Page 33 of Married Into Love

ChapterTwelve

Alec

One second Alessiawas grinning and dancing in excitement while we walked to In-N-Out, and the next she looked like her world was about to fall apart. I led her off the sidewalk and under a tree where we were out of the way from everything. It took everything I had in me to stop myself from yanking the phone out of her hand when she took a deep breath beforeansweringit.

“Mom?”

Shit. No wonder she wasfreakedout.

“I can’t do that, Mom. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t have any of your stuff. Didn’t you get my messages? Or the ones Ariana left? The landlord had us evicted from the apartment. We only packed up our own things. Notyours.”

My fists clenched as she teared up while listening to whatever it was her mom hadtosay.

“You’re going to have to call him yourself if you want to know if there’s anything left that he didn’t sell. You had until Wednesday to grab what you wanted to keep. At this point, I think the only way you’re getting anything back is if you can pay whatyouowe.”

She leaned against me, dropping her gaze to the ground while her mom spoke. I was just starting to think things were going to be okay between them when her head jerked up and she looked at me withstartledeyes.

“How much?” She shook her head. “No way, Mom. I was fired on Friday. I can’t come up with that kind of money when I don’t have a jobanymore.”

That was enough. I’d had it with listening in while Alessia’s mom tore her apart. I’d promised Ariana that I’d protect my wife’s soft heart, even from their mom. It was time for me tostepin.

I gently pried the phone from Alessia’s fingers and pressed it to my ear. “Mrs. Valenti? This is Alec Rourke. I think I can help with your situation, but you’re going to have to meet Alessia and I at the In-N-Out near the Strip just off Tropicana to talk to me about it in person. We’ll be there in about ten minutes, and you’ll have up to thirty minutes after that to get there or else we’ll be gone and so will the offerofhelp.”

“Alec, no!” Alessia cried, yanking on my arm in an attempt to grab the phone out of my hand. I waited for her mom to agree to what I’d proposed before I let her succeed. “I can’t believe youdidthat.”

“I had to,beautiful.”

“You don’t even know how muchsheowes!”

I laced our fingers together and led her back to the sidewalk so we could continue on our trek to In-N-Out. Once we were on our way again, I explained, “I wasn’t kidding when I told you I’d figure out a way to clean up the mess your mom got herself in. If it takes a little money to do that, then sobeit.”

“It’s not a small amount, Alec. She lost thousands of dollars shedoesn’thave.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Your mom’s situation is one of things holding you here. It’d be well worth the expense to free you of thatburden.”

“I can’t let you do it.” She shook her head swiftly. “Absolutelynot.”

Most other women I’d met would have gladly taken me up on my offer without thinking twice. The fact that Alessia didn’t just made me like and respect her even more, especially since she was my wife. She hadn’t realized it yet, but my money was already hers. Either that, or she refused to think of it like that. Luckily, I had another alternative to offer. “I got an email from the lawyers this morning. I wanted to wait to tell you until they had it in hand, but they got a call from the accounting department at where you used to work and they expect to have a check in hand from them by Monday. So how about I float your mom the money today, and then you can square it with me later when you have your severancepackage.”

I didn’t mention that if she insisted on paying me back, I was just going to figure out a way to spend that money on her. That would only serve to piss her off when she was alreadyupset.

“Oh! I didn’t even think of the money I have coming to me. Do you think it’ll beenough?”

“The threat of a lawsuit scared the shit out of them. Their check will more than cover whatever your mom owes.” Alison’s lawyers had gone above and beyond the call of duty and managed to get an entire year of pay out from the company. The amount was still smaller than it should be, considering the shit her boss had pulled, but Alessia didn’t need to worry about money with me around so it wasn’t that important. This way, she could put the whole matter behind her and move on. With me. InChicago.

“We probably shouldn’t tell Ariana. She’d kill me if she found out I gave my mom five thousand dollars. How she managed to take all of the rent money I’d given her for three months and still wind up in the hole by that much isbeyondme.”

We walked for a while in silence, as I thought about what Alessia had just said. The restaurant was within sight when I suggested, “Maybe giving her the money isn’t the best idea. She could just gamble itaway,too.”

“Crap. Good point,” she grumbled. “But I feel like I need to do something because I’ve got the money. I hate to leave her in a bad situation when there’s something I can doaboutit.”

“Then we’ll put strings on the offer. She doesn’t get the cash. Instead, we pay her bookieforher.”

“Meet with a bookie? I don’t think I could do that,” she whispered as we walked into therestaurant.

I gestured for her to tell the girl behind the counter what she wanted, and poked her in the side when she giggled because I ordered mine as a lettuce wrap instead of on a bun. When we had our food and were settled at a booth in the corner, I resumed our conversation. “By ‘we,’ I reallymeantme.”

Her brow wrinkled while she chewed on a fry. “I have no idea what you’re talkingabout.”

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