Page 21 of Redeeming Bosley

He shook his head with a little too much enthusiasm to be completely believable. “No, he’s fine. It’s just the whole…” He waved his hands around in the air.

“Mafia thing?” I guessed.

“Doesn’t it make you nervous? At least a little bit?” He wrung his hands in front of him.

I sat on his bed, patting the spot next to me, and he sat down. “I’m going to be completely honest with you. My sister was involved with a soldier from another Family. That’s my nephew’s father. I never really cared for him much, nor did I give him a chance. All I cared about was that he was a criminal. But then my nephew went missing, my sister passed away, and Mac died, and you know what? Frederic was still here. Even though I’ve never been particularly nice to him, he kept coming around and checking on me.

“I’ve gotten to know him so much better, and I wish my sister was still alive so that I could tell her that I understand now. He’s a great guy. Is he more than likely a killer? Yes. Does he probably do all kinds of other things I don’t want to know about? Yes. But he’s one of my people, and I guess…I guess maybe I’ve decided that in this crazy, unpredictable world, that’s enough.”

“Is he what made it easier for you to accept Romeo for who he is?”

I chuckled. “I’m sure it didn’t hurt.”

Harlow nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“But if he bothers you or steps out of line, you come to me or Romeo. This is your home, not his.”

He nodded slowly. “I will. I promise. For right now, it’s kind of comforting knowing that he’ll be here when Romeo isn’t. Knowing that he’s one of those people who’ll do whatever it takes to keep us all safe.”

I sighed. “I can’t really argue with you there.” Maybe I wouldn’t be reading Romeo the riot-act about Dante’s presence after all.

The four of us ended up helping Charity put away her things. We chatted and laughed, and I felt…good. This wasn’t the life that I’d expected to have, but watching Romeo, being with him, I felt hope blooming in a way that I’d never expected to experience again.

Chapter

Eight

Romeo

In so many ways,the last few weeks had been the best of my life. I never imagined that I’d have the opportunity to be with someone like Cory, to have my very own boy. He filled my days with light, infiltrating the dark places in my soul. He was magical, unexpected, and ending each day with him was totally worth the shit show that it was every minute of the day that I wasn’t with him.

Working with Rocco hadn’t been as bad as I anticipated it would be. He had an interesting perspective on life and a good sense of humor. Not that I ever let him see that I thought he was funny. In some ways, I thought that was part of his charm. He didn’t care that I ignored half of everything he said. We’d been doing our job, putting the Buccelli territory to rights, one street at a time.

Rocco preferred to go in swinging, which in many cases needed to be done. He was learning the art of subtlety, though. Learning to wait and read the room before he went off halfcocked. He was a work in progress, but whenever I grewfrustrated with him, I remembered the little boy with big eyes who used to follow me around like a puppy. I didn’t know what the future held for me and the Family, but I was determined to leave the youngest brother better-trained than when I found him.

There were other frustrations beyond having to do the enforcer-type crap that I’d always sworn I’d stay away from. Cory’s PI was proving to be elusive. He hadn’t been in town at all since I asked Cory to set up a meeting between us. To hear this guy tell it, he was chasing leads for Emilio all over the country. I didn’t buy it. If he didn’t produce himself soon, I’d tell Cory to cut his funding. No doubt he’d show then.

Frederic had come through with the names I needed for the Pasini Family, and Tracker had been working on them ever since. I asked him to start with researching the Capo who’d had an affair with Frederic’s ex-wife. He’d seemed a likely suspect but had proven to be a dead end, as had all the other members of the organization so far. Maybe Frederic was wrong, and he’d been chasing his tail this whole time.

The information Tracker dug up left me in another awkward position. Sure, I’d agreed to be an associate for the Buccellis, but I’d hired him to help me find Emilio. To hear him tell it, while he hadn’t found Cory’s nephew, he was sitting on a gold mine of information that Nico—or more specifically Vin—would be interested in. Did I pay Tracker for those details or leave it alone? I didn’t owe the brothers any more than what I was doing, but…

That was another thought I shoved to the back of my mind. I wasn’t normally indecisive, and I was finding it unsettling.

I’d known finding Emilio wasn’t going to be easy, but I so wanted to give my boy back his nephew that I’d held out hope that I’d be able to handle this quickly and efficiently. Arrogant? Hell yeah, but this was what I did. Hunting down targets andeliminating them was proving to be much easier than searching for a victim and rescuing them. It really pissed me off. Not my sweet Cory, though. While he hadn’t given up hope yet, he hadn’t expected a miracle. How was it that me, a man who’d never had hope, had?

“Daddy, are we going to sit here all night or are we going in?”

I sighed, staring at the sign for The Tap Tavern. How had I let Cory talk me into doing this? Was there a chance with me living in Takoda now that I would have eventually run into Omar or Nigel or Chip? Possibly. But in a city of three hundred thousand people, and with the crowd I moved in, it wouldn’t have been for a long time. Long enough for me to come up with an excuse why I was here.

Cory reached over and rested his hand on my thigh. “It’s okay to be nervous.”

“What makes you think I’m nervous? I just need to get my story straight, that’s all.”

He huffed. “Sure. Whatever you say.”

He opened his door and exited the vehicle.Cheeky brat. Following his lead, I got out, walked around, and grabbed his hand. “Are you sure this is okay? I don’t want to upset Chip.”

I barked out a laugh. “You don’t have to worry about that. When I told you that he’d found his perfect Daddy, I wasn’t kidding. I didn’t see Chip when I met up with the guys last time, but I met Ollie, his Daddy, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that boy is completely spoiled and doted on.”

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