Page 70 of Heartfelt Pain
“Mom said he needed work.”
His brow quirks. “What?”
“She told me about it the other day.” I know better than disclosing her idea to open up a garage.
“Oh,” Dad utters, sliding up to the island and peering at the various snacks. Russet silently offers him a plate of cookies. He spares a smile for his daughter-in-law and the mafia man picks up a cookie with sprinkles on it. “Lennie, I saw Nat arrive.”
She perks up. “Awe. Baby Milo is here.”
Elijah leans over and I dodge his attempt to pinch my cheek. “Roman’s namesake.”
I blush. Nat very thoughtfully used the name Roman for Milo’s middle name.
“You see him?” Dima asks, also snacking on a cookie. I swear no one would realize what the family business is.
“Who?” I ask, already knowing.
“The Ghost,” Dima says. “Tristan Trevino.”
“Where’s he at?” I ask. I arrived five minutes ago.
Russ answers, shaking hair out of her face. “They already left.”
I saw Ben and Abe heading out so I assumed Ren had done the same. All morning I pretended everything would be fine and in the end, it didn’t matter. I never came in contact with the woman.
The annoyingly, beautiful, but antagonizing Ren Callahan. Why’d she leave so early?
“That’s a short visit,” I note, heading to the fridge for a soda. I don’t need to turn around to know Dad’s eyes are on me. “What happened?”
Russ and Lennie’s quick little glance at one another givesthem away. They both quickly shake their heads.
“Ren looked tired. It was kind she brought a gift for Sailor,” Russ says.
“What?” Elijah innocently asks, fingers still messing with Lennie’s hair. “You’re not jealous, brother, of Trevino whisking her away?”
“I’m sure being her bodyguard is great,” I say under my breath. “Especially when she comes into the lion’s den.”
Dad frowns. “Are you referring to my house as the lion’s den?”
“We were very welcoming,” Dima notes, picking up a frosted cookie.
“I’m glad they came,” Lennie says. I choose to assume ‘they’ is referring to Ren, Abe, and Ben and not Ren and Trevino. She ruins it, though, when she adds, “And I like Tris.”
Elijah frowns. “Tris?”
She nods, not put out by his unamused response.
Russ adds fuel to the fire when she tells Lennie, “He’s certainly handsome like you said.”
“And he gets along great with everyone at Fujimori’s,” Lennie adds.
“It’s what he’s paid to do,” Dad says. As far as I know, it’s the only quip so far he’s shown since the Ghost showed up at his house.
“Did he give it up?” Russ asks. “What he used to do?”
“You mean being a mercenary?” Dima clarifies. “Nah.”
The Ghost moved systematically through the city, taking down people. Most were associated with Marissa, the bitch who hurt Sailor’s birth mom. His swiftness rattled a few people, but he went relatively dormant.
