Elsa m carruthers, p.19
The Hitman's Vice, page 19
“It’s not what you think.” That was from Gia, who’d reached them too. She grabbed Zara’s free hand. “Za-za, it’s not. I swear on everything, Dad’s cool right now. Unless Dane kills our new half-brother.”
“Our what?” Zara swallowed, audibly, and Dane felt her fingers curling against his wrist. “D, don’t kill whoever the hell that is. Yet.”
“His name’s Mayer.” But he lowered the blade. Not only because she asked, but because people were staring. “What I don’t know is what a fucking Storm Crow is doing on this side of the Atlantic.”
Ryan laughed. “I fucking flew.” His hand returned to Dane’s shoulder, urging him to the side. “They told me you looked just like Gia.” His bright, blue eyes appraised Zara, his ink-covered arms crossing over his broad chest. “I kind of see it. Different eyes. Higher cheekbones.”
“That’s makeup,” Gia said disdainfully. ”Aren’t bounty hunters supposed to be harder to trick?”
“You know him?” Zara’s attention swung back to Dane, and her priorities seemed to have gone sideways as well.
“It’s complicated.” Dane sighed. Well, it was only a matter of time before I landed in the doghouse.
“I wouldn’t say he knows me. But since he saved your future sister-in-law’s life, as long as he doesn’t hold a weapon on me again, I’d say we’re in a good place.” Ryan’s smile fell. “Adam hired me to find you two. It would have been a lot nicer if you two could’ve stuck around Atlanta a day longer and saved us all the jet lag, but—”
Zara’s glare slid from Ryan back to Dane and over to Sawyer. “So now Dad’s dragging in spare kids to clean his messes up? Where the hell is he, John?”
“Good question,” Dane muttered but stopped at an outright hostile glare from Zara.
“Spare?” Ryan held up a hand. “Dude. I’m standing right here.”
“Yet you haven’t been there for at least the last twenty-one years, so her point stands,” Gia said, sounding far too cheerful for someone in arm’s reach of an oversized Storm Crow.
Zara sniffed. “I’ll bother being polite when you aren’t ambushing my husband.”
“Husband?” Sawyer gaped at Dane. “You actually married her?”
“Mad you weren’t the best man?” Grim asked.
Dane’s eyes rolled. No divine stroke of genius or patience struck, so he had only one option. “Let’s get this shitshow finished, however it’s gonna land. Where’s Adam?” Maybe they’d finally answer.
“Up there.” Gianna pointed toward the cafe she’d come from, but up a level to a covered balcony that had been empty as a grave thirty seconds earlier. Now, Adam Fitzgerald and another guard stood just this side of the shadows. “He didn’t think you’d take it well if you saw him first. I volunteered.”
“If this goes to hell, I’m going to do a lot worse than the staircase would, Gigi,” Zara hissed at her twin, her tone shockingly cold. Nice to know she’ll wreak a little havoc on my behalf. Hope she puts flowers on the grave too. “Just so you know.”
Gia nodded. “I promise he’s only here to talk. You can take me as a hostage if he pulls anything shady, okay?”
“Did that threat make sense to anyone else?” Ryan’s confusion drew a shrug from Sawyer and an eye roll from Gianna.
“If you’re a good mercenary, we’ll explain it later. Come on.” Gia linked her arm with Zara’s, leaving Ryan and Sawyer to walk Dane across the narrow street, but not putting more than two steps of distance between the groups—a kindness, Dane realized with a start, as it meant there was no clear shot anyone could take from Adam’s balcony without risking the twins. Gianna doing anything with forethought and consideration felt as ominous as Adam’s actual presence. That hunk of diamonds and rubies on her left hand couldn’t have caused a new personality, could it? Jesus, I hope we’re not all about to die.
Inside the restaurant, a handful of well-dressed patrons lingered by the windows, no doubt taking shelter from the muggy air that had already begun frizzing Gia and Zara’s hair—though for once, the twins’ strands were vastly different, with Zara’s lightened to sunny yellow and cut to just below her shoulders, and Gia’s still dark as sin and braided to her waist with her usual staggeringly expensive extensions. A few patrons eyed the pretty girls—and Zara’s bare back—but looked away quickly from the three unhappy men with them. Sawyer wore his usual suit, Ryan wore cargoes and a polo so new they still had marks from the tags being pulled out. Dane half-expected a waiter to interrupt them, thanks to his board shorts and Zara’s flimsy sundress, but whoever had paid off the staff must’ve included enough to cover the dress code too.
Their mismatched group headed up a flight of stairs that had probably seen Napoleon’s troops, and out onto the balcony where Adam lounged in an upholstered seat with a bottle of Chianti and a massive platter of cheese, olives, and meat spread on the table.
“Well, well, well. If it’s not the prodigals.” Adam lifted a glass in their direction. “I hope you appreciate the size of the donation I had to make to Father McGinty for canceling that damn wedding at the last second, Zara.”
“Not my fault you got out-bargained by a priest, Dad.”
Dane winced. “Maybe we can try not to antagonize your father right now, sweetheart?”
The look Zara leveled on him could’ve stopped a train in its tracks. “I don’t think groveling is going to help now, but you can try it if you want.”
Dane lifted a brow. “He’s only related to one of us.”
“That’s not quite true.” Her attention returned to her father, and Dane tried not to notice Ryan and Sawyer chortling in the background. “The marriage was done with our legal names. Dane’s your son-in-law now.”
“Ah. So you are married.” Adam sighed. And drank.
Dane cleared his throat. “We’d have invited you, but I wasn’t sure if you’d congratulate us or bury me.”
“Smart boy.” Adam nodded with far more approval. “I ought to at least dangle you off the fuckin’ balcony til you produce a proper fuckin’ apology.”
“Would that have worked on my father, sir?”
“He’d have taken a bullet to the knee first. Then apologized.”
“If the cops won’t mind the gunshot.”
“Honestly, are you sure you don’t want him thrown off the balcony?” Gia muttered.
“I’m reconsidering.” Zara tossed her hair and moved forward, fixing her father with a very Gia-like stare, as if calculating some internal odds. “But you can’t shoot him, Dad. You also can’t throw him off anything high enough to damage him. Sorry.”
“And why the hell not?”
“I am sorry, Adam.” Dane stepped in front of Zara. He’d be damned if he hid behind her. Or anyone. But especially not her. “If I could have done this properly, I would have. But that’s as far as my apology extends. I respect the hell out of you, but I couldn’t let her marry somebody else. Sure as hell not Joey De Lucca.”
“And my husband’s very happy about that,” Gia added.
Adam glanced at something behind Dane and Zara—Ryan? The seashore? God, please not a sniper—and let out a long breath. Then poured himself another glass of wine. “Accepted. And I promise not to shoot your husband, Zara. But we need to have a chat, and you girls need to be somewhere else for it.”
Zara’s hand tightened on Dane’s fingers before she let go. “Business? Already?”
“It’s been a fucking war, sweetheart. We won’t keep him too long.” He nodded to Sawyer. “John, get the girls some food, and don’t let either one wander off for once.”
“Yes, sir.” Sawyer held the balcony door open, and Gia sashayed through. Zara glanced back once but disappeared into the dark interior once Dane nodded. No one spoke.
The door clicked shut, and Adam leaned forward with an expression as cold as a Chicago blizzard. “So, what the fuck were you planning on doing, Dane? Dragging my daughter from cave to cave? And with what fuckin’ income stream? You going to the Albanians after all?”
He considered lying, but it seemed like a bad time to bluff. “To be perfectly honest, sir, I was making it up as we went. But we had enough for a while.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Are you hearing this?” Adam waved a hand toward Ryan and the new guard. Dane vaguely remembered him from Chicago but had no idea what his name was.
Ryan chuckled. “I can’t judge him, Adam. I’ve done stupider shit for a woman. When she’s the right one, your brain don’t always work. You know how it is, right? Or I could call Mom and—”
“It’s not too late for more than one of your asses to be off the balcony.” Adam’s lip quirked, but the expression he fixed on Dane wasn’t nearly so amused. “I can understand stupidity. Impulsiveness. But your job was to take care of her. And you’re telling me you ran off into the fucking night without so much as the ghost of a goddamn plan.”
“Your job was to take care of her,” Dane spat before he could stop himself. “My plan was to make her happy, which is far more than Joseph De Lucca could have done for her.”
Adam rose from the table with all the power of a hurricane cresting the horizon. His bright blue eyes blazed as he closed the distance between them. “My job is taking care of all of them and the family. Something you might learn if you live to see next year.”
“Adam … Dad.” Ryan inched closer, all traces of levity gone from his expression.
“Stand down, Ryan. I’ve promised Hannah he won’t die and Zara that I won’t maim him.”
“Right, but—”
“I never said a damn thing about this.” Adam’s right fist slammed into Dane’s jaw. He stumbled but kept his footing, waiting for the next blow. It didn’t come.
“I deserved that,” Dane said through a haze of pain. He almost lifted a hand to check the bleeding, but kept his arm down. His tongue stroked over his teeth, the copper tang of blood attacking his taste buds before he spat it out. “I’m sorry, Adam.”
“Not as sorry as you’re about to be.”
Dane squared his shoulders to face his boss and father-in-law. “I didn’t betray the Outfit, but I fucked up your trust. I accept whatever you say I have to do. Except losing her.”
“Oh, you’re not losing her.” Adam’s smile was darker somehow than his anger. “You’re going to get the worst fuckin’ punishment there is.”
“Oh, God.” Worse than death? That must be… “Please don’t make me watch Gia.”
Ryan and Adam’s laughter sounded eerily identical. “Worse than that,” Adam said with a chilly grin. “You’re going to handle the legit side of the business for a while, Dane. A nice, tidy office job. As a consultant for Ethan.”
Dane’s stomach plummeted to his feet. “Are you sure I can’t watch Gia?”
“Or you can sign some simple annulment papers and take your job back.”
There it is. The twist. “I don’t mind an office when you put it that way.”
“Sure about that?” The boss’s eyes were sharp as Dane’s favorite knife. “You’ve never had a legit job, son. You’re a fuckin’ killer. It’s in your blood, and it’s sure as shit in your soul. I know you like your work. Tell me you haven’t been itching like an addict at rehab the last three weeks.”
Dane glowered, his gaze locking with Adam’s. “You know I can’t tell you that.” Even pulling the knife on Ryan spun him onto a high. “But I will never choose anything over Zara.” Not again. She won’t forgive me again. He’d had four years on her bad side, and weeks in Missouri living for the job, feeling the heartbreak in every waking second—and most of the sleeping ones. He could live for the job, he’d already been doing that. But Missouri made it clear what that was going to be when the job never included her again, and neither did his time off. He didn’t like who he’d be without her around, and he sure as hell didn’t like how he felt. “I can’t.”
“So be it.” Adam returned to his chair. This time he filled two more cups as well as his own and pushed them across the table. “Sit down, boys. We’re going to have some family discussions.” Dane waited for Ryan to move and cast a worried glance at the doorway before sitting beside Zara’s half-brother, facing Adam’s inscrutable features.
Adam rubbed his bruising knuckles and Dane tried not to feel their imprint. “You know, shit would’ve been so much easier if you’d just fallen for Gianna? Fucking Christ. That girl’s made to marry someone on the wrong side of the world. But Zara?”
“She’s tougher than you think,” Dane said, reaching for the glass but not drinking.
“I never said she wasn’t tough.”
“I think he means she’s not an ice-hearted bitch.” Grim saluted, then sipped from his glass.
“See? He’s met his sisters. He knows.” Adam shrugged. “Zara’s sweet. She’s kind. She’s a fucking genetic anomaly. Her and Caleb. Not sure where the hell they came from. My blessed mother always said changelings ran in the family. I figured it was just her going batty.”
“You mean, there might be legit Fitzgeralds out in the world, completely unaware that you’re their dad.” Ryan’s lips tightened. “Wonder what that’d be like…”
“Son, that’s not the meaning there. I told you, your mother was worried about this family and what it would do to you.”
Grim burst into laughter. “Well, thanks to her, I’m an upstanding fucking citizen, right?”
Adam’s attention swung back to Dane. “Zara’s going to be worried about you on every assignment. Every night you don’t come home. Every missed call. Every time there’s blood you forget to clean off your socks or some shit. The girl could barely make herself tell me she wanted to change majors, and you’re aiming her toward that?”
“I tried telling her.” He frowned, staring at his wavering reflection in the liquor. “But she doesn’t have to worry about jackals from within now,” he said, opting to take a swipe at her psychotic brother’s ghost. “She’ll be safe.”
“And if she gets pregnant, and it turns out she has her mother’s … difficulties?” Adam’s pause was all the closer he’d get to describing his first wife’s mental struggles. The ones that had distracted everyone from Bennett’s early warning signs and caused endless drama until the divorce and effective medications steadied her.
“If that happens, we will deal with it. Together.” Dane took a sip and set the glass back on the table. “In sickness and in health, right? I didn’t make those vows lightly. Whatever she needs, I’ll see that she gets it. But, I can’t worry about what-ifs that may never happen.”
Adam snorted. “Son, if she’s not already pregnant, I’ll eat the damn tray. I’ve got how many kids?”
“Do you even know?” Ryan asked, grinning.
“Living? At last count, eight. Keep pushing, I’ll consider moving down to seven.”
“Poor Caleb.”
This time, Dane laughed. “I see your point, Boss. Mine still stands. We’ll deal with tomorrow as it happens. As husband and wife.”
“As long as you also deal with the damn due date,” Adam replied. “I don’t remember how long you’re allowed to put her on planes for. And considering you’ll be working in DC with Ethan for a while…”
“She’s not pregnant.” Though now we aren’t facing a firing squad, the thought didn’t scare him. Zara wasn’t her mom—and even if she was, he felt rock-solid faith in their ability to find the right path through it. Jesus, it really doesn’t. Maybe I’m the one who needs a shrink.
Adam only smirked. “Care to put money on that?”
“Not if he has a kid on the way.” Grim emptied his glass. “But he’s right, Dad. If she’s knocked up, what choice do they have? They figure it out. And if they don’t figure it out… Well, they’d better.”
Adam spread his arms like some old-fashioned bishop. “Oh, don’t look so worried, boys. This is all ceremonial. So that later, when you’re completely fucked, you can’t look back and pretend I didn’t give you plenty of time to get the hell out of the mess.”
Dane managed not to glare. Somehow. “Thanks.” He grabbed his glass, threw his head back to empty it, swallowed hard, and slammed it on the table. “So, do I call you Dad now?”
“Why not? Joey keeps doing it.” Adam grimaced. He glanced out toward the harbor, his expression strange. “Well. Let’s get the girls back in so Zara can see you’re not maimed.” Adam gestured to the silent guard, who put a hand to his ear, switching on communications to summon Sawyer and the twins.
They all returned in a rush of whispered arguments and Sawyer’s muttered curses. The second Zara stepped across the threshold, she ran for Dane as if throwing herself into his arms would deflect any damage her father intended. “Dad, you promised!”
“One punch!” Adam protested. “It’s a little bruising and a busted lip. He’s had worse. Now calm down. We’ve got travel arrangements to make, and Dane’s got a new position to tell you about.”
“Position?” she echoed, while Gia snickered.
Dane took her hands in his before she could touch the swelling bruises. “I’ll be working for Ethan for a while. It’s not Sorrento, but DC does have its charm.” He bent to kiss her cheek. Better to hold off on kissing her lips until they were alone. After he washed his mouth out.
“DC!” The outrage came from Gianna, shockingly. “What the hell is he supposed to do there? Bore Ethan to death?”
Zara’s arm slid around Dane’s waist, and she hid her face against his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” She kept repeating it while Gia launched a tirade at their father.
“He’s one of yours! You can’t just send him off to Ethan. We need him in Chicago! Send him to Joey if you’re so set on being huffy.”
“The hell I’m sending any help to Vittorio unless he damn well asks. Let alone one of my best hands.”
Gianna crossed her arms, matching Adam glare for glare. “Then have him as my guard for a year. He’ll hate it, and it’ll count as punishment.”
“Dane suggested the same thing.” Grim canted his head to the side, leaning back in his chair. “I was kind of hoping he’d stay in Chicago, too. Especially as I’m getting my bearings.”
