Page 2 of One Love

“Let’s go.”

Marco Mancini has called a meeting of his capos. As the only female leader in any mafia I’ve ever heard of, I have the privilege of sitting at the table where important decisions are made. He may be my boss, but he’s also one of the only people in this world that I trust.

I trusted Murphy, too. But they took him away from me.

I’m not the last to show up since I wasn’t too far from his Upper East Side residence but I’m not the first either.

In fact, the house is like a fucking circus with kids running around all over the place. Like…a fucking boatload of them. One of them, I can’t remember its name, comes up to me and hands me a drawing. I look down and frown.

“It’s a bird.” His words are all nasally like he’s got a cold, which is confirmed when he sneezes all over my boots. It doesn’t take much to make me scowl but I try really fucking hard not to scare away this…what? Four or five or six year old?

From the homemade clothes to the beads on his wrist and around his neck, I know this is one of Petal and Everest’s kids. And judging by the noise, they’re all here. Hell, I can’t remember how many they’ve got now since she just keeps popping them out like a gumball machine.

“It doesn’t look like a bird.” I’m being honest but I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to say to a kid.

“Phoenix!” I hear Petal’s sweet voice calling out to her kid but I’m a little entranced by his deep green eyes. I’m betting he’ll be scarred for life after seeing my beat-up face and the limp I’m sporting.

“Don’t be sad, it’ll be okay.” I jolt back at his words like he’s physically hit me. I don’t have the chance to ask him what he means before his mother scoops him up and cuddles him tight against her chest while another kid presses against her back like a little monkey. I have no idea how that piece of cloth is holding his chubby ass in place.

“Sorry about that, he’s very shy but once he finds a soul that speaks to him, he can’t stay away.”

I blink up at her and frown.

It’s like we don’t speak the same language.

“J, let’s go!” Marco’s voice brings me back to reality. Taking a step back I nod at the kid and give Petal what I hope is a smile.

“Have fun.” I pass the drawing back to the kid but he shakes his head and walks away with his mother, hand in hand.

My stomach does a little flip as thoughts of Hallie crash into my mind. I never got a chance to see her grow up, and now I can’t even be with her as she goes through the hardest years of her life.

Not that I could help her with that. I’m the story mothers tell their daughters to keep them from turning out like me.

Shaking off the emotions, I get my head back in the game and walk over to Marco’s office where he meets with his capos.

I’ve been here a hundred times, at the very least, yet I’m always amazed by the soothing scent of the fireplace mixed with the spice of the whiskey he pours into his glass. One finger and two ice cubes.

“Take a seat, we’ve got a situation on our hands.” Marco pauses and looks over at me, his eyes turning soft for the briefest of seconds like he wants to make all the rage and pain go away, but I give him a slight shake of my head. I can’t do this right now. I can’t linger on the events of these past ten days. I have a job to do and a man to hunt down and I can’t do that if I’m all up in my feelings.

I’m sure I’ll break down at one point, the mind and body physically need it to continue a balanced life, but right now is not that time. Then again, balance has never been an option for me so what the fuck do I know?

And Marco gets that, so he just continues like nothing happened.

“Eddie, what’s the status?” I shift in my seat, my current position shooting electric shocks into the muscles of my side. Luckily, my ribs aren’t broken but theyarebruised all to hell, which means the only thing I can do is wait for them to heal.

The bullet to my leg? Well, it was a through-and-through so I had the doc patch me up and give me pain meds. I’d rather feel the pain every day than lie down for a week and lose my ever-loving mind.

“So far, we’ve lost three soldiers, Boss.” Marco’s head is down, his deadly gray eyes like daggers aimed straight at Eddie as if this is his fault. “You know the Pellerino kid?”

“Yes, he joined us last year.” Marco’s voice is even when he speaks. Too even for comfort.

“Right, well, we found him last night on the above-ground tracks at Yankee Stadium. Cops got there before us, though. Had to pay a fuckload of money to switch bodies with some guy who offed himself in Queens somewhere.” I grit my teeth at Eddie’s status update. Three of our men gone in such a short time happens. Three of our men killed in the exact same way? That’s not weird, that’s a pattern.

“What do you think, J? The Irish?” I wince when I try to move too quickly but do my best to downplay the pain. “And for fuck’s sake, take a few days off and let your body heal. We need you.”

Right, as if I could downplay anything in front of eagle-eyed Marco. I swear the man has the gift of telepathy.

“Will do, Boss,” I lie, and he fucking knows it, but says nothing more, just waits for my thoughts. “I don’t think it’s the Irishhere. Found out today that Ronan is hiding out in a bunker.” Everyone around me chuckles and I can’t help the small curl of my mouth, then grit my teeth again as it splits my bottom lip. When I get my hands on the guys who beat the fuck out of me, I’ll split their lips too…from ear to fucking ear.

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