Page 56 of Devil's Deal

“What’s that?” Frederic asked, moving to Cory’s other side. “Aw. Mac’s pet project.”

Both our heads whipped in his direction. “You knew about this?” Cory asked.

Frederic nodded. “Sure. Mac was excited. He was hoping it would cheer you up.”

Cory shook his head, looking back down at the blueprints to remodel the tunnels completely and make them usable. “He never said. I didn’t even know the tunnels were down there until the other day.”

Frederic sighed. “I’m sorry about that. I forgot about it, or I’d have mentioned it.” He stiffened. “Did something happen in the tunnels? Is that how?—"

“Don’t worry about it,” I growled. “It’s been handled.”

“Listen, I know who you are, your reputation, but Cory’s like my brother?—”

“By the Buccellis,” I interrupted, letting him connect the dots. With my reputation, associating with a specific Family was going to make heads turn.

Frederic’s mouth dropped open. “This is going to get complicated, isn’t it?”

“It already is.”

Cory was still staring at the blueprints, ignoring us. With a tip of my head, I motioned Frederic to step back. “I’m going to give you the number for the burner phone I picked up today. Only you and I will have this number. I need you to send me the names of everyone in your organization that you suspect of potentially knowing what happened to your son. Can you do that for me?”

He nodded slowly. “I can.” He paused. “And the Buccellis? You going to give them this information?”

I shook my head. “Only what they need to know. I have someone else, though. A hacker that I trust. He’s got a way of finding things that are supposed to be untraceable. I want him to do some digging once you send me those names.”

Frederic tipped his head back and exhaled harshly, then looked me in the eye. “I know I’m betraying my oath to the Family and that I’ll more than likely die for it. As long as you find out what happened to my son, I don’t care. He’s my blood. My familia. It was my job to…” He trailed off and ran a beefy hand under his nose. “Please find him.”

I gave him the number, he hugged Cory one last time, and then he exited the room, disappearing as quickly as he’d appeared. He wasn’t wrong. He was an oath breaker. The chances of him getting out of this alive were slim to none, no matter how much I held back from Nico. But I respected the man. Respected his devotion to his child instead of a pack of greedy men who cared about nothing more than their own wealth and reputations.

That was a worry for tomorrow. Right now, I needed to get Cory out of this mausoleum and back to the little corner of the world that he’d carved out for himself. He was about to crack all over the place, and we needed to be home where I could glue him back together.

Chapter

Five

CORY

I hardly noticedRomeo taking my keys or tucking me into the passenger seat of my car. I didn’t notice who was working at the check-in desk, if the lobby was busy, or if Everest was still running the elevator. Everything around me felt disjointed, like I was floating through mist.

When Romeo tried taking the blueprints out of my hands, I clutched them tighter. “Come on now, sweet boy. Let me have them so they don’t get wet.”

I didn’t understand. It wasn’t raining. We were inside. Unsure why I had to let them go, I complied. Romeo was my Daddy. My new Daddy because Mac was gone, and I trusted him to take care of me as well as my late husband had. “Keep them safe,” I begged.

“I will. I promise.”

The sound of falling water echoed distantly in my ears as Romeo methodically stripped my clothes off. Then he was naked, too, leading me by the hand. Steam rose around us as he pulled me under the fancy rain showerhead I’d purchased. The only luxury I’d allowed myself in my tiny apartment. My sanctuary. The place I’d created to escape the memories Mac and I’d never have the chance to make in the home he’d provided for us.

Romeo’s hands slid down the slick skin of my back, pulling me flush with his muscular body. “That’s right, boy. Let it all out.”

Confused, I blinked up, wanting to see his handsome face, but my vision blurred with my own tears. I was crying? How long had my tears been slipping unbidden down my face? Why hadn’t I noticed? Choking on a sob, I burrowed into Romeo’s chest and let go. Letting his strong arms support me, holding me up as my legs buckled.

My body shook as I released everything I’d suppressed for so long. The anguish of my nephew’s disappearance and holding it together to get my sister through it. The pain of watching my sister wither up and die from her grief. Feeling like I’d been stabbed in the heart with the senseless tragedy of Mac’s death. Then there had been the confusion and frustration of having my hotel—my baby—attacked with no way to protect it and no one to lean on. There’d been the fear of Huey holding me captive, threatening to kill me. Until those moments in the tunnel, I thought I’d experienced terror before, but I’d been wrong.

It wasn’t my own mortality that had been living rent-free in the back of my mind since then, though. No, it was the agonizing worry of what Emilio had been enduring for the last four years. And finally facing the reality that he might be dead. Waking up the next morning in Romeo’s arms, I’d realized that if not for him, Huey would’ve killed me. If Emilio wasn’t alone out there, if he’d been rescued, then he’d have come home.

And then there were all the other things, as well. What Huey’s girlfriend must be going through, waiting for him to return. Waiting for him to provide money for diapers for the baby. All that Charity had endured after being discarded like yesterday’s trash by zealous assholes. What Romeo was willing to do to stay by my side and help me find my nephew. Presenting himself as a sacrifice to a lifestyle he never wanted.

But the cherry on top of this shitastic sundae was finding out how selfish I was. Sure, I plunged on in the beginning. Pushing my emotions down the best I could, forging ahead. Even the last several months hadn’t completely broken me. No, what finally broke me, brought me to my knees, were blueprints. Holding tangible evidence of Mac’s love and a reminder of the lengths he’d always gone to for my happiness.

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