Page 18 of Assistant to the Mafia

Romeo quietly moved through the room, grabbing some clean clothes for himself and opting to move her dirtied ones to the guest space so she wouldn’t have to even see them again when she woke. While he was in the guest space, he slipped into that adjoining bath and took a quick shower. Then he returned to his room and wrote out a quick note, placing it over the top of her charging phone to make sure she saw it. He couldn’t wait for her to wake and she more than deserved her rest, so for the time being, this would have to do. He pulled the comforter up to her shoulders, pressed a kiss to her temple, and slipped back out the door.

He was already behind schedule, and from the sounds he’d heard on the monitor before he’d clicked it off, he’d barely beat his princess downstairs. He was going to have to tell her something, especially if he could convince Grace to stay at least until the danger was past.

Romeo felt his brow furrow. Was he? Was that what he wanted? He made his way to the kitchen, where his coffee was waiting for him because he was, in fact, behind schedule.

“Breakfast’s almost done, sir,” his chef said as she lifted the eggs from the stove.

“Thank you, Irene.” Romeo took his coffee to the table, not wanting to appear more out of sorts than necessary. His fingers curled around the ceramic handle. Of course he wanted Grace to stay with him. His home was secure and his team was well vetted. He could keep her safe, whether it was the fucking Ink Blots who’d targeted her or some overzealous corporate jackass. Her apartment was obviously not secure, and no hotel in town would be safer.

He brought the coffee to his lips. But in all the years since Lucia’s mother had disappeared, he hadn’t brought another woman into the house. He’d never introduced her to a woman he was sleeping with, because none of the women whose beds he’d warmed had meant enough to him to put her through that. Yet, right in this moment, every single part of that was in the air and jumbled up.

Lucia had already met Grace.

Romeo had already brought Grace home, and into his bed.

He couldn’t deny, to himself, that Grace was different. That she had been for a while. He wanted something different from her than what he usually wanted from a partner—something more.

And he had no idea if she would want to pursue anything with him once she got her head on straight, or if she’d pull herself together and come to regret what they’d done.

“Breakfast smells yummy, Ms. Irene!” Lucia said brightly as she bounced into the room, dressed in bright colors like she thought it was springtime outside instead of early February.

“Thank you, Lucia,” Irene replied as she bustled up to the table and set out their plates.

Lucia dashed around table and threw her arms around Romeo’s waist. “Good morning, Daddy.”

Romeo curled his arm around her shoulders in a tight hug and bent to kiss the top of her head. “Morning, princess. Sleep well?”

She stepped back and bobbed her head at him with a toothy smile. “I dreamed you bought me a horse instead of a plane for my birthday, but then when I was riding the horse it sprouted wings and flew me all over the city!”

He bopped her on the nose and tipped his head in the direction of her chair. “Only the best for you. Now sit down and eat up, gotta feed that growing brain.”

She giggled and retraced her path back to her seat, settling in and diving straight into her meal.

Romeo allowed himself to do the same, trying to focus on the moment and not the woman probably still dead asleep in his bed. In his periphery, he noted Irene shuffling in the kitchen as she got Lucia’s lunch together. This was their routine. Irene would prepare Lucia’s portable lunch, clean up the kitchen, and take a few hours off for herself until it was time to get started on dinner. Romeo would usher his daughter to school, weather be damned, and ordinarily he’d haul himself off to work after that.

Yeah. The routine was a sham this morning, only not everyone knew it.

As if on cue, his phone chimed with a new text. Romeo dug it from his pocket and fought to keep the scowl from his lips as apprehension twisted something inside him at the words on the screen.

Dante: Meet at your place after you get Lucy to school.

Fuck me.

“Is something wrong, Daddy?” Lucia asked, her weird child radar apparently in full working order.

Romeo sent a quick acknowledgment and put the phone down. “Nothing’s wrong, Lucy.” Not yet.

They finished their breakfast and went through the motions as they always did, Lucia happily buttoned herself into the coat she’d wanted to wear the day before, and Romeo guided her out into the frigid morning. His frustration with the weather felt like a mild irritant in light of more recent events. Only once they were in the car and as alone as he could hope for, and with the last bit of time he had left, did Romeo force himself to push into the conversation he’d been avoiding.

“Lucy,” he said, turning enough to face her and watching as she swiveled her attention toward him with blinking eyes. “You remember Miss Grace, right? She helps Uncle Dante at work.”

Lucy tipped her head for a second and nodded. “Mhm. She bought me an apple juice.”

Romeo grinned briefly. “How would you feel if she stayed with us for a little while?”

Confusion pinched her brow. “Why? What’s wrong with her house?”

He tried not to feel unreasonably optimistic that those were her first questions. “She can’t stay at her place right now, so she needs somewhere safe.”

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