Page 82 of Stolen Queen

Lana shakes her head. “Why bother when the three of you are determined to do everything possible to piss Rinella off?”

“I didn’t do it to piss him off,” I say.

“He’s in love.” Elio waggles his brows in a rare show of teasing toward me. I really am like a brother.

Lazaro laughs again. “I knew it. I even asked why we didn’t set her up with Matteo.”

“I’m not a D’Amato.”

Lana shoots me a look. “You’re pissing me off again.”

“The point is, she’s not just under Matteo’s protection, but ours now too.” Elio says it with authority. He means for them and the rest of his men to honor his vow to protect her. It means more to me than anything Elio’s ever given me.

“I take it Rinella doesn’t know?” Lana asks.

“Not yet. That’s why you’re here. Since you think we fuck things, up you can help us decide the next move.”

“Can we say we just found her?” Lazaro asks.

I shake my head. “I’m not hiding from what I did. That fucker hits her.”

Lana flinches, and I hate that I probably just brought up a memory of when she was tortured by the asshole who killed their parents and nearly killed Lazaro.

“And you all know Nardone. She won’t stand a chance with him. So…”

“So you kidnapped her?” Lana asks.

Lazaro frowns. “How? Did you walk right into the house and take her?”

“Not quite, but I will say Rinella’s home isn’t as secure as he thinks. She kept sneaking out, and I kept being there to makesure she didn’t get herself killed. Finally, I just brought her home with me.”

“I always thought there was more to her than she revealed.” Lana’s voice suggests she’s proud of Ava’s daring behavior. Then she narrows her eyes at me. “Have you fuck?—”

I hold a hand up. “Yes. I have. But it’s not like the others.”

“I told you, the guy is head over heels,” Elio says. “But back to business. I’m thinking the best course of action is to bring her here. She’ll be better protected and not have to spend her days alone in hiding.”

“We can give her Matteo’s old room,” Lana says. I’d lived in the house until a few years ago when I felt like it was stifling my night life.

“What about Rinella?” Lazaro asks. “We’ll need to increase security. He seems to think he can barge in anytime he wants.”

“Yes, but it will be because we’ll be informing him that Ava is with us now.”

We all gape at Elio.

“If it were that easy, we could have already done that,” I say.

“It’s not a negotiation.” Elio has that look of lethal authority. “If he needs compensation, we’ll find a solution, but she’s with us.”

Gratitude fills me. “Thank you.”

“He’s getting what he’s always wanted,” Lana says. “She’ll be in the family. He’s such a fucking whiner.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all along.”

The reality of what we're doing hits me. We're essentially taking Ava into the family, and my heart swells. Yes, she’ll still be under house arrest, but this is a fucking big house and there’s a lot of people. I can already see her making friends with Piper and Diana.

"When do we move her?" I ask, eager to get Ava under the protection of the entire family.

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