Page 159 of Mafia and Gold Digger

“Not important. She’s safe.”

“Thank God. Jacquetta and Nicki have been going crazy.”

“Yeah, I can relate.” That’s the understatement of the century. I’ve lost my goddamn mind these past days, each hour worse than the last one.

“Saint, are you about to do something I should know about?”

“Nope.”

“That doesn’t sound reassuring,” he clips.

“When have I ever done anything without a good reason?”

“Saint—”

“I just called to let you know I’ll be unavailable today. I’ve got a promising lead to follow about where the missing money is being held, but I’ve got to sort out things with Emerald first.” Because even though I’ve dealt with Armando Barbieri, I still have the last of the missing money to locate.

“So, dealing with Emerald is more important?”

“Don’t, Christian.”

He chuckles. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re an asshole, you know that?”

Christian’s laugh fills the speaker.

I shake my head. “I’m headed to Emerald right now. Just tell Jacquetta she can stop with the messaging every hour, okay?”

“Fine. Call if you need anything, Saint.”

But the only thing I need is to see Emerald’s face. I don’t know if I’m more relieved or pissed. Of all the damn ways this could have gone, her getting caught shoplifting isn’t what I expected. My molars grind into one another as I hang up the call and merge back into the traffic. My hand flexes around the steering wheel, and my foot presses on the gas as I weave in and out of the cars clogging up the street.

Seeing her is all I can think about. And the feelings that roar to life in my chest fuel my speeding, but not as much as my need to see her. To see her with my own eyes.

This time without her has brought on a new kind of misery. A new kind of black pit swallowing me whole.

I want Emerald.

I’ve wanted her for a long time.

I was just too dumb to see that I wanted her in the only way that mattered.

Not just because she challenges me.

Not just because she pushes me.

But because she also makes me feel things.

Things I haven’t felt in so long.

I didn’t know what love was.

Maybe I still don’t. But whatever it is, it’s with Emerald. It’s with the baby. It’s with Milena, Jaspar, and Giulietta. It’s withour family.

And I’ll be damned if I’m not going to fight tooth and nail for her now.

Lesson learned. She wanted me to fight for us. So be it.

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