Page 68 of That Time I Accidentally Took Over the Mafia

Pain forms a lump in my throat because we aren’t. We aren’t together, and right now, I know I can’t be around Luca. It’s too raw, too painful. But it also tears at me knowing he’s hurting too, alone. Jax and Enzo are both here with me. Who doeshehave?

“Where is he?” I ask suddenly, needing to know.

Enzo sighs deeply, his eyes flickering with something unreadable. “There’s a guest house on the property. He’ll stay there tonight. In the morning, we leave for the next safe house. We don’t want you worrying about anything.”

My chest tightens with the weight of his words. I don’t want Luca to be angry, but I can’t just ignore the hurt in my heart either. We need to work this out—before we lose each other for good.

Tears threaten to well in my eyes again, but I fight them back. “I don’t know what to do, Enzo.”

“You don’t have to fix anything right now,” he says, his voice low but steady. “Just take it one step at a time. Let us help you, let us be here for you.”

I look up at him, feeling the sincerity in his eyes, and something shifts. Maybe it’s not about fixing everything at once. Maybe it’s about taking it slow, letting things happen as they’re meant to.

Jax slides into view behind Enzo, his grin easy as he puts a hand on my shoulder. “Dinner’s ready, Peach. Enzo’s going to let us torture him with our favorite movie.” He grins and winks, lighting up my dark heart.

“Legally Blonde!” I exclaim, and they both chuckle. Enzo adds an eye roll, just to make sure I know he still doesn’t agree it’s one of the greatest gifts to the world.

The weight on my chest doesn’t lift completely, but maybe the night will offer me a small reprieve. I follow them to the couch, trying not to think about the distance between Luca and me, about the unresolved hurt. For now, I just want to enjoy the men who are here, doing everything they can to bring me some comfort, if only for a little while.

It’s going to be okay.I have to keep telling myself that.

Jax and Enzo carry in several arranged platters of snacks and appetizers. Enzo commands me to take the middle of the couch while he pours a glass of my favorite wine.

“Sit,” he orders, his tone playful but firm.

“Bossy.”

He winks at me. “My specialty.”

Jax brings three steaming bowls of the most amazing combination of ingredients.

The one. The only. Lobster risotto.

Enzo takes two of the bowls, giving one to me before sitting next to me. Jax starts the movie and retrieves his wineglass from the mantle, lip-syncing to “Perfect Day” and dancing his way over to the couch with a very drawn-out shoulder shimmy. Even Enzo has to laugh.

I nearly pass out from my first delicious mouthful. Enzo was right. It’s life-changing. I’ll never see the world the same way again.

Jax takes our empty bowls, and Enzo refills my glass. “Babe, you have some competition in the kitchen,” I tease Jax when hereturns. “Seems you’re not the only chef who can give me a full-on mouth-gasm with their food.”

He chuckles as he resettles on the couch, his ever-present cockiness evident in his voice. “Peach, if anyone but me gives you a mouth-gasm, I’ll shoot the poor bastard in the head and fuck you right on top of his dead body.”

I burst into laughter, shaking my head at how morbid he can be. “God, you’re twisted.”

“You should know—I have no competition.” He circles my throat and pulls me into a quick kiss. “It’s me giving you that mouth-gasm, baby. That’s my lobster risotto they made, so they’ll live to see another day.”

Jax stretches out at one end of the couch, his legs draped across Enzo’s lap. I’m perfectly squished in the cozy space between them, my legs hanging over Jax’s as Enzo covers us all with my blanket.

The movie plays, and Jax and I continue torturing Enzo by reciting every iconic Jennifer Coolidge line. He massages my hand, then Jax’s feet, before crumpling his forehead at the “bend-and-snap” scene.

“How can you like this so much?” he groans.

“First of all,” Jax begins, taking a fresh bubblegum-flavored sucker from his mouth, “Elle Woods is a Gemini with a double Capricorn moon. And her signature color is pink. We’re practically twins.”

Enzo is secretly into it. By the time the big courtroom reveal happens, he gasps when (spoiler alert) a perm takes down the criminal.

“Damn, I never would have guessed,” he scoffs, then rolls his eyes when he catches Jax and me watching him instead of the movie. “Oh, get over it.”

Jax convinces Enzo that the only way I might ever smile again is for him to practice the “bend and snap” with us. Enzonails it perfectly on the third try, and when my face hurts from laughing, he picks me up with his hands under my ass.

---