Page 87 of Capo

“I’ll fix something. I haven’t had any myself yet either.”

“Boss,” he says as he trails after me, “how is everyone?”

I gesture for him to sit and he sinks down on a chair at the table. Preparing a cup of strong, black coffee, I throw him a glance over my shoulder.

“Did you hear about Elena?”

He frowns. “What about her?”

Renewed pain stabs through my chest, making it harder to breathe. “She had cancer, man. I never knew,” I choke out.

“Had?”

“She died. She fucking went and died on me!” I push the cup toward Ivan and sit down opposite him. My espresso has turned cold. I drain it with a grimace and look away.

“I’m sorry, Boss.”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “Thanks.”

“How’s your girl?”

I snap back to look at him again, frowning.

“Chloe,” he adds.

I scoff, my stomach clenching. “She’s not my—What the fuck. She’s fine. I shipped her off to Bietini.”

He nods. “Good call. David? Chris? The rest?”

I throw up my hands and stand, pulling open the fridge to find us something to eat. I don’t know what to answer. Nothing is ‘good’.

“We’ve lost a couple of men. No one important. The Russians have been dealt with. They won’t bother us again.” I put bread, butter, ham and cheese on the table between us and prepare a sandwich which I then put in front of Ivan.

“Boss?” He fakes a sob as he picks it up. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Shut the fuck up. I want you back in shape, you look like shit.”

Ivan takes a bite and grins. “I’m ready to get back to work,” he says between chews.

“You’re not going to be in fighting condition for a long while yet, man.”

“True. But I can help.”

I nod slowly. “I’ll put you with Dust. He’s really stepped up lately.”

It takes a day, but Dustin gets the gates fixed and new guards in place. I put Ivan in charge of arranging for construction workers to demolish my old bedroom. I don’t just want it fixed. I’ll tear down and rebuild that whole part of the house. I want floor to ceiling windows, an exit to the garden, and to get rid of the room in the basement. All I see when I think about it is a broken Chloe. I don’t want her to get back here and see that shit. The thought alone sickens me.

I’m nurturing my first espresso for the day, deep in paperwork Matteo sent me regarding our finances when I get one of the least expected announcements of my life. There’s a knock on my door and then Ivan pushes it slightly ajar. “Sir, there’s a Miss Jackson here to see you. She’s having a face-off with the gate guards, adamant that you’d want to see her.”

My jaw drops as my mind goes blank for a moment. The girl that went missing. Christian’s fixation. The cause for his downfall. The fucking mother of his child. My insides turn cold.

“Let her in.”

When he nods and closes the door, I dart up and begin to pace the room. Why the fuck is she back? I don’t believe in coincidence. If she has anything to do with the state Christian’s in, I’ll fucking murder her.

I spin around when the door opens and she enters. She’s tinier than I remember, and she looks a mess. There’s raw fear in her gaze, but also defiance, that streak of strength that won me over the first time we met. Her long red hair is gone. It’s short and black, a terrible, choppy cut, and I wonder if she did it herself. I walk up to her, intentionally slowly, then past her and lock the door, pocketing the key. She got away once. She’s not getting out of here without explaining every minute that has passed since she left town with Christian’s daughter, when her disappearance set him on his path to destruction.

As predicted, she goes absolutely wild, her eyes huge and terrified, fixating on the locked door. I’m not gentle when I push her into a chair and demand that she explains herself.

---