Page 24 of Redeeming Bosley

He nodded. “It’s funny all the things you can find on the Internet these days, Romeo Caputo.”

“How…”

“I’m an upstanding citizen. Have been for years. But this town, when you’re in dire straits, it’ll give you what you need ifyou know where to look. Someone took care of the person who hurt Chip in a way that I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing, but that doesn’t mean I’m not glad it got done.” He stood up. “I’m going to hit the restroom, but don’t you forget, if you ever need something, like say, an alibi, you’ve got a friend in me.”

Left alone at the table, my mind spun. What was happening? Omar was just forgiving me for the deceit? Like it was no big deal. Hey, yeah, no problem. Didn’t like the name Bosley anyway. Seriously? But I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Ollie knew what I had done, and finally, I felt peace for not keeping Chip all those years ago. His Daddy, the true Daddy he’d always been meant to have, appreciated that I’d eliminated that sludge from the planet. For the first time ever, I felt redeemed. Maybe I never had to be Bosley Taylor again. Maybe, just maybe, being Romeo Caputo was enough.

Chapter

Nine

Romeo

Of all thethings I ever expected to argue with Cory about, this wasn’t one of them. He crossed his arms over his chest, jutting his chin up stubbornly. “Daddy, I’m going. He’s my nephew.”

“Boy, don’t you understand?” I asked, winking our fingers together.

“Yeah, I get it, but I’m going. What if he’s hurt? Scared? He doesn’t know any of you.”

“I mean, he does know his father, right?” Dante asked from the table.

Cory growled in frustration. “You.” He jabbed me in the chest with one finger. “Wouldn’t have even been looking into this if it wasn’t for me. He’s my nephew, and I’m going.”

“We do have a balaclava he can wear,” Dante added, unhelpfully. I was gonna kick his ass when this was over.”

“What’s that?” Cory asked.

Throwing my hands, I said, “This proves my whole point. You don’t belong anywhere near this.”

“It’s the gangster ski mask,” Dante whispered.

Cory looked intrigued, and I headed for the bathroom before I lost my shit. This was a complete disaster. This wasn’t how I did things. I was a planner, meticulous. I didn’t get information and run with it the same day. Yeah, I knew it had to be this way this time. Now that Tracker had tracked down Emilio, Cory would’ve lost his mind if we waited.

But it wasn’t just that. It was how fast Rocco took off for home to get his favorite gun. It was Frederic heading straight to the property without backup to wait for us. It was how agitated I was that Dante wouldn’t be at the hotel tonight keeping an eye on Harlow and Charity. Which was ridiculous when I hadn’t wanted him stationed here in the first place. Most of all, it was Cory being unreasonable and insisting that he was coming.

My phone buzzed with a text.

Nico:Have fun tonight. It sucks that I can’t make it to the party, but I know that you and my brother will have fun. Make sure he doesn’t drink too much.

I snorted. Personally, I didn’t care how much he drank, a.k.a. how many people he killed, but I worried that I’d catch him bathing in the blood of his enemies. Good God, Cory didn’t need to see how much Rocco enjoyed eliminating his enemies.

Assistant sided against the bathroom door. “Come on, Romeo. Cory and I are ready.”

I came out of the bathroom and stopped short at the sight of my boy in black jeans, a plain black Henley, and black boots. He looked like any other guy going on a covert mission. He looked ridiculous.

I plucked the keys out of Dante’s head. “I’ll drive.”

Cory sat sullenly in the passenger seat while we picked up Rocco, and all the way to our destination. Instead of trying to make him feel better, I left him in his anger at me. Better that, than him fretting about what tonight would hold. We had no idea if Emilio would be fine or not. Had they gotten him hookedon drugs? Had they been using him as a slave or a prostitute? Until we had him, we wouldn’t know the answers to any of those things.

Half a mile from the house in the woods, I turned off my lights and rolled up next to Emilio’s car right outside the line of sight for the windows. “Is that him? The Penis soldier?”

“Pasini,” Dante and I said at the same time.

“Yeah, yeah. I want to meet him.” He hopped out of the car.

I felt like I had no control. As Cory grabbed the balaclava that Dante held out to him, I realized it was because I didn’t. “You stay in the car.”

Cory glared at me. “Fine but can’t I just get out to say?—"

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