Page 83 of Sin and Redemption

She shook her head with a laugh and let me pull her along.

Once we were in the apartment, I engaged the lock and hurried into the bathroom. I sent Amo, Romero and Dad a text with what happened.

None of them questioned what I’d seen. Romero promised to search the area with Flavio, and Amo sent more guards and would discuss the situation with Luca.

Dad offered to come over with Primo despite being at work, but that would have only made Sara suspicious. I asked them to take over my debtors tomorrow so I could stay with Sara until I’d figured out a safety concept that would satisfy my need to protect her.

In the weeks that followed my sighting, Sara was either guarded by Flavio and Romero or Dad and Primo when I wasn’t present. I blamed the sudden increase in protection on her pregnancy, and luckily, she believed me.

Sara had gone through enough. I wouldn’t burden her with the knowledge of a possible threat. This time, nothing would happen to her or the baby.

I lay on the couch and read a cozy mystery that made me laugh constantly. My hormones were all over the place, so books with dark topics or too much drama were out of the question.

I glanced at my cell phone screen. It was already close to midnight, and Maximus wasn’t home yet.

Maximus’s workload had increased in the past three months. He told me he wanted to collect extra work hours so he wouldn’t feel bad if he took some time off after I gave birth, but I could tell that wasn’t the entire truth. It wasn’t as if he had a nine-to-five job. If something big came up, he’d have to work, no matter if I had just given birth. Something was definitely bothering Maximus. Since I had been so adamant about him letting go of his wish for revenge, I assumed he still had a few people on his list that he wanted to kill. While I was very happy that Jabba and his men were dead, I didn’t understand the obsessive need for more blood.

When Maximus wasn’t by my side, Flavio or Dad usually kept watch. Sometimes Growl or Primo jumped in too. I wasn’t sure if my additional protection was because of my pregnancy like Maximus claimed or because of something related to his work.

Now Flavio slouched in the armchair across from me, playing a game on his phone while his eyes kept drooping. He had taken over from Dad after lunch and had been boring himself to death inside the apartment all day. I had felt too tired all day for any outside activities.

“Why don’t you go home? There are two bodyguards in front of the door,” I said. “I’ll be fine. And Maximus will be home any moment.”

Flavio looked up from his screen and cocked an eyebrow. “Even if Maximus wouldn’t kick my ass if I left you by yourself, I’d feel horrible if I did. I’ll stay until your husband returns.”

I sighed. Yawning, I wondered if I should just go to bed. I preferred to wait up until Maximus returned, but I was exhausted, and I had an early appointment with my doctor in the morning.

Flavio’s phone buzzed, and he picked up. His body language changed as he listened to the other person. He got up, in a forced casual manner, and strolled toward the window. His lips set in a tight line. I pushed to my feet, wondering what was going on outside our window.

Flavio ended the call and gave me a tight smile. “Maybe you should go to bed.”

I walked toward him, but he stopped me with a hand against my arm before I could reach the window. A woman screamed outside. I shoved Flavio’s arm away. “Let me through!”

“Sara,” he implored, but he knew better than to stop me. I rushed toward the window overlooking the street and froze when I saw one of my bodyguards clamping a hand over the mouth of a young woman who lived in the house across from us. She looked terrified. Then I saw why she’d screamed. Maximus stood on the sidewalk to her left. Covered in blood, he held a knife in hand, and a body lay at his feet. The streetlamp illuminated the gruesome scene so I could see the big puddle of blood around the corpse.

My heart rate picked up. “Oh my god. He’s hurt.”

“He’s not,” Flavio said calmly. “It’s not his blood.”

“How do you know?” I asked sharply. “I want to see my husband now!”

“Sara.”

“Either he comes up or I’ll go down. But I want to talk to him.”

Flavio picked up his phone with an exasperated expression. He probably thought my pregnancy hormones made me unreasonable when him being a Made Man made him blind to the reality of how horrible a sight this was. After a few rings, Maximus must have answered because Flavio said, “Sara is freaking out. She wants to talk to you.” He gritted his teeth. “I couldn’t stop her. If you didn’t stand under the streetlamp like a bad actor, she wouldn’t have seen you covered in blood.”

Flavio hung up, then turned to me. “He’s coming up. He doesn’t want you out on the street.”

“Who did he kill?” I asked.

Flavio shook his head and raised his palms. “I won’t say a word.”

My older sister scowl didn’t get any results either, so I decided to wait for Maximus. When he stepped through the front door, I froze, my belly doing a dangerous flip. My nausea had improved considerably, but the amount of blood that covered Maximus from head to toe was too much for me. I lifted a finger, then rushed into the bathroom and threw up. Maximus stayed in the doorway. I flushed the toilet, then washed my mouth, but I didn’t go closer to Maximus.

“Are you injured?” I pressed out, breathing through my mouth.

“It’s not my blood.”

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