Page 45 of The Best of Us

“I’ll figure it all out,” I said with as much resolve as possible. Fake it until I make it, I supposed. “The Irish may not heed my warnings to stay away from Colin the way the mafia will.”

“Can’t believe Daniel thought he could pull a fast one on you and Hudson. Sneaky bastard, though.”

Tell me about it.I unclipped the bodycam I’d been discreetly wearing and handed it to her. “I can’t rewatch what happened in that room. Will you? See if there’s anything useful on there. And check Daniel’s bodycam footage before it went offline, too.”

“Yeah, of course. We’ll track down where Daniel and Jamie are now, don’t worry. We’ll find them. And figure out who they both report to,” she reassured me.

I’d nearly forgotten we’d lost sight of them, our focus had shifted the moment the mission became about saving my son.

“I’ll also figure out what the hell the Irish were doing with the mafia.” She patted my shoulder twice. “Just go be with your family, will ya? We’ll deal with this later.”

Go be with my family?

I blinked. Tried to process. Still couldn’t make sense of it all.

“Yeah, okay. And, uh, you can tell Hudson everything I shared with you, but I want to be the one to tell Alessandro and Enzo. Mom and Dad.” I angled my head toward the door. “We shouldn’t leave Colin with Hudson too long. He might lift his wallet.”

“I didn’t think just anyone would be able to get the drop on you like that. Now it makes sense how he stole your wallet in the first place. He’s your blood.”

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse. I waited for her to leave, then stripped and wiped away any evidence of blood before changing.

I packed my laptop in my leather messenger bag since I’d need it for what I had planned to do next. Then I went downstairs and found Colin. He was in the kitchen under Hudson’s watchful eye, scarfing down pizza.

I swapped a look with Hudson, setting my bag on the counter.

“Bella’s leftovers. She won’t mind,” Hudson said with a shrug.

“You didn’t take his wallet while I was upstairs, did you?” The fact that I didn’t trust Colin not to pickpocket from Hudson had me wanting to shoot tequila. I had to remind myself I needed to be a good influence around the kid, and that’d probably set a bad example of how a man should handle his problems.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that.”

Me, too.“Thanks for keeping an eye on him.” I tossed my thumb in the general direction of the hallway, letting Hudson know I had things covered. “I’m sure Izzy’s eager to talk to you.”

A worried expression crossed his face, then he hesitantly tossed the keys to my Maserati and took off.

“Your eyes are red,” Colin said while standing, using his jeans to clean his hands. “You been crying or something?”

“I don’t cry,” I grunted, mildly offended. “Does your mom have a car?”

“No. She sold it when we moved here.”

“You know what floor she works on? What entrance does she use at work?”

Why was he looking at me as if I’d spoken in a foreign language?

“Well?”

“Maybe.” He closed one eye. “Whyyyy?”

No point in keeping the truth from him now. He saw what I could do when threatened, and he was about to learn another side of me. “Because you’ve endangered your mother, which leaves me two choices—go into the hospital and escort her out now,” I began while pointing to my messenger bag, “or hack the security cameras and watch her while we sit parked outside the entrance to ensure no one bothers her while she’s at work.”

His tan skin, which he more than likely inherited from me, lost some of its color. “No, um, don’t go in there. But can you really hack the cameras to keep watch over her?” At my nod, his eyes tightened with curiosity. “Why do you care so much about us?”

I picked up the bag, slinging the strap over my shoulder. “No more questions for now, and in exchange, I’ll leave you alone for the next few hours.”

He rolled his eyes, but at least he agreed. “Deal.”

Chapter13

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