Page 27 of Little Deer
Only having done this more times than I can count has me not falling away or on my ass. I groan as I hold him back. “Stop it,” I grit out between clenched teeth. “We’re meeting in Nico’soffice to make a plan. You can be pissed off in there. If you follow her, she’s going to sic Hades on you and we can’t have you down right now.”
“You don’t know shit.” Another grunt as he shoves me harder this time, tossing me aside. I pant a little as I try to pull up more strength to go after him.
“Alonzo, Nico’s office. Now.” Aurelio’s voice is like steel as it barks down the hall.
Alonzo looks like he’s about to ignore him, but he finally must realize the consequences, because he storms past me and back down the hall toward his father. I sigh and follow them.
Damn it all to hell, I’m so sick of this shit.
When I walk into Nico’s office, all but Urso and Zeno are in the room, but the tension hits me instantly. Papa is on the phone in the corner talking quietly, and I stand next to Alessio before giving him a questioning look. “He’s making a call to see if he can figure out the deal with Rori’s family and the Belovs,” Alessio murmurs. “Which is just what we need, more fucking Russians.”
“Papa will get it sorted.” I’m confident of that. If anyone can negotiate, it’s him. On the flip side, I also know that he’s the one most feared because he can be ruthless.
“While he’s doing that, we need to make some plans,” Nico announces, expression tight. “Leonardo left us alone for the night, but it’s not going to stay that way.” He looks at me. “What did the new girl say?”
“Lucy said Leonardo was planning on selling her to someone.” Just the thought makes me furious. “She doesn’t know more than that. Well, other than she doesn’t like Leonardo or her brothers and she refers to him as the man who calls himself her father.”
“She should call him a fucking cunt,” Alonzo gripes from his perch leaning against the wall.
“She looks too sweet to use such foul language,” Lazaro chuckles. “Reminds me of Gia.”
Nico doesn’t react to it, but he does look like he’s not certain how to feel about that comparison. He looks at me. “We need to talk to her. Find out what she knows.”
“Good luck. She doesn’t trust us. She and her sister both, and I think as long as the sister doesn’t, she’s going to be hard to convince.”
“Her sister?” Nico repeats, eye narrowing.
I give him a quick rundown. “She was still sleeping when I met Lucy in the hallway. Tino is on the room to keep tabs on her and will let me know when she emerges. I haven’t heard from him yet, so I guess she’s still sleeping.”
“Why the fuck do I have so many random fucking women in my house?” Nico complains. “I’ve already got a bunch of women related to Gia finding shit around here, a fucking housekeeper that is a pain in the ass, and a woman with a dog that I don’t fucking trust and is possibly going to bring a shit ton more trouble to my door than we can handle. What’s this one like?”
“She threw a bunch of stuff at us when she found out we weren’t cops.” A grin splits my face. “And Zeno is probably going to vote in favor of sending her away if he has his choice since he’s the one that ended up getting hit. They also have gotten into a few verbal sparrings already.”
“Great, just what we need,” Nico mutters.
“They also don’t seem like they’re eager to stay here and will probably try to make a run for it at some point.” I don’t like the thought of Lucy trying to sneak out of here with Soren, but I do understand it. She wants to protect her son, and until she realizes that we’re the only ones who can do that, she’s always going to be skittish.
Like a deer cornered and looking for a way out. She’s cautious; she’ll wait and watch before she chooses what she feels is the best option or escape route.
“Tell the men,” Nico orders Dante, who nods and types away on his phone. “Do we have to worry that they’re going to tear my house apart to try and find a way out of here?”
“I doubt it. Well, at least not Lucy. She’s far too worried about her son to risk putting him in danger.”
“She’s also worried about you,” Lazaro adds with a nod at Nico. He frowns. “The minute you walked in, she sunk into herself and looked at you like you’re the boogeyman.”
I wince. “Yeah, that was a bit of my fault from last night. Her and her sister were asking questions and asking about Sienna, Gia, and Amara, and the sister kind of noticed a bit of a pattern in my descriptions.”
“Pattern?” Alessio asks carefully, watching me.
I sigh. Guess I should probably just come clean. “Kida made a comment?—”
“Who the fuck is Kida?” Nico demands.
“Her sister,” I snap back impatiently. “And she made a comment about everyone being kidnapped by the mafia. Lucy kind of brushed it off but asked how you and Gia met and?—”
“And you told her he kidnapped her,” Alessio finishes laughing hysterically. “Oh fuck. We all knew that was going to come back to bite you in the ass.”
Nico glares at him and then at me. “And you couldn’t have fucking lied?”
