Page 73 of His Tesoro

I nodded. “Do it. Nothing is more important than eliminating the Albanian threat. I’ll work on setting up the decoy runs tomorrow and we’ll carry them out at the end of the week.”

“Are you really going to ask Rustik for reinforcements?”

“Fuck,” I muttered. Asking the Pakhan for reinforcements would show that I was vulnerable. Even with our alliance, I didn’t trust him. “He’s been pushing to come to the city. Says he wants to personally inspect the trade routes.”

Romeo got up to pour us drinks from the bar cart. “Sounds like a load of bullshit.”

I took the whiskey from him. “I agree. But it could be good timing. If we invite him to come next week, we can see if we still need reinforcements. If so, we can discuss it in person.”

Romeo lifted his glass to me in assent.

A wave of exhaustion came over me. I’d been so focused on making sure Sofiya was safe, I hadn’t let myself feel the depth of my fear. But now, it all replayed in my head—how scared she’d sounded on the phone, the endless minutes before I got to her.

“I’ll head to the office now,” I said. “Figure out the decoy plans.”

“No, fratello. Take the night off and spend it with your wife.” He clasped me on the shoulder, squeezing tight.

“What if I can’t protect her?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. I couldn’t allow any cracks in my armor to show, even to Romeo, this man I’d grown up with.

“You can, you will. I know it. Because you always take care of those close to you.”

I started shaking my head, but Romeo wrapped his hand around my neck. “You didn’t fail them. It wasn’t your fault.”

I threw back the rest of my drink and got up. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

Romeo sighed and got up. “I’ll see myself out.”

I put our empty glasses in the kitchen and grabbed a dog treat from the container on the counter, throwing it to Noodle. After years of spending late nights out monitoring my city or hunched over my desk in my office, it felt strange to slip into my bedroom to sleep. Stranger still that my bed wasn’t empty.

I stripped my clothes off and got under the sheets.

“Is everything okay?” Sofiya mumbled, eyes closed as she rolled to face me.

I ran my hand down her hair. “Yes, tesoro.” She smelled like lavender and I breathed her in, adjusting the heating pad that had slipped off her hip. “But I need you to stay at home until we destroy the Albanians.”

“You really think they were after me today?”

I closed my eyes and gathered her close. “Yes. But I’ll protect you. I promise.”

“You already protect me better than anyone.”

My heart twinged at her words. I gathered her to my chest, hoping to God they were true.

41

SOFIYA

Gentle kisses on the side of my face pulled me from sleep, and I made a disgruntled noise.

“Sorry, tesoro. I have to go to the office, but Dr. Amato is here to see you first.”

I shook my head. “Want to sleep.”

Matteo chuckled, his lips brushing against my neck. “You don’t even have to get out of bed. She’s going to talk to us about pregnancy before I have to leave.”

That woke me up. I pushed to a seated position but must have moved too quickly because a sharp pain shot through my knee like lightning. “Shoot.”

“What’s wrong?” Matteo’s voice was panicked.

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