“Salud!” Nick lifted his wine, and the rest of the men followed.
“He would be proud.” Frank nodded and slapped my cheek with his right hand. “So proud to see you here standing in front of your men.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat because Frank knew the truth. I’d done nothing in my life that had garnered that word. Pride. I was the exact opposite, and the faith he had in me did nothing but make the weight heavier on my shoulders.
Frank released me and walked over to his seat.
“First order of business.” I pulled out my gun and fired two shots at the man sitting directly in front of me. The one who, after lots of digging, Nick had discovered was talking to the feds about our family. At least we knew where the leak had come from.
He slumped against his chair as blood splattered across the wall behind him.
“That,” I said in a cold voice, “is what happens when you go to the feds. That is what happens when you choose the government over our own blood. I spill yours. Capiche?”
The men nodded with murmurs of agreement.
“And the second order of business…” I looked around the room and finally, finally felt a rightness settle over me as I was about to do something that Luca had been fighting for ever since he had been forced to leave the US, forced to leave his brother and the love of his life that he’d never reunited with. “We’re staying.”
“Staying?” Nick repeated, his accent thick.
“In the states.” I nodded. “It will be as it was before. The five families in Chicago, working together. We stay.”
Nobody said a word. It was a quiet moment, not tense, just quiet, as if each man was trying to figure out if my word could be trusted.
I walked over to the table, grabbed an empty glass, and poured some red wine into it. When I lifted it into the air, it was with purpose, a purpose for some reason that Luca had thought I was ready for.
“To keeping his legacy alive.” I lifted the glass. “To keeping the family safe. To blood… to Luca Alfero Nicolasi. May he rest in peace.”
The rest of the men stood and lifted their glasses.
“And to the new boss.” Nick centered his gaze on me. “May he find meaning in the Nicolasi blood.”
“All is not lost,” I said back.
“All is ours,” the men repeated.
“Salud.” I took a drink and everyone followed.
Luca trusted me, which meant he saw something that even I couldn’t see. He saw a sliver of potential, a sliver of good. He saw what my father had failed to see for my entire existence.
A need to belong.
A thirst.
He saw potential, but most of all…
He saw hope.
THE REST OF THE meeting passed by in a blur. I made sure I debriefed the men on the potential threat at Eagle Elite and also named my second in command — Nick. He was thirty-two, bloodthirsty, and trustworthy.
By the time the meeting ended, it was around midnight. I’d had crap sleep the night before, so I hoped that at least getting the meeting out of the way would make it so I could sleep nightmare-free; then again, I’d just disposed of a body, so I wasn’t confident in my ability to fall asleep without watching that same body sink through the rough waters of Lake Michigan.
When I got back to the house, all the lights were off.
I stripped out of my clothes without bothering to turn on the light and quickly jumped into bed. It smelled like vanilla, just like Bee.
“Damn it,” I muttered, scooting over to the side. My hand flopped over the covers and came into contact with something warm.
A body.
Holy shit.
I froze.
A feminine moan escaped and then a curse. “Phoenix?”
“You have exactly three seconds to explain why you’re sleeping in my bed.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“So you accidentally wandered into my room, took off your clothes, jumped into my bed, and fell asleep? Are you drunk?”
“No.” Bee’s voice was small. “I couldn’t sleep. I got scared and came in here…”
I couldn’t see her face, but it sounded like the truth. “And fell asleep?”
“Why is it so hard to believe I fell asleep?”
“Why the hell didn’t you go get Sergio if you were so afraid?”
“He was in his room, but the door was locked. I heard a noise, and I ran into your room with my Kindle. End of story.”
I sighed heavily. “Well, now I’m here, things are clearly fine. Go to bed.”
She didn’t move.
“Bee, you have to be up in a few hours for your freshman class trip. I have to be up in a few hours to make sure you don’t walk into any walls. Do us both a favor and get the hell out.”
Nothing.
Had she left? Had I imagined the whole thing? I reached across and found her body — still clothed, thank God — huddled into a tiny ball as if she was trying to turn into herself.
Panicked, I rose to my knees. “Bee? What else is wrong? Did someone hurt you?”
“Y-yes, I mean no,” she choked out. “I’m sorry I’ll leave.”
I knew it was wrong — to ask her to stay — but I was so weak in that moment I would have done anything to keep her from crying.
“It’s fine,” I said in a rough voice. “Just… try not to touch me.”
“You mean it?”
“Yes, I mean it. Don’t touch me.”