Page 92 of The Woman with the Wallet

“You guys are the best,” Lil said, looking around at the cleaned-up space.

“We think we got them all,” I said as she used Miko’s arms for leverage to lower herself into her bed.

Salvatore set up her nightstand with meds, propped up her leg on pillows, and got her tucked in as I rushed around to try to grab anything she might need to have nearby. Her phone and charger, the remote, drinks, snacks, her tablet, extra blankets, and her office chair to use to roll herself to the kitchen or bathroom.

By the time we were all done fussing, Lil was a mix of thankful and frustrated.

It was right then that her temporary nursemaid, Gavino, showed up.

Like seemingly all these damn Costa guys, Gav was tall and attractive with great bone structure and dark hair. The only difference with him was he had deep blue eyes that managed to look both annoyed and resigned as he moved into the room.

“Gav, this is Lil. Lil, Gav. He’s here to help you with anything you need. Getting you food, meds, pushing you in the chair to the bathroom, whatever.”

“We’re probably going to hate each other,” she said to Gav, getting a nod of acknowledgment from him.

“Gav hates everyone,” Miko said with a shrug.

Salvatore was the first to head out, promising to check in on Lil the next day as Miko pulled Gavino to the far end of the room, talking in hushed voices.

“Here,” Lil said, handing me her tablet. “The surveillance video. “Take it with you. See if the cute watermelon pants guy can do anything with it.”

Then, as Miko joined us again, she looked up at him with her one non-swollen eye.

“Get the bastard,” she demanded, voice hard.

“That’s the plan,” he agreed, wrapping an arm around me. “Get some rest, Lil. And don’t be a hero with the pain meds. We can get as much as you need.”

“I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow too,” I told her.

“I’ll befine,” she insisted. But I knew a guard when I saw one. I had too many of my own. And because I did, I knew all of the soft and squishy that was hiding behind that.

“And I will be back to check on you. And fuss over you. And make sure Gav here is doing enough fussing too.”

He gave me a little nod.

I got the feeling that while he wasn’t happy to be a nursemaid, he would do a good job. If for no other reason than Lil was in awful shape.

We said our goodbyes and heard Gav locking up behind us.

“He’s armed, right?” I asked when we both moved onto the street, heads on a swivel, keeping an eye out for Lil’s attacker.

“Yeah. I made sure. And he knows the protocols for coming and going or answering the door. Gav can be a bit of a dick, but he has a baby sister. Each time he looks at Lil, I’m sure he’s thinking about Lore and how he’d want her taken care of in this kind of situation.”

“Wait… Lore?” I asked as we started walking toward the cross street to grab a cab. “Isn’t that Zeno’s sister?” The Costa family was huge. It was hard to keep them all straight, but I was pretty sure that I was right about that connection.

“Yeah.”

“Wow. They’re… nothing alike.”

“Yeah, not at all. But all those brothers are very different. Ready to go home for a bit?” he asked.

I knew I probably shouldn’t be so happy to think of Miko’s place ashomeso quickly, but I couldn’t stop the warm feeling moving through my chest at the idea of being able to keep spending nights there, wrapped up in his arms.

“We never picked up my clothes.”

“I’ll order new ones to be delivered,” he said as we slipped into a cab.

I should have objected to that. But all I could think of was getting some alone time with him. The last thing I wanted to do was insist on going back to my apartment to grab clothes.

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