Page 14 of The Enforcer

7Zoe

“Act normal,”the big brute says, pulling a chair in the dining room out for me.

Whatever that means.

“Don’t freak out,” Zahra hisses as the dark-haired man whispers something into her ear. His mouth caresses her cheek, and she smiles in a way I never saw during all those years she was with Ryan.

But I cut my eyes at her. “The fuck.”

Zahra rolls her eyes at me before we both turn to see the older man kneeling next to Shae’s chair possessively. He only moves because the big, tall bruiser places a hand on his shoulder and says something to him in Italian. He nods and looks up at my baby cousin like she is the center of the universe.

“Goddamn,” Zahra whispers.

We all watch as he stands and walks back through the restaurant with the dark-haired man. The big one appears behind the bar, picks up a clean shot glass, pours something clear into it and knocks it back. He notices me watching him, and we lock eyes. He winks at me. I roll my eyes and turn back to my family.

“I’m pregnant,” Shae says again, and thank God she does. Those two words ground me in this moment and at this table with my little sister and cousin. Those two words give me a trapdoor to ignore that wink and begin to process whatever the fuck is happening around us.

“Yeah, we heard that part,” Zahra says. “We’d like to know about Sal.”

“Salvatore,” Shae says in a tone of voice that manages to be hard but also wistful. She never said Steve’s name that way.

My sister and I look at each other with raised eyebrows.

“And how do you know him?” I ask carefully, treating my cousin like one of my interview subjects.

“I’ve been here before.”

“To Rome,” I say, “with Steve.”

She nods. “I came to Naples on a day trip,” she says cautiously. “I-I was supposed to be with Steve, but he didn’t…” She shakes her head and shrugs, almost as if she’s as confused as we are — as if she can’t quite remember what happened during that trip.

Zahra scoffs. “We get it. We met him. He sucked.” I kick my sister under the table. She’s unbothered. “The truth is the truth.”

“So, you came to Naples on your own?” I ask Shae, trying to get this conversation back on track.

“And you met Sal?” Zahra asks. I sigh. She leans forward and lowers her voice. “And then you let him seduce you into having his elegant baby?”

“Are you high?” I ask her.

She shrugs at me while squeezing Shae’s hand. “That man is smooth as hell. It’s gotta be in his DNA. Also, yes,” she says. “I’ve been having nothing but the best orgasms of my life for the past few weeks. I feel like a new person on an alien planet.”

“See how easy that would have been to text?”

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms like a stroppy teenager. “Here we go again.”

“I didn’t think,” Shae says, pulling my attention to her.

“No shit,” I screech. My nerves are frayed, and as usual, my little sister is tap dancing on them for the hell of it. “I gave you both the best sex education I and the internet could muster. We talked about all kinds of birth control and boundaries and how to never let a man trap you with sex or money. How did this happen?”

At this point, I’m not even really speaking to Shae or Zahra. I’m speaking to myself. Maybe I’m practicing my defense for when I have to go back in front of the Council of Aunties. I didn’t do anything. I am not my sister’s or cousin’s keeper, regardless of how I behave or the responsibility they’ve heaped onto my shoulders. This isn’t my fault.

Unfortunately, it still feels as if I’ve failed them.

A high whistle from the bar interrupts my spiral. I turn, and the big man is shaking his head at me just as the front door bursts open.

Alfonso

I love a good family drama. I grew up watching them with my aunts and grandmother, so I can appreciate a good dramatic moment. I watch Zahra and her sisters with the kind of excitement I used to feel in my nona’s home. So, I hate to disrupt the moment, but I can see the police heading toward the restaurant’s door, and the last thing I need is for those three to attract any more attention than they already will. Thankfully, the tall one understands my nod, and she turns to the table, reaches for a piece of bread from the basket between them, and then gestures for the other two to do the same.

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