Page 20 of Winter Love

“Is that really necessary?” Paxton asks.

“It is. Those stories and movies you’ve seen? Sometimes they have an air of truth to them. And that’s why we’re helping you. We grew up in this life, you haven’t. And to be honest, I wish you never had to see this side of people. But I’m also glad we’re able to help you.”

Paxton nods at Enea. “Thank you for everything.”

I know this is hard for Lukas’ brothers. Paxton’s a carpenter, he’s got jobs he has to travel for, and now he has to have someone with him at all times.

“Wipe that look off your face, Emma,” Paxton says to me, not unkindly.

Before I can say I’m sorry again, all four of them come and hug me.

“We’re family,” Rhett says.

Chapter Ten

Lukas

I have to admit I’m worried. It’s been two days since I got the text from William. All of the guys are here now and no one’s seen him. But everyone is on high alert.

Unknown: Did you think I gave up?

Oh for fucks sake.

Lukas: You should. You’ll never get near Emma. We know who you are

Unknown: LOL. You THINK you know who I am. You should tell Giacomo ‘Forza’ Bastianini that he won’t win this one. I beat him once and I’ll do it again. His precious Luciana will still be mine

I head over to Giacomo and show him the text.

“If this is William, I’ve never dealt with him or his crew before. Could we be wrong about who this is?” he says to everyone.

“The text mentions Luciana. The last asshole we had issues with was T-Rex,” Celestino says.

“No fucking way. Do you really think it’s him?” Francesco frowns.

Everyone is staring at the twins.

“Remember when I said something happened to my youngest last year?” Giacomo says, looking at all of us. “We were patching in a club from England, the Feral Raptors. Their president was Richard ’T-Rex’ Vaughan. What we didn’t know was that he was a psycho and his sister had been with Luciana’s husband, Rónán, the year before. It turned into a huge thing—she was deported and he went to prison. We thought that was the end of it. That fucker won nothing. But if he’s involved in this, how is he connected to William? Because I know the information that Sebastiano and Francesco found is right. And how did he get out of prison?”

“Could they be related somehow?” I ask.

“If they are, then who is the guy Emma was dating?” Francesco says.

Celestino pulls up two pictures.

“This is William, right?” he asks Emma.

She nods at him.

“Okay, this is Richard.”

Emma gasps. “That’s Williams father. Or at least that’s who he said was.”

“Holy shit. That means T-Rex is out and in the United States,” Celestino says as he pulls out a third picture.

“This is Dmitri, Williams father.”

“I’ve never seen him before.” Emma frowns.

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