Page 29 of Merciful Lies

But no one has ever been able to tie him to any one crime. Not enough to even garner an arrest warrant, much less convict him.

He’s smart. Cunning. And he’s so intense.

It’s one of the things that makes him so hard to dismiss. When we’re together, and his attention is on me, he makes me feel like I’m the only woman in the entire world.

But that’s dumb. And I can’t afford to be dumb.

I walk into my office and see Nico, Luc, and Angel. It’s disorienting. My office is small, and they are so big. They seem to suck out all the air inside the room.

“These your books?” Luc asks.

I nod.

“Can I look at them?” he asks again.

“Sure. Um, an employee has been keeping them for me while I was away. Though I worked some, remotely,” I murmur.

Nico is standing beside Luc, his azure gaze on the pages in front of them. I know what he’ll see. Red ink. And a lot of it.

“So, this Javi is like the crew boss?” Nico asks.

“Yes. There are two crews. Sammy actually found him when our old guys retired. He hired Javi last year.”

“Sammy did?” Nico asks and I swear, I can feel his anger.

His gaze flits to Luc first, and the man makes a gesture I’m sure is code for something, but I have no idea what.

Nico hums a sound of assent. Then he looks at Angel, who simply dips his chin once.

“They’ve been okay. I mean, there was some trial and error in the beginning with Javi coming in as the crew boss, but some of the guys have been baking bread for us for years,” I say, needing to fill the silence.

“They’re trying to muscle you out, right?” Angel asks, but his eyes are on his cousin.

“I, well, yeah,” I mumble.

His face is calm. Nothing unusual. It’s his eyes that give him away. I see his temper flare in their crystalline depths, and it’s both wondrous and frightening.

It’s like Nico’s fury is a living thing. I feel it growing, slithering, contracting and expanding and once again I’m left to wonder if his surname is just a twist of fate or if he chose it.

I should probably ask, but now is not a good time.

Angel hums again. Or maybe it’s more of a grunt. Still, it must have significance because Nico seems to relax once more.

I don’t know how I know it, but it is clear these three men just came to some sort of agreement.

And I’m completely in the dark about it.

“Someone’s pulling in the back,” Angel murmurs, and his voice is so deep it startles me.

He looks so much like Nico, they could be brothers. But I guess being first cousins is close enough. He’s bigger though. Taller, too.

“It’s them. The bakers. First shift,” I reply.

“Let’s go,” Nico says, but I’m frozen in place.

The baby moves inside my belly, and I close my eyes for a second so I can just feel the tiny life I’m already so in love with.

I didn’t know motherhood would hit so hard. Didn’t realize I would feel such fierce emotion for my baby.

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