Page 139 of Charity's Redemption

“He convinced me there was something wrong.”

“Was there?” Max butt in.

“Well, if you don’t count meeting Elias on the side of the road at gunpoint… then, nah, I was fine.”

Luca’s face blanched while Max’s fists clenched at his sides. If I thought they were going to combust with anger before, I was mistaken… this was what it looked like as he turned on Luca.

“I fucking told you.”

Squeezing past the two, I walked down the hall and picked up the plate Cannoli had shuffled around my floor, then tossed it into the dishwasher while they argued in the hallway.

I grabbed a bottle of all-purpose spray and took apart my stove, wiped it down, put it back together, and then started on the countertops.

“What are you doing?”

“I figured I might as well get my house ready to be put onto the market while I wait for you two to stop bickering like an old couple,” I said as I continued to swirl my hand in a circle, cleaning off the already clean surface.

Luca walked around and grabbed my upper arm, and spun me to face him. “What did Elias say?”

I dropped the spray bottle and rag onto the counter, then wiped my hands together. “He said it was all a game. For shits and giggles.” Luca’s jaw clenched, forcing his cheek muscles to bulge. I smiled. “He wasn’t too impressed. I pulled it off, even though he made money off of it.”

“He made it a bet?”

“Yeah, can you believe that? I didn’t even get to bet on myself. I could’ve made a fortune.”

My smile grew, refusing to fall off my face.

I’d had the situation mildly… okay, somewhat under control. Of course, if Elias wanted to pull the trigger, then I would’ve been fucked…

“Is that it?”

“That’s it.” I shook my arm from his grasp, then picked up my cleaning again. “And I may have told him that if I saw him again, I wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet between his eyes, but that’s neither here nor there.” I shrugged.

Luca spun away from me, running his hand down his face with a groan.

“That’s my girl,” Max said, giving me his vote of confidence.

“Is that how you got home?”

“No, that was my dad. Apparently, he watched the whole thing.”

“Cazzo.”

“We had a good talk. He’s okay with it even though he isn’t in some ways.”

“He may be okay with it, but the less he sees and hears, the better it is for him and all of us.”

“I agree.” I pushed past the guys once again and grabbed the cat box and the new cat carrier I’d purchased after the debacle the last time the little heathen had to leave the house, then put him inside. Standing with the twenty-pound cat rocking in the carrier, I gave Luca a smile. “Cannoli is ready for his new home.”

“Don’t make me regret this…”

I moved my fingers across my chest in the shape of an X while giving him a pouting face. “I would never.”

Three Weeks Later

“I’ll get the popcorn,” I said, bounding over the couch and into the pantry where a wide array of choices overwhelmed me. “Hmm, do we want kettle corn or buttery popcorn, theater-style?”

“Theater style, of course,” Nico said from behind me. My heart skipped a beat, then took off racing as though it could save itself.

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