Page 67 of The Woman at the Funeral

“What? Come over and clean your place?” Leo shot back. “Nico will take care of her.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, feeling my heart swell. “I’ll take care of her.”

“Good. That’s settled. Now, it goes without saying that everyone needs to alter their schedules. Take different routes. Be places at different times. It’s also time to shore up security. Get your systems and alarms locked down tight. Make sure your weapons are accessible. And that your women know how and are willing to use them, if they’re staying. If you’ve been thinking about getting a dog, now’s the time. This is all temporary. We are going to figure out if any of this has leaked. If not, this will all be destroyed.”

There were some questions then, discussions about whose women and kids were going where.

Then, eventually, everyone was antsy to get home to get to work on their protection plans.

Zeno hung back to get some instructions from Lorenzo.

“Can you do me a favor?” I asked Leo as he made his way toward the door.

“Keep an eye on Zen?”

“Fucking read my mind. I know he is capable of taking care of shit if it comes to that. I’m just worried that he won’t follow through on security because he gets distracted. Plus, that fucking nightclub is so loud, it could hide any noises.”

“I got him. Don’t worry about it. Ready?” he asked, looking past me to where Zeno was walking out.

“You coming with me?”

“I’m gonna shore your place up while you work.”

“Oh, cool. Cool. Tell the pretty lady I want to buy some of that syrup from her,” he told me on his way out.

I made my way back to the kitchen, finding Blair sitting at the table, leaned over to pet Goya’s belly.

“Sounds like things are dying down out there.”

“Yeah, everyone wants to get going to get their security plans in place.”

“Right. Okay. Well, that’s probably smart. I’m glad I have my system in place.”

“That’s the thing.”

“What’s the thing?” she asked, sitting back.

“We can’t go back to our homes.”

“Wait… what? Why? Where are we going?”

“So far, you’re the only one in confirmed danger. And as much as your place does have good security now, that doesn’t mean someone couldn’t get in if they wanted to.”

“Oh, right. I mean, of course. Should I go stay at a hotel?”

“I was thinking of taking you to my safe house.”

“You have a safe house?”

“The Family has a lot of them, actually. But my brothers and I have one we each chipped in for, just in case. No one has needed to use it yet. But it’s there, waiting.”

“For how long?”

“Hopefully just a few days. It will depend on what Zeno uncovers.”

“Can I work from there?”

“That’s something I’ll have to ask Zen. Tracking and shit like that.”

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