Page 115 of Relentless

“Maybe. I can arrange an anonymous tip.”

“Do it. The sooner, the better.”

“I’ll run this through the boss. He’ll know who to pass the information to. Anything else I can help with?”

“Liam?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the older man. “Yes, sir?”

“The information in our possession would hold more weight if a witness came forward with it.”

“If Piper takes the information to the feds, they’ll put her into witness protection until Barone’s trial. We’re talking months, maybe years. In the meantime, Piper will be in seclusion without a life of her own.”

“I wasn’t talking about my niece. I was talking about me.”

Piper twisted in her seat to stare at her uncle. “You can’t. You’re under a doctor’s care. You don’t have long to live, Uncle Gino. You should spend your final days in comfort with your friends close by, not sequestered in a safe house with US Marshals keeping watch over you.”

“I want you safe. Matteo has a long memory and is a dangerous enemy to have. I don’t have long to live anyway. It doesn’t matter to me whether my old friend is trying to kill me or not.”

“What do you think, Z?” Liam asked.

“Let me see if the anonymous tip will work first. If not, we’ll talk again about our options.” A pause, then, “Don’t do anything foolish, Mr. Romano. This is not the time to rush. We don’t want to tip our hand before we’re ready. The result could be deadly for Piper and Liam.”

“You speak with wisdom, young man.”

“Not wisdom, sir. I speak from a wealth of experience. We care about Liam and Piper. We’ll take care of all of you. Liam, I’ll touch base with you later.”

“Copy that.”

Piper reached back and gripped her uncle’s hand. “Thank you for offering to help.”

“I want you to live life without constantly looking over your shoulder.”

When they reached Romano’s house, Piper’s uncle paused at the front door. “Do you want to take the information?” he murmured to Liam.

“It’s safer to do it here, Mr. Romano. Your security is compromised.”

A scowl from the older man. “You need to do an evaluation of my system when this situation is resolved.”

“I’ll either take care of it myself or ask someone I trust to do it for me if I’m not able to.”

“What would prevent you from completing the task yourself?”

“I won’t let Piper face witness protection alone. If that’s the best option to keep her alive, I’ll marry her immediately and go with her.”

He held out his hand to Liam. “Thank you for putting my niece first. She a lucky to have such devotion from her mate.”

After a handshake, Liam slid his hand into his pocket. “I’m the one who’s blessed, Mr. Romano. I don’t deserve your niece. I give you my word that Piper will always be my top priority.”

A slow nod. “Yes, I see that she will be. I regret that I won’t have the opportunity to see your marriage flourish or hold my great niece or nephew.”

He turned and kissed Piper’s cheek. “I’m going to bed now. See you in the morning, my dear. Oh, I sent the list of candidates for your management team to your email. We’ll talk about them tomorrow.” With that, he turned and walked inside the house.

“Can we walk for a few minutes?” Piper asked Liam, voice soft. “I’m not ready to go inside yet.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started them toward the garden at the back of the house. “Too many people at the Barone estate?”

“Wall-to-wall people made it hard to breathe in there. I’m also not ready to face the cameras and listening devices in this house. I’m not a good actress.”

---