Page 61 of Law

Law had called her every hour on the hour all morning. He was having major separation anxiety, and to be fair, she missed him too. It was a good thing Raleigh had offered to let her work remotely. There was no way she wanted to be away from Law for extended periods of time. But helping him meet deadlines and be prepared for trial from the comfort of her home was very doable.

Gabi peeked her head through the door of the office assigned to Lovie. “Are you ready to go to lunch?”

“Am I ever.” Lovie closed the box she had been working through. “Spaghetti never sounded so good.”

“Just wait until you taste it,” Gabi said. “You’ll never miss Mondays again.”

Raleigh was waiting for them in the front room. “I promised Law I’d go, too. He was worried about trouble.”

They walked down the street. It was a beautiful day for a stroll, and the restaurant wasn’t far away. “I hope I’m not pulling you away from something important,” she told Raleigh when they’d almost reached That’s Italian. " I know Viking appreciates it.”

“Viking?” Raleigh asked.

Lovie laughed. “That’s what I call Law. You have to admit it fits.”

“It does,” her new boss replied. “It really does.”

They were seated quickly, and Lovie relaxed, coloring pictures on the white paper tablecloth. She couldn’t remember the last time she colored; it was always so relaxing.

Just as the food arrived, Raleigh’s phone rang. He grimaced upon seeing the screen. “Sorry, I need to take this. I’ll be rightoutside on the sidewalk. You girls stay in your seats until I get back. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Gabi and Lovie said in unison. As he walked away with the phone to his ear, Lovie began to eat. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the aroma of homemade tomato sauce and freshly baked bread filled the air.

“Don’t be surprised if Mr. Bianchi, the owner, comes to our table to chat. He enjoys doing that. He’s really nice, and his wife is extremely talented. She crafted all the plates and bowls used here.”

Lovie had admired the large ceramic bowls adorned with painted scenes of the Italian countryside when they’d first sat down.

Since Gabi had warned her, she wasn’t surprised when someone scooted into the seat beside her friend. She didn’t even think anything was wrong when her friend took in a sharp breath.

Itdidsurprise Lovie when someone also slid into the seat, crowding her against the wall. But she still didn’t suspect things had gone horribly wrong. Maybe Mr. Bianche had brought his wife to meet them. It was rude of her, but she was trying to finish coloring her picture so she could show it to Law later.

When she finally looked across the table, she blinked at the woman seated next to Gabi. That wasn’t Mrs. Bianchi.

She turned to face the man in the seat beside her, and the blood in her veins turned to ice. The man sitting next to her wasn’t Mr. Bianchi.

Doing her best to breathe and keep the trembling from her voice, Lovie said, “Hello, General. What brings you here?”

***

Law glanced at the clock on his phone. Raleigh said he’d check in at lunch to see if Law could join them. He couldn’t, but he was surprised when Raleigh hadn’t called. As busy as he was, he hadn’tnoticed until twenty minutes after they’d planned to be at the restaurant.

Ignoring the two spam calls he’d missed from an unknown number, he scrolled to Raleigh’s number and placed a call, cursing under his breath when the call went to voicemail. He tried calling Lovelyn with the same results. Fuck.

Call him a paranoid bastard, but he’d been through this too many times with his brothers and their Littles to wait. He cancelled the rest of his class and headed toThat’s Italian.

On his way, he called Reid, who answered in his usual style. “You got me. What’s up?”

“Maybe nothing.” It had fucking better be nothing. “I left Lovelyn at Raleigh’s office this morning to work, and now no one is answering their phone. I’m headed to checkThat’s Italian,where they were going for lunch. Can you get Sawyer to ping Lovelyn’s phone and see where she is?”

“Yep. Hold on.”

Minutes later, Reid was back. “Sawyer says she's at That’s Italian. Hopefully that’s the case, and everything is fine. If it isn’t, call me back, and I’ll activate the guys.”

“I’ll call you back either way,” Law told his brother.

“Good,” Reid said before disconnecting the call.

Reid knew firsthand what it was like not to reach his girl and have it turn into a fucking shit show. He had lived it with his Little girl, Winnie. She’d almost died at the hands of the Society, so yeah, Reid took everything seriously.

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