Page 98 of The Woman in the Hollow
I was part of this world.
My gaze found Dante’s.
His world.
I was part of his world.
Where, I was suddenly sure, I belonged.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Dante
Hazel fell back into her role with the ease of someone who genuinely loved her job. She took charge, made changes, and directed floundering employees.
Within an hour, she’d noticed a dozen or so things that needed to be changed that I hadn’t even noticed.
What’s more, no one seemed resentful to have it pointed out, or to have to fix it themselves.
It was impressive.
I couldn’t help but imagine her one day taking a slightly different management role. When Dom was off parole and moved on to run his own crew. Hazel could step into that role then hire someone nearly as good as she was to run the day-to-day operations.
She would want to step back eventually. If I was right about her future, that is. Our future.
A sparkling ring, a dress, plans, vows, the start of a happily-ever-after.
Christ.
Too much too soon.
I needed to slow down, to focus on the present moment. Not just because there was danger around. But because I wanted to be able to really bask in the glow of something new, something so right. If I let my mind keep drifting to the future, I would miss what was happening right then.
When she was called away, I had to force my legs to walk away from her.
It was crazy as fuck, but it felt like each step was harder, heavier.
She was safe, damnit. There were staff members and soldiers all around. I didn’t have to have my eyes and hands on her every second. There would be time for that back at the house, in the bed, getting lost in each other until we were both too tired to move.
I was about to go and check on her when the door to the shop opened.
Then there was Dom.
There was frustrated tension in his jaw and the lack of sleep he’d been running on.
“What is it?”
“Found someone who said they heard Big Ed talking about a new place. Said it was over by the river.”
And as any local would know, any property on that water source was exorbitantly expensive. Way outside of Big Ed’s bracket.
Unless, of course, he’d been making a killing by fucking over the family.
“Did you find it?”
“Not yet. Gonna be a job and a half. There are a lot of places he could’ve been living at the end. Gonna have to find someone who has seen him.”
“Okay. At least it’s some sort of lead. What about his recent jobs?”
