Page 91 of Mafioso's Muse

She nodded. ‘I keep a loaf in the freezer.’

‘Want me to make you some toast? Pour you a glass of that bacteria drink?’

Her eyes creased at the corners. ‘Okay.’

No one had the right to deny Willow anything. If she wanted it, it should be hers—end of story. Taking her hand, he led her towards her building.

Lucky for Harrison, Vaughn’s first priority was Willow. Under different circumstances, he would have immediately hunted the man down and broken every bone in his pretty face. Instead, he took Willow to her apartment, made her toast, poured her kombucha, then made a cup of the sleep tea he found beside the kettle.

‘More toast?’ he asked when she finished the first lot in record time.

‘I really shouldn’t.’

He made more.

Only once she’d eaten most of the carbs in her freezer, and yawned, did Vaughn prepare to leave.

‘You’re going?’ she asked, sitting up on the lounge.

He put his jacket back on. ‘I am. You need to sleep, and I have some things to take care of.’ He pointed at the door. ‘I want to hear that lock behind me.’

‘Okay.’

Vaughn frowned in the direction of the axolotl, wishing she had a better pet, like a Rottweiler who hated men in skinny jeans. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow and check in.’

She rose and walked over to him. ‘There’s no adequate way to thank you for tonight.’

‘I don’t need to be thanked.’ He just needed her safe.

‘Given how we left things, I wouldn’t have blamed you for ignoring the call.’

He didn’t have that kind of strength in him.

Watching her for a moment, he suddenly had the urge to say something he never thought he would say. ‘Listen. About what you saw at The Black Swan that night.’ Then he crossed a line he’d told himself he never would. ‘The man stole some money from my father.’

She looked confused for a moment, but then her expression softened as she realised what he was talking about. ‘Oh.’

‘And now he won’t do it again,’ he added.

Her eyes moved over his face as she found a reply. ‘Okay.’ That was all she said.

He opened the door. ‘Get some sleep.’

She nodded. ‘I will. Goodnight.’

Pulling the door closed behind him, he paused and listened for the sound of the lock. It clicked, and he headed for the lift.

The further away he got from the light, the darker his thoughts turned. Harrison had crossed a line, and Vaughn needed to make sure it didn’t happen again. No one would harm Willow in any way while he was alive to stop them.

Finn turned in his seat when Vaughn climbed into the car. ‘Is she all right?’

He nodded. ‘We’re going to pay Harrison Walsh a visit. I think a little chat’s in order. You have an address?’

‘I sure do.’

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up outside a narrow townhouse with a rendered facade. Finn popped the boot and went around to the back of the car, putting on a baseball cap and grabbing two empty pizza boxes. Vaughn exited the car and waited out of sight of the door camera while Finn made his delivery. He listened as they argued through the speaker, Harrison insisting that he didn’t order the pizzas before finally opening the door.

‘I’m telling you, you have the wrong address,’ Harrison said. Then his face slackened when he recognised Finn. ‘You.’

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