Andi and Niro

by Gadziala, Jessica

  So I guess he wanted me to go there.

  Attached to the daisy, though, was a key.

  Heartbeat skittering, I slipped the key into the lock, taking a paranoid look around the neighborhood, wondering if someone would notice out-of-place me and call the police.

  How would I explain my presence to them?

  My fiancé, you know the outlaw biker, gave me a key to this house where I was once kidnapped and forced to perform surgery on a member of a drug-dealing cartel. This is all for a scavenger hunt with an unknown prize at the end.

  I would end up in jail—if not the psych ward—in a heartbeat.

  As soon as the lock turned, I rushed inside, not wanting to be seen even if I knew in my heart of hearts that Niro would never do anything to put me in any sort of danger.

  The inside of the house was familiar, yet very different.

  The very white interior was now done in warm earth tones. Artwork hung on the walls. There was even a shoe rack to the side of the front door. Where a set of little boy sandals was situated.

  Feeling creepy, I moved through the house, making my way to the kitchen since it was the room with the most significance.

  My vision flashed back to that night.

  The blood.

  The man with a hole in his stomach.

  The screaming.

  The fear.

  There were no traces of that kitchen left, though.

  The all-white look it had back then was gone, replaced with darker wood cabinets, butcher block countertops, and wood floors.

  Taking a deep breath, I moved over toward the kitchen table, looking for a piece of paper, a flower, a picture.

  Something. Anything.

  But there was nothing.

  "Hey there, lil' mama," a voice called, making my stomach drop.

  For one horrifying moment, I wondered if Andres Alcazar had somehow hijacked my scavenger hunt, that he had tricked me into coming here, to breaking and entering, to a face-to-face meeting.

  It was no secret that the Alcazar Cartel and the Henchmen had experienced their ups and downs over the years. But those were different stories for other times.

  But there was no reason for Andres to need to be so backward in trying to get to me.

  Niro must have reached out to him for some reason.

  "Andres," I said, voice a little breathless as I turned to find him standing there in front of the island in his typical all-black outfit, his dark gaze on me. "How is Val?" I asked, since it was the first thing that popped into my head.

  "He's gonna be daddy soon. Guess I should be making an appointment in the future to get them all their shots."

  I'd seen Andres from a distance over the years. Driving past his house, behind me in the grocery store, even at the park walking several of his dogs at once.

  But he'd never come back to the office.

  I shouldn't have, considering, but I had wondered more than once if his dogs were getting their proper vaccinations and care.

  "Congratulations," I said, for lack of anything else to say.

  "Seems like congratulations are in order for you too," he said, jerking his chin toward my hand.

  "Oh, yeah. Thanks."

  "You got an interesting man there, Doc," he said, reaching into his breast pocket. For one terrifying second, I was worried he was reaching for some kind of weapon. Or, worse yet, a piece of Niro. I still had nightmares about that threat Andres had delivered years ago.

  But all that he pulled out was an envelope.

  "He's got a strange way of giving gifts," I agreed as Andres moved forward, holding out the envelope.

  "Seems that way."

  "Why did he ask you to give me this?" I asked.

  "Seems like I played an important part in you two getting together."

  That wasn't entirely untrue, though it was stretching the facts at best.

  If it hadn't been for the kidnapping, Niro never would have had a reason to barge into my apartment that day. We never would have confronted our issues. He never would have confessed his long-held feelings. I never would have told him about my new ones.

  In a twisted way, Andres did have a part in our life.

  I guess it was fitting that he was involved in this over-the-top scheme of Niro's. Even if Niro contacting him might cause some serious problems with Fallon if he ever found out.

  "In a screwed-up sort of way," I agreed, getting an amused chuckle from Andres.

  "Screwed-up. I can live with that. Just wanted to let you know," he added as I slid my finger under the lip of the envelope. "No matter what happens with my organization and your man's one, you and me, we're good. So go on and have a good life, lil' mama."

  And with that, Andres was gone, leaving me reading some sort of haiku that wanted me to go outside to my car again.

  Where I found Toll.

  "Always regretted not getting a second date with you," he said, giving me a charming smile. "But I think you ended up with who you are meant to be with," he added, holding out a blindfold. "Not my rules," he said, shrugging apologetically as he opened my backseat door.

  "If he has made me an unwitting participant in my own kidnapping and murder, I am going to be so mad," I told Toll as I heard him climbing into the driver's seat and turn over the engine.

  Time slowed as we drove, but when the car stopped, it seemed like we were likely still in Navesink Bank, though maybe more on the outskirts of it.

  "You know something, angel?" Toll asked as we sat there with the engine running.

  "What?"

  "That man would have killed me in that ring because he knew I was into you."

  "Yeah," I agreed, even if a part of me still cringed at that memory.

  "He's a hard man."

  "Yes," I agreed again. "What are you getting at?"

  "My point is, you must be one hell of a woman to make a man that hard do something this soft," he told me, climbing out of the car.

  The next thing I knew, my door was opening, and Toll's hand was reaching for mine, helping me out.

  "What now?"

  "Now you take off your blindfold and take your next clue."

  With a surprisingly nervous flutter in my belly, I pulled off the blindfold to find myself on a tree-lined street that wasn't familiar to me. Five feet away from me was my mother standing there with a big smile and daisy in her hand.

  Several feet behind her was my father with a flower.

  Then Niro's mom with one, then his dad.

  From there, I saw Billie standing on a driveway. Then Gracie. I imagined Hope was further down, but I couldn't see her.

  Everyone was a little more dressed up than usual for this random little display Niro had set up.

  "What's going on?" I asked my mom as I moved toward her.

  "What's going on is you have one hell of a thoughtful fiancé," she told me, giving me a soft smile. "Okay, I am supposed to give you this," she said, pressing the flower into my hands. "As well as a memory."

  She launched into a short story about the time I had convinced Niro to sneak out with me when we were ten so we could sleep outside, where I showed him all the constellations for the first time.

  My father gave me a daisy and the memory of Niro trying to teach me to drive on the turnpike, which had led to a panic attack and a very dangerous changing of drivers while driving because we couldn't pull off to the side to do it safely.

  Each of our closest loved ones held a story that I hadn't thought about in a long time, but Niro clearly always had on his mind.

  By the time I was halfway down the driveway, tears were flooding my eyes.

  "You don't have a flower," I said, stopping in front of Hope who was standing there in her usual all-dark attire, but the pants were actually slacks and the top was silk. I wasn't sure I'd ever seen her in anything other than casual clothes in my life.

  "I don't," she agreed, giving me a smile. "I have a silk ribbon," she told me, producing it. "This is a ribbon from your sixteenth birthday. Yo
u said it was the perfect shade of yellow and you wanted your whole house painted this color one day."

  "How does he remember all of this?" I asked, reaching up with my free hand to wipe the tears off my cheek.

  "I have no idea," Hope said, reaching out, carefully wrapping the silk ribbon around the stems of the daisies my loved ones had already given me.

  "Hope, what is going on?" I asked.

  "Look at the bouquet," she demanded, voice uncharacteristically soft.

  My gaze went down, turning the bouquet in my hands to where she'd tied the bow.

  And there it was.

  A key.

  My gaze shot up and past her to the farmhouse sitting on what looked like a decent piece of land, which was hard to come by in our area.

  The house itself was two stories with all-white board-and-batten siding, a black metal roof, and a massive wrap-around porch with a giant overhang so you could sit out on the rocking chairs and watch a storm roll in.

  "No," I said, shaking my head as I looked back at Hope.

  "Yes," she told me, smile big. "Now, I don't have a memory for you. I have an instruction."

  "Okay," I agreed, my head spinning.

  "Take the key, go up on the porch, and unlock the door to your new house," she told me. "You're supposed to explore it, but do not go to the kitchen at the back of the house until you have looked at everything else first. Trust me, it will all make sense."

  "Okay," I said, feeling strangely buzzy, like all this wasn't quite real.

  But it was.

  And I was making my way up to the porch of my new home. Our new home. Where we would have animals and tend gardens and hopefully someday, raise some babies of our own.

  Unlocking the door, I moved inside to find the whole first floor painted the exact shade of my silk ribbon. I'd been right when I was a teenager. It was bright and cheery, like it would be impossible to have a sad day in such a happy house.

  The house itself was perfect with its pristine hardwood floors, rustic light fixtures, open shelving, and giant windows.

  Though, for some reason, the windows that looked out to the back of the yard were covered with white paper.

  Trusting the process, I left the paper there as I went through the living room, the family room, the half bath on the lower level, then skipping the kitchen, I went back to the front of the house to take the staircase up.

  There were two small bedrooms and a full bath to one end of the hall then one closed door at the other end.

  I made my way toward that one, anticipation fluttering in my belly as the knob turned in my hand.

  And then there was the master bedroom. Which had been fully decorated. Rustic wood nightstands that matched the dresser, a wooden wall behind the metal frame bed covered in lush white linens.

  I swear my heart was swelling big enough to break out of my chest as I turned to look in the bathroom with its clawfoot tub, then opened the door to the closet.

  And that was where I found a simple white lace sundress with a note attached.

  Put me on. Then come to the kitchen.

  Maybe I should have seen the signs then, but my mind was so overwhelmed that no thought was taking root for long enough to really make any sense.

  So I just changed out of my clothes, slid on the dress and the flats I found below them, grabbed my bouquet, and made my way downstairs and around to the farmhouse kitchen of my dreams with butcher block countertops, tons of light, stainless steel appliances, and a giant sink.

  Then, there standing by the back door, was my father.

  Who had changed into a suit.

  And, suddenly, it all clicked.

  My family being all dressed up. The flowers that got tied together to make a bouquet. My white dress.

  "Daddy..." I said, shaking my head, too overwhelmed to think of any other words.

  "You and me, baby girl, we have a little walk to take," he told me, eyes looking a little watery as well as he held out his arm for me.

  "I can't believe this is happening," I told him, linking my arm through his as he turned toward the back door.

  "As a father, I've always sort of dreaded this day. Giving you away. But giving you away to Niro, Andi, this is easy. I know he is going to do everything in his power to give you the happiest life possible."

  I didn't have a single doubt about that.

  My father led me out onto the back porch then down the sprawling green lawn to where chairs were set up to line a path that made its way up to an altar that was decorated with daisies.

  Our loved ones were gathered around, all of them beaming at me as my father led me into the opening of the pathway.

  I felt bad even saying this, but I barely even noticed them. Or the music. Or the fact that everyone had brought their four-legged friends with them like I'd once told Niro I would love.

  Because my gaze shifted forward.

  And there he was.

  My best friend in the whole world.

  The keeper of all my memories.

  The holder of all my hopes and dreams for the future.

  In a suit.

  With a ring.

  I knew what I was supposed to do, how this was supposed to go, what was traditional.

  But the second our eyes met, I was breaking free from my father and racing forward up the aisle, getting a couple excited yips from our canine company, before I launched—positively launched—myself into Niro's arms.

  "A thousand times yes," I told him before sealing my lips to his.

  "Well, that's one way to do it," my Aunt Lo, our officiator, said, a smile in her voice. "I, ah, I pronounce you man and wife," she added.

  But we were already sealing the deal.

  Because I'd never been so sure of anything in my life.

  A farm.

  Our loved ones.

  Animals.

  And a happily ever after with Niro.

  XX

  Also by Jessica Gadziala

  If you liked this book, check out these other series and titles in the NAVESINK BANK UNIVERSE:

  The Henchmen MC

  Reign

  Cash

  Wolf

  Repo

  Duke

  Renny

  Lazarus

  Pagan

  Cyrus

  Edison

  Reeve

  Sugar

  The Fall of V

  Adler

  Roderick

  Virgin

  Roan

  Camden

  West

  Colson

  The Savages

  Monster

  Killer

  Savior

  Mallick Brothers

  For A Good Time, Call

  Shane

  Ryan

  Mark

  Eli

  Charlie & Helen: Back to the Beginning

  Investigators

  367 Days

  14 Weeks

  4 Months

  Dark

  Dark Mysteries

  Dark Secrets

  Dark Horse

  Professionals

  The Fixer

  The Ghost

  The Messenger

  The General

  The Babysitter

  The Negotiator

  The Client

  Rivers Brothers

  Lift You Up

  Lock You Down

  Pull You In

  STANDALONES WITHIN NAVESINK BANK:

  Vigilante

  Grudge Match

  The Rise of Ferryn

  Counterfeit Love

  Golden Glades Henchmen

  Huck

  OTHER SERIES AND STANDALONES

  Stars Landing

  What The Heart Needs

  What The Heart Wants

  What The Heart Finds

  What The Heart Knows

  The Stars Landing Deviant

  What The Heart Learns

  Surrogate

  The Sex Surrogate

  Dr. Chase Hu
dson

  The Green Series

  Into the Green

  Escape from the Green

  DEBT

  Dissent

  Stuffed: A Thanksgiving Romance

  There Better Be Pie

  Unwrapped

  Peace, Love, & Macarons

  A Navesink Bank Christmas

  Don't Come

  Fix It Up

  N.Y.E.

  faire l'amour

  The Woman at the Docks

  The Woman in the Trunk

  The Sacrifice

  Ugly Sweater Weather

  About the Author

  Jessica Gadziala is a full-time writer, parrot enthusiast, and coffee drinker who enjoys short rides to the bookstore, sad songs, and cold weather, and who had developed an unhealthy obsession with acquiring houseplants. She lives in New Jersey with a bunch dogs, seven parrots, and a whole flock of chickens.

  She is a strong believer in snark, strong secondary characters, and badass women.

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