Page 86 of Little Dove

“Yes, you can,” Gia butts in excitedly. “That’s actually why we came up here. The contractors have already finished, so you’re fully operational now.” She claps her hands happily. “After all this, we need to spend some time down there. Have a real girls’ day.” Then she pauses and gives me a sheepish smile. “Well, if you don’t mind. You’re going to be doing a lot of it, so I shouldn’t assume.”

I smile at her. “No, I love doing this. It’s not a chore, and I miss it. I don’t like being idle too much. And thank you, Gia. I really do appreciate how much you guys are helping me.”

She waves that away. “No, thank you, Amara. This is so much fun, and we need that with everything going on. I’m just so glad to have a sister and cousin around, along with new friends. If I had to go through all of this in this big house alone, I’d be going crazy by now.”

“Or you’d finally give in to your desire to mess with Nico as much as you want to,” Sofia calls as she steps into the shower and washes away the bubbles. Moments later, she steps back out and wraps a towel around herself. “Alright, let’s give Amara a bit of privacy and then we’re heading downstairs.” They file out, shutting the bathroom door behind them.

I sit for another minute, feeling so much lighter than before. Lazaro is amazing, but it’s different to finally have women in my life too that actually see me as an equal instead of a rival. As a friend instead of an enemy. I allow myself one more moment to bask before I force myself up and out of the tub, only groaning a little at the stretch of the movement. It’s not gone, but it’s better. Thank God.

It takes me another twenty minutes to shower, dry off, and dress, and when I emerge, Sofia is once again dressed, but there’s a new member in the group. I smile at Massimo, who winks when he sees me. “Hello, little sister. I came to see if you might be hungry, but I hear you’ve been plotting. Of course, Iwant to join in. So, who are we going after first? I think we need to start carefully, don’t want to alert too many to our plan. Urso is a whiny bitch, so I suggest Zeno.”

I laugh along with the rest. “We were going to head down to the salon,” I inform him. “But I’ll keep that in mind if any of you get on my bad side again.”

“If I ever get on your bad side, I’m getting out of striking range.” Massimo snickers. When the others look at me curiously, I blush. “Oh, so they don’t know? You see, ladies, my new little sister, she has a mean right hook, and when you get in her way and make her angry, she punches you in the balls.”

They all look at me in shock, and then Sofia holds up her hand for a high-five while Rori bursts out laughing. “Best of friends,” Sofia confirms. “Between you, Sienna, and I, we’ll keep all these men in line.”

Massimo’s grin only widens. “Just remember that I’m the handsome and friendly brother,” he points out. He winks at Sienna and Gia. “And these two can vouch for just how good looking the goods are, so don’t damage anything that will have some lucky woman crying over it in future.”

Gia blushes furiously while Sienna grins wickedly. I look at them in confusion but Sienna just waves her hand at me. “I’ll tell you later.” Then she winks. “Just know he’s not lying.”

“Alright, enough of this, let's get down to the salon,” Rori huffs, though there’s laughter leaking into her tone. “You can walk with me, handsome. I’m the only single broad in this group, so that means you get to escort me and their men won’t kill you.”

Something flashes over Massimo’s face, but it’s quickly gone, and he never loses his charming smile. He extends his arm to her. “Cara mia, you have made my day,” he says gallantly. “There is nothing better than escorting a beautiful woman. Especially when she doesn’t have her dog to chomp on my ass if I get a little handsy,” he adds with a flirtatious wink.

They leave us behind, and I look at the other women in confusion. “What about her and Alonzo?” I whisper to the others as we follow them. Immediately, the guards assigned to each of us swoop in to join us, but I don’t pay any attention to them as I am too invested in the scene ahead of us.

“If he catches them like this, we’re about to find out,” Sienna whispers back.

Sofia snorts. “Oh, my brother is going to flip his shit, and that is exactly what Massimo is hoping for. Massimo is like Alessio, but he’s more subtle about his shit disturbing tactics. This is either going to be entertaining or a mess.”

I’m really hoping it won’t be a mess, especially not in the salon. I hope Lazaro kept his word and cleaned it like I asked, or I’m about to have another very awkward conversation.

28

LAZARO

“Why the fuckis it so hard to find one house?” Alonzo demands impatiently as he paces the length of Nico’s office.

“Probably because he’s had years to hide it,” Dante answers simply. Alonzo rounds on him, eyes dark and stormy as he glares at him. Dante just ignores him, which only makes Alonzo’s expression darken further.

He’s been off since he walked in hours ago, and I have to put that squarely on Rori’s shoulders. The two of them, they’re explosive, and I have a feeling they’re getting close to detonation. I just hope Alonzo can rein in his temper enough that he doesn’t push Rori right out of his life. We all know he wants her as much as he despises her, but that’s for the two of them to figure out.

Though, from the look on Papa’s face, he’s concerned and not sure if he should intervene. Knowing Alonzo, however, saying anything won’t change the course. Out of all of us, Alonzo is the most stubborn, and when he sets his mind to something, it takesa hell of a lot to change it. We’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out.

“Have the men looked into any homes that might have been purchased before his marriage?” Pietro asks Papa and Zeno.

They’re stood together, and they glance at each other before Papa replies, “We have. We also are looking at any properties that were sold, or purchased under the names of his wife and sons.”

“I have some searches going for any houses that might be in Leonardo or his sons’ names too,” Zeno adds. “He’s slimy enough to do something like that, to make it look like something they bought to keep them off his trail.”

Pietro nods, accepting that. “Good. Keep on it.” He looks back at Papa. “Any news on Seamus or Leonardo?”

Papa shakes his head. “Last report we have is that Seamus was rushed somewhere, but our men lost them. They searched and doubled back, but we think they realized we were onto them. So they’re in the wind. It looks like Leonardo has also gone underground. He’s not home, so he must think that Giovanni is likely to try again, or he would have had men there waiting for him.”

“We haven’t been able to get in touch with our informant yet,” Dante adds. “He’s either with Seamus or handling the fallout.”

“Anything on Marco?” I ask.

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