Page 73 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

“You thinking Russians?” Rocco’s attention switched to his phone.

“Unsure.” I shrugged, keeping most of my attention on the road. “Maybe peace was an illusion.”

Rocco nodded as he placed his phone to his ear. “Hey, Dino. You got anything for me?” He fell silent, nodding faintly while staring out the side window. After a few moments, he grunted. “Alright. Keep her safe, and I’ll make sure Vito has an envoy to meet you the second you reach the city. Do you understand?”

Rocco hung up and spun his phone around in his fingers.

“Dino’s taking Ma back to the city. Seems she’s finally ready to say goodbye to this place.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” I threw him a glance. “I was beginning to think she was never leaving the study.”

“It’s good, but Dino tried to persuade her to come back after you called him about the plate. She refused, so he’s out there, minimal security, while we’ve got some anomaly driving around.”

“Dino’s smart. He’ll keep her safe,” I assured him.

“Yeah.” Rocco made another call and straightened up slightly when the person answered. “Vito. You heard? Excellent. Dino’s on his way to the city with Ma, but it's too far to turn back. I need you to make sure people meet them. I’m not taking any chances.” He paused, and Vito’s muffled tones filled the silence between us. “Yeah, I’ll handle it. Just keep Ma safe.”

Hanging up, Rocco tipped his head back and ran one hand down his face. “I just spent however long trying to persuade Mae that being involved with us won’t be as dangerous as she fears.” He turned to look at me and grimaced. “Whatever this shit is, it had better not make me a liar.”

“Drink?” I offered Rocco a glass of whiskey, and he accepted it with a graceful nod. Rather than returning to the manor, we stopped off at a motel in the middle of the town. Rocco wanted to be as close to Mae as possible—but not too close. He didn’t want her to worry until there was a reason to worry.

“Thanks.” Rocco drained the glass instantly, leaving two lone ice cubes at the bottom. I took the glass back with an amused snort and moved back to the counter to pour him another.

“You said you were trying to persuade Mae that being with us wouldn’t be dangerous,” I said, recalling our previous conversation. “Is that what she’s worried about?”

“That and a few other things.” Rocco leaned back in his chair with a groan and pushed his laptop away slightly. “She kept saying she wanted this. She wanted me, and you and Dino. She wants Zack to have the family he deserves and she wants to be loved. I can see it in her eyes. But… Zack’s safety is her priority. She doesn’t want to endanger him no matter how strongly she feels.”

“Understandable,” I replied, moving back with the second drink.

“But I told her… I told her that no matter what happens now, he’s always going to be a target. Which will come out eventually. We all know shit doesn’t stay secret for very long in our world.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Amused, I dropped into my own chair. Secrets in the world of the Mafia were like weeds. Something would always pop up no matter how hard you tried to keep it hidden. Unless you were good at killing quickly, a secret like a child would be common knowledge within the year.

“And keeping her outside of The Family? Unheard of. Anyone with eyes will start to look at why we’re doing so much work to keep an outsider protected. Don’t get me wrong, it’s doable, and I will do it in a heartbeat, but…” Rocco grimaced and tipped his glass back and forth, his eyes on the sloshing liquid inside. “I needed her to understand how dangerous it is on the outside, but I don’t know if she got it. I feel like… I’m back in college, back at that night when I was woken up by my father and had to leave her behind, y’know? Like this life is going to take away the woman I love all over again.”

I paused my drinking. “The woman you love?”

Rocco rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” I replied, looking him straight in the eye. “I do.” A silent understanding passed between us. Maybe it was love, that feeling we shared for Mae. I knew Dino felt the same since he was much more vocal about his infatuation with her. I hadn’t put a label on the feeling because in this life, caring deeply about anyone was dangerous.

But it was love. As much love as men like us could muster.

“But,” Rocco said finally, “how I feel, how you feel… it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters here is what Mae wants to do. And I will respect her choice. I will honor her wishes. If she decides to return to her normal life and leave us…” His jaw tightened, and he pursed his lips. “I will respect that.”

“I hate that idea,” I muttered. “I hate being respectful.”

“Would you rather I went caveman on her and demanded she stay?”

“I wouldn’t be against it.” I snorted. “On the flip side, you could hand the reins back to Vito and become a normal, regular guy with a woman and a kid.”

Rocco laughed loudly, slapping one hand against his chest. “Fuck, can you imagine? Don’t you go giving Mae that kind of idea, now. There’s only this life for me.”

I laughed along with him, trying to picture the three of us taking honest office jobs to pay for tuition and groceries. It was a chilling thought.

“I don’t know,” I teased. “You’d look great in a sweater vest.”

“Fuck you!”

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