Page 65 of Devil's Deal

Smiling to myself that I’d managed to snag another man who found my eccentricities charming, I led my little crew across the hall. Harlow seemed as excited as Charity, maybe even a little more so. The minute he got inside, he spun in a circle, taking it all in at once before falling back on his bed with his arms spread like he was about to make a snow angel.

“This is ab-so-lute-ly amazing!” he yelled.

Charity bounced onto the bed next to him, cuddling into his side. “It is,” she said. “We can buy groceries and make meals together every night and everything.”

He sat up, pulling her up with him. “We should go back to your room and put your clothes away, then I’ll take you down to the Velvet Room for dinner. You’ve only had room service so far. It’ll be my treat to celebrate our new places.”

“Well, you young people enjoy yourselves. I need to get home to my Mrs.,” Everest said.

“Everest, thank you so much for all your help today,” I said, pulling him into a hug. It wasn’t something I normally did with him, or any of my employees, but after recent events, I wanted him to know how special he was to me.

“Oh my.” He chuckled, patting my back. “It was my pleasure. I know it’s been tough for you, Mr. Letterman. I’m just glad I can be here to witness things turning around.”

“I’m glad you’re here, too.”

As he was saying his goodbyes to everyone else, I realized that Dante had slipped from the room at some point. I hoped that didn’t mean anything more than he went away.

After Everest was gone, Romeo asked if he could speak with Charity in her room really quickly. I knew he’d planned on dealing with the Tad situation today, so I hoped he had good news for her. That she’d know that she was safe. I’d find out once we went upstairs.

“Is this all okay, Harlow? You did want to live on-site, right? I’m not pressuring you?” I knew enough about his home life to know that he’d been wanting a place of his own for a while, but that didn’t mean he wanted to live in a one-bedroom hotel room. On the other hand, with the salary I was paying him, he’d be able to afford whatever he wanted sooner than later.

“This is…everything, Cory. Thank you so much for this. Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Hey, you earned this.” I bit my lip, then plunged on. “Is everything else okay? Is Dante making you uncomfortable?”

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.

As soon as we were alone behind closed doors, I said, “Tell me everything.”

“Where do you want me to start,” he asked, pouring an iced tea for us to split. When he’d started doing this yesterday, I thought maybe he wasn’t that thirsty. Now I suspected he just liked sharing with me, which I really kind of liked.

“Why is Dante back?”

A shadow crossed Romeo’s face. “I’m assuming it’s so I can’t make a break for it without them knowing.”

I squinted my eyes at him while I thought about that. “Is it that, or is it more like so you know that they know where I am all the time?”

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