Page 16 of Naughty Santa Daddy

Nothing.

Ten minutes.

While I wait, I listen for any noises, but I hear none.

Fifteen minutes.

I think about Alex and wonder how the hell she got the skills she has. Someone trained her to fight. I bet she could even kick my ass—not that I would fight her back. My Granny raised me better than that.

Twenty minutes.

My phone screen lights up.

M:Skies are blue.

It’s Miller. It’s my sign to get the fuck out of this place.

Poking my head up out of the dumpster, I take one last cautious look around and see nothing. I hold Drake’s cut in one hand, using the other to leverage my weight, and jump out. I pat my pockets to make sure everything is where it was when I jumped in, then head for the door.

I’m in the SUV, buckled in, and out of the lot in two minutes. Seeing my escort at the end of the block, I nod as I drive by. My tails pull behind me, and off we go.

As if the happenings of the last couple days haven’t been crazy enough, now we have a brother back behind bars. Such is the life of a motorcycle club, I guess. It’s what we signed up for.

This is our life.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But I will say one thing... these are the days I’m thankful for the sometimes-dirty lawyers we have on standby and our not-so-clean deep pockets to pay them. We’re going to need help.

Chapter 6

M. Merin

M. Merin

Alessandra (Alex)

“Where to next?” Enzo asks me as we’re leaving the cemetery, and I shoot him a smile, causing him to nearly growl at me. “No.”

“That’s fine, I can get an Uber,” I tell him, whipping out my phone.

“Are you out of your mind?” he asks me. While he’s able to keep the horror out of his voice, the look on his face shows his disdain. “Do not tell me you ride in Ubers. They barely runbackground checks on the drivers. You could literally be getting into a car with a maniac!”

I can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of me as his outrage at the thought grows, and although I know his concern comes from a good place, telling him I have a five-star rating from the drivers won't help me get a ride to his brother’s house.

“Please, Enzo? I want to see the baby.” I try to avoid falling into our established roles and calmly state my purpose rather than manipulating him into doing something he doesn’t want to do.

To say that Enzo and his brother aren’t close is the understatement of the year. Our parents always attributed it to their age difference, but I know it runs deeper than that. While Dante was always annoyed at being saddled with the two of us when we were kids, he and I became closer as I progressed into my teen years.

In fact, it was Dante I went to for advice about how to break the news of my decision to Mamá and Papá when I decided to start out on a different path from thefamiglia. He took a couple of days to think about it, but he was the one who arranged for my new identity and school transcripts under our great-grandmother’s maiden name.

It wasn’t until my send-off party that I found out I was making the escape he had once planned for himself. That night I was caught between my heart breaking for the dreams he walked away from and anger at all the walls he had built around himself. Especially those that alienated him from a real relationship with his brother.

Regardless of Papá’s plans, I’m not moving back for good, so neither God nor Enzo is going to get in the way of me spending as much time as I can with Isabella.

“She’s a natural!” Dante crows, raising his glass in my direction from the other end of the dinner table. “Issy took to her right away and fussed when she left, didn’t she, Fran?”

The woman to his left gives a tight smile before going back to ignoring the dozen people at the table.

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