Page 54 of Broken Saint

Chapter 22

Nova

"Are you all right?"

Ronin appeared in front of me seconds after my father left the suite. I didn't know what to make of the way he looked at me. Mildly concerned maybe? Curious? Pretending to be polite? It was impossible to read him. And exhausting.

"Stay there," he said, disappearing into the master suite, only to return minutes later with a washcloth and towels in hand.

I tried to take them from him and he brushed my hands away. "I've got this."

I didn't want him to have anything, but I owed him for coming to my rescue. I didn't know how far my father would have allowed Luca to go. Although I had gotten off easy compared to my sister. I almost opened my mouth to ask Ronin for help when he touched the warm cloth to my cheek.

"What in the fuck is going on here?"

My gaze flew towards the door to find Rock filling the doorway, his face morphed into an angry mask. Holy hell. Could I not catch a freaking break today? The last thing I needed was another fight to break up.

"Just fixing the mess you made, lawman."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Good question.Wait. “What?”

Ronin ignored me, his anger focused on Rock. "I wouldn't push it. I already had to take care of one asshole. I could be tempted to take care of another."

Rock crossed the room to where I sat in a chair, moving with the grace and speed of a deadly panther. He definitely had the quiet part down. "Are you hurt?" He squatted down in front of me, crowding out Ronin. "Who did this?"

"It doesn't matter."

Rock gave me a hard glare and I knew I wasn't going to get away with that answer. When he looked over his shoulder at Ronin, I could imagine all the questions written on his face.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't do this." I could see clearly that despite the obvious hatred Ronin harbored towards my father, he wasn't going to freely offer any information to Rock. There was a code among made men, no matter which family they were loyal to, and it included not talking to outsiders of any kind. Talking outside the family led to the kinds of problems no one wanted to deal with.

"My father came to visit me. Somehow he found out about you and I." I wasn't going to use the same vulgar words my father had. When he said them they were offensive and disgusting. I wouldn't dare repeat them.

"Your father?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. In the chaos, I'd almost forgotten that Rock, and the rest of the world for that matter, did not know I was the daughter of an infamous crime boss. Although I'd known this moment would come, I still didn't want to deal with it.

"Don't do that, Reed." Ronin interrupted. "She doesn't need your bullshit. You Feds think everyone else in the world is stupid, but it's you who is an idiot."

A headache was starting to pound behind my eyes. As I tried to read between the lines of what Ronin had said and decipher the emotions playing across Rock's face, the light finally dawned.

"Jesus Christ. He called you lawman and a— You’re a federal agent?”

"Finally. Someone give this girl a prize."

"Shut up!" Rock and I yelled at Ronin in unison.

“And you know that Anthony Cullotta is my father? How?"

"Yes, Reed. Tell us how you knew. Our girl here did a damn fine job of hiding that information. And I would know because I looked."

I glared at Ronin. His interference here wasn't helping. "Can you excuse us?"

"No," he replied simply, not bothering to elaborate.

What had I done in this life to deserve this man from my father? I was going to do something drastic if Ronin didn't stop antagonizing Rock. In fact, he needed to leave now. I would have said something to that affect if Rock hadn't opened his mouth and said about the most offensive thing he could.

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