Page 42 of His Lair
“Perfect.” I grab two bowls from the drawer and then two spoons. After piling each bowl with pink ice cream, I carry them both into the living room. Jazzy sits on the sofa, and I hand her one before sitting next to her and picking up the remote.
“Do you think you’ll find a prince charming like Cinderella?” Jazzy questions me.
I smile. “Maybe one day.”
I have no intention of finding a prince charming. I think I’m more suited to the darker kind of prince. Except the one I found, the one I really like, doesn’t even know who I am. Not the real me.
“Carlo says boys are stupid,” Jazzy announces, and I laugh.
“He’s right. They are stupid,” I agree. “But you know what? Some of them are good too.”
“I think Carlo is a good one, and my uncles,” Jazzy tells me. “You could marry one of my uncles and then be my auntie like Auntie Charlotte.”
“I think I’m going to wait a few more years before I marry anyone,” I reply.
An hour later, Jazzy is asleep again, her head resting on my lap. I hear the sound of the elevator and look at the CCTV feed on my phone. It’s Carlo. He has no idea I’ve hacked into his cameras. I don’t intend to tell him either.
I know he has two to four guards standing at the bottom of the elevators whenever I’m here. There’s also an additional guy inside the elevator. I don’t trust any of them, though. Not after dealing with those two guys in the stairwell. Who knows how many more people on their payroll are working against them. Which is why I have access to all the footage from their casinos and was able to delete any sign of the “blonde woman” meeting up and speaking to E.
“Did she wake up?” Carlo whispers.
“Yeah, she had a bad dream,” I tell him, keeping my voice low.
“I’ll take her back to bed. You can go home. Thanks for doing this,” Carlo says.
“Anytime. She’s a great kid.” I look down at the absolute angel of a child.
“She really is.” Carlo bends over and pulls Jazzy into his arms before heading towards her bedroom, while I collect my things and take the elevator to the bottom floor.
I make it one step outside the casino before I’m stopped. Sammie. I smile. I had a feeling he’d be waiting for me. He looks extra tired. Whatever they did tonight has taken a toll on him. “Hey, are you waiting for me or…?”
“I wanted to take you home,” he says.
“Okay.” It’s not like I’m going to say no. Going home with Sammie isn’t a hardship.
“I can’t, though. Something’s just come up I need to deal with,” he tells me.
“Okay, go and deal with it. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll come to your place later.”
I nod, stepping around him to walk down the street. Two blocks later, I’m stopped again. This time by someone I wasn’t expecting.
“I’ve seen you. With him. My son,” the woman says. I recognize her. Sammie’s mother.
“I’m sorry… do I know you?” I play dumb, hoping to get away from this without having to deal with her. I don’t know much about their relationship, but I do know Sammie doesn’t like having her around. He’s been stressed out ever since she came to town a few weeks ago.
“No, but you should. He’s not one for commitment. You should know that. He will throw you away like yesterday’s trash before long.”
“Who?”
“Sammie. He’s my son and I’m not about to let anyone take him from me. Especially not you.” A long red talon of a nail pokes me in the chest. I look down at the woman’s hand and then back up to her face. I have to remind myself that I cannot react how I usually would. I cannot hurt his mother.
Before I can say anything, I’m being shoved behind a body, a large body. “Ms. Russo, Fred is going to escort you back to the casino. Mr. Russo is waiting for you there,” one of Sammie’s goons says.
“Oh, he must really think you’re something special if he’s got a detail on you.” She laughs. She turns and storms off but not before adding, “Good, maybe now he’ll listen to me.”
Sammie’s guy waits until Ms. Russo is out of earshot before looking to me. “Are you okay, ma’am?”
