Page 176 of Sin & Sapphire

We pulled up to the tiny Italian restaurant, run by Salvadorian immigrants with cartel connections but none to the mafia. Luca’s intelligence told me she came here for the cannoli, and once again, I found myself in the uncomfortable position of gratitude for his selflessness. There wasn’t a jealous bone in his body when it came to Valentin and me.

“Don’t you dare,” I snarled at my woman when she moved to open her door.

When I opened it, her smile was so sweet, I could have brought her the moon. Was this what it took? Was this what she needed? Not control, but seduction? My heart cracked as I realized I might not be able to give her what she needed.

Ana took my hand to descend from the vehicle, and I tucked it into the crook of my elbow, determined to stay on my best behavior, even if I growled at the host for eyeing her up and down before seating us at a tiny table in a secluded corner.

I snatched the menu out of her hands, intending to order for her, only to be faced with a raised eyebrow and her hand held out so she could take it back.

Right.

Equals, the whelp had said, exhorting Valentin and I to find a way to convince her to stay.

“Angel, we can be equals at the same time that you let me take care of you,” I said, holding the menu to my chest.

“I don’t want to be taken care of,” Ana said as she folded her hands into her lap.

Liar. But I wasn’t here to fight with her. I was here to figure out how to deal with the damn lawyers. And convince her to stay with us.

Silently, I handed her menu back to her.

“Grazie,” she murmured, looking up at me through her long lashes and smiling mischievously.

I twisted my lips in wry amusement. “You already know what you want.”

She nodded. “If I tell you I went on a date, will you promise not to murder the man who brought me here?”

“No,” I said shortly, jealousy making it impossible for me to think, even if I knew it happened long before I’d barreled back into her life.

“It was a disaster,” she said.

“Stop talking, Ana,” I growled. “Please. I cannot—” The thought of another man taking her out to dinner, picking out her food, paying for a date was killing me.

I reached my hand out across the table, palm out, unused to asking for what I needed from my lovers. When she placed hers in mine, I instantly relaxed. I needed her. And was an ask so different than a command, if she did it anyway?

When I would have ordered a bottle of wine, Ana demurred.

“Are you going to let me pay for dinner?” I asked her curiously.

“I can’t afford to do otherwise,” she admitted quietly. “Not yet.”

“Angel—”

“You said you needed my help?” she asked, sipping her sparkling water and ignoring the bread like a true Italian—it was meant to be eaten with food.

“Your father’s lawyer and his accountant are assholes,” I said.

Ana shrugged. “Yes. But you’re a bigger one, so what’s the problem?”

I pressed my lips together, unwilling to admit that I didn’t even know what questions to ask. I’d spent my life as my father’s enforcer—knocking heads together, murdering in his name, and had only a surface idea of how the money actually worked.

“Your father left a mess of legal and illegal investments, businesses, bank accounts, documented payroll and under the table payments, properties in his name and your mother’s. And yours.”

“Mine?”

“You’re not as poor a church mouse as you think. The trust only gave me your father’s investments, nothing your mother left to you, and nothing he’d already registered in your name,” I told her. “But the lawyers will only touch the legal stuff, and the accountant is only familiar with the money, and I can’t figure it out on my own.”

“And you want my help?”

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