son.

  Over the last week, Gio had retreated a little bit, and she was torn between respecting him and d
emanding why.

  Randall hadn’t fired her, or even suspended her, but Maddie had had to endure the disappointment in his dark serious gaze, a lecture about following orders, as well as all the red tape that’d been associated with her case.

  She had been put back ‘in charge.’ Griggs hadn’t just been giving her shit.

  He’d covered for Gio, though, so as far as LMVPD was concerned, he hadn’t been at the casino that day in any law enforcement capacity. His name would be in the report as a witness, and he’d been there to see his sister.

  The Giovannis were officially cleared of money laundering, and the federal prosecutor was going to indict Falcone.

  Everything was going to work itself out. She was staying in Vegas, Jake and Jamie were settled, and he’d told her he wanted to be a part of their lives, not just Jake’s.

  So what gives?

  Gio had stopped sleeping over about a week ago. Last night, he’d kissed the crap out of her, then promised he’d be back the next morning to spend the day with them.

  He’d shown up at eight with gourmet coffee and donuts when she’d been making scrambled eggs and bacon.

  She inched as far as she could go to remain unseen.

  Maddie could hear the hum of them speaking, and didn’t want to miss a word.

  Jake talked about his friend from his new school, and how the kid’s dad was his baseball coach. Gio said something, then they fell silent for a second.

  “How come, Dad? I want you to live with us.”

  Leave it to her son to not fall for a subject change—and it seemed Gio had tried.

  “It’s complicated, champ.” He sounded breathless, like he’d sighed.

  She pictured Jake in Gio’s arms and her heart skipped. She’d seen the like since they’d met, of course, but it always made her melt inside. Their son had become attached to Gio at light-speed. She’d kill the man herself if he broke his heart. Hers was already destined to be shattered, wasn’t it?

  Maddie couldn’t fix both of them.

  But…was that her fear talking?

  Was she afraid to give them a real chance?

  Hadn’t Gio been awesome all this time? With her and Jake. Individually, as much as together.

  “What does that mean?” Jake asked.

  “Uh…”

  Gio, don’t blow it.

  God, he was probably about to call her to save him from an answer. She closed her eyes and waited for her name.

  It didn’t happen.

  “Me and Mommy…need to work some things out before that can happen.”

  Maddie pictured Jake’s innocent face and those big blue eyes widening and trying to comprehend what his father was trying to explain.

  “Is it my fault?”

  Her eavesdropping resolve cracked; she needed to go out there.

  Her man was there to save the day.

  “No way, champ! Never.”

  Jake giggled, and she didn’t know what Gio had done, maybe a tickle, or ruffled his hair.

  She still hadn’t found time for a haircut for him, and he needed one. They’d been back in Vegas for almost two weeks, and case wrap-up had kept her in the office late almost every day.

  “I love Mommy.”

  “I love her, too, big guy. And I love you.”

  Jake’s voice sounded far away as he enthusiastically returned the love Gio had just declared.

  Her head spun. Her tightening chest churned her heart into overdrive until it rebounded off her ribs.

  Holy. Shit.

  Had Gio said that for Jake’s benefit?

  It can’t…be true?

  Maddie had fallen for him hard and fast eight years ago, but then, he’d never told her he felt anything other than lust, or how hot she was, how desperate he was to have her.

  The now-sex was just as intense, but for Gio, feeling words were never present. She, on the other hand, had struggled not to tell him she loved him.

  God help her, she did.

  The stupid man told their son how he felt about her before he told her?

  She crushed her eyes shut and ordered her breathing to normalize.

  He must’ve said it for Jake’s benefit.

  It couldn’t be true.

  Could it?

  Maddie clenched her jaw to keep the agony at bay. She didn’t want to be right.

  She wanted Gio’s words to be true.

  The night she’d told him he’d been too drunk to remember hearing she was pregnant, they’d both admitted there had been love there eight years ago. On both sides.

  Was his confession now simply an echo of that?

  She inhaled and held it until her lungs burned, then hurried back to her room and slipped inside silently.

  Maddie panted as if she’d climbed a mountain, and dashed into the bathroom. Needed to get ahold of herself before she could face the two males that meant the most to her in the world.

  Her eyes were puffy, so she splashed water on her face and patted dry with a hand towel. It was Saturday, so she hadn’t bothered with makeup, but she almost wanted to grab some to disguise the emotion printed all over her face.

  When Maddie left the bedroom again, she intentionally shut the door loudly so they’d hear her coming. “Jake, are you done eating? Wash your plate, please,” she projected on purpose.

  Two sets of very blue eyes landed on her as she hit the end of the hallway, and they both smiled.

  Damn, they even have the same smile.

  God really must be testing her.

  Her heart stuttered all over again. Jake was indeed on Gio’s lap, tucked against his chest, and her man’s arms were around their son. They were so comfortable with each other, as if they hadn’t met less than a month before.

  Why do I feel like the odd man out?

  She almost wished Jamie hadn’t had to catch the early shift at that ridiculous job of hers. There was a show at eleven, and she’d had to be in by nine, but she headed out before eight, saying she was meeting new friends for coffee.

  Lucky brat.

  Maddie told herself to stop freaking out. This was what she’d dreamed of—Gio and Jake together and happy.

  No, she’d dreamed of the three of them together, being a family. Four of them, really, since her sister was a fixture in her household.

  The dream was before her now, wasn’t it?

  “Mads, somethin’ wrong?” Gio asked as Jake scrambled off his lap and went to put his plate in the sink.

  “Can I have a donut now? Daddy said they were for me!”

  She ignored the man she loved. “Uh, did you eat all your eggs and bacon?”

  The little boy nodded.

  “Just one, okay? Brush your teeth when you’re done.”

  “Yes!” He jumped up and down, then ran to the kitchen counter.

  Gio leaned forward and grabbed her hand.

  That was funny, she didn’t remember entering the living room.

  “Mads, what’s wrong?” He kept his voice low, probably for their son’s benefit, but Jake was stuffing a cake donut with blue frosting into his mouth.

  “Nothing.” She shook her head for effect.

  Gio’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t contradict her.

  “That was yummy!” their son announced, with blue stains all around his mouth.

  “Ugh, you look like you ate a smurf!” Maddie ruffled his hair when he giggled. “We have got to get you a haircut, bud.”

  “I’ll take him,” Gio said.

  Jake pin-balled from her to his dad and back. “I wanna go with Dad!”

  “Oh, that’s okay, I can take him.”

  “I want to. I bet my barber has time this morning.”

  “I want a haircut just like my dad!”

  Maddie sighed. “Of course you do.”

  Gio smirked, and Jake echoed his expression, blue mouth and all. They looked so much alike, even then.

  “Well, before you take one step out of this house, you need to wash your face, brush your teeth and get dresse
d.”

  “Now?” Jake asked.

  “Now,” Gio said.

  The little boy’s eyes lit up and he scooted down the hallway.

  His chuckle brought her attention back to his face, but Maddie didn’t want meet his eyes.

  “Thanks, but you really don’t have to take him.”

  “He’s my kid, too, so I do.” Gio stood and naturally, her eyes followed until she was peering up at him. He took her hands, bringing one to his mouth and pressing a kiss into her knuckles. “I don’t know why you don’t want to tell me, and I won’t push you, but something is bothering you.”

  She cleared her throat and tried not to show her surprise. Her rebuttal about Jake’s haircut dissolved. “I’m good.”

  He stared, but didn’t call her on her bullshit. “I thought we were good.”

  “We are.”

  Gio’s gaze burned until Maddie had to avert her eyes.

  “Mads.”

  When she didn’t respond, he tugged her into his arms.

  Her palms landed on his pecs and she didn’t push away.

  Maybe she couldn’t.

  Gio dipped down, pausing for a second, but she made no move to escape.

  Maddie met his mouth and opened for him, even as he was shoving his tongue against her lips, demanding entry.

  Moving into the kiss and letting him deepen it felt natural. Pressing her body closer, and letting the physical—his feel, his taste—take over filled her fuzzy mind with a temporary peace. The flavors of sugar from a glazed donut and coffee, as well as his normal, just-Gio appeal swept her away.

  She didn’t need to think. Didn’t want to, either.

  Desire simmered below the surface when Gio broke the kiss. Maddie whimpered a protest.

  “Easy.” One corner of his mouth shot up as he rested his forehead against hers. “Always so hot. So responsive. But I don’t need a boner when I’m about to take my kid out in public.”

  Her brain was foggy, and took a moment to catch up. “Sorry,” she blurted.

  He chuckled, and she liked how it vibrated against her breasts.

  “Don’t be sorry. It just shows me how much you’re mine.”

  That instantly sobered her, and Maddie blinked. She wanted to look anywhere but at him. However, her gaze was glued to his against her will.

  “There’s that worried look again.”

  “Worried?”

  “Yeah, you’re freaked out.” Gio brushed a sweet kiss to her mouth, and cupped her cheek. “I can’t guess what’s going on in that head of yours, but if you want to talk, I’m here. That’s the thing I want you to remember.”