Page 207 of With Us

“Any grandbabies yet?” my dad asked by way of a greeting.

I chuckled. “We just talked a couple days ago. Even if she were pregnant, which she’s not, it’d take longer than that before they were born.”

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been working to convince her to try.

Maybe if I just set the appointment with Doctor Coran…

“An old man can dream,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “How’s the other situation?”

“We’ve got nothing. Luc is still digging into phone and internet history. Once he finishes, I’m scheduling a sit down with Donnelly.”

“Bring bourbon. A good bottle. He’ll take it as a sign of respect.”

“Gabe did some work, found out he switched to vodka.”

“That’s even better. He gets his drink and sign of respect, but also a warning that you can easily get information.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Good. How’s Rosa?”

“Better. I made her take a few days off, but she came back yesterday. She was bored, and the place was a mess without her.”

“Matt wants blood,” Dad said, something I already knew.

“We all do. And we’ll get it.”

Luc was a man on a mission. He’d searched each piece of security footage to find the man who’d hit his sister. He’d only gotten a back and an obstructed facial view of him sneaking out of the same back door Gabe had taken his partner out of less than an hour later.

Rosa wasn’t the only thing interesting I’d found in his apartment.

“If all else fails,” Dad said, pulling me from my thoughts, “give Dahlia a baseball bat and set her loose.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, even if the memory of her cracking the man’s skull with a bat made me furious. She shouldn’t have been put in that situation.

But, sick bastard I was, it also made me hard as a bat.

“Good idea,” I said.

“While you’re taking my advice, you should really think about eloping.”

Crazy old man.

“You know she’s not going to want to be pregnant at the wedding,” he pointed out. “Eloping would mean being that much closer to bambini.”

Genius old man.

There was a soft knock on the door before Dahlia stuck her head in.

“Gotta go, Dad, Dahlia’s here.”

“Think about what I said. Keep me updated. Love you, son.”

“Love you, too.” I hung up the phone before dropping my legs and pushing away from the desk. I didn’t have to say anything before Dahlia walked over and sat in my lap. “How are you, my gattina?”

“Hungry. I was going to start some dinner.”

“I’ve got a better idea. How about a really good burger?”

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