Page 52 of Innocent Union
“Sam.”
“Liam.”
I give them all nods. “Nice to meet you, guys.” I place my hands on the table. “Now, I’ve heard you boys have been going around talking about my wife.”
“No,” John immediately says. “We don’t know your wife.”
“My wife, Mia Moretti? You’ve never heard of her?”
“We swear, man,” Henry says. “We don’t know your wife.”
“Huh. Well, ok, then. My apologies.” I start to walk away when I turn back to the table. “You know what? I forgot to say something.” I lean in close to John, who seems like the leader of this little group. “If you, any of you, so much as mention my wife’s name on your lips again, you’re not going to like the outcome. Trust me.”
John chuckles, but it’s strained. “You don’t need to worry, man. We don’t know your wife. How can we talk about her if we don’t know her?”
I give John my most menacing glare, which has been known to scare the shit out of other men. He shifts in his seat. Finally, I pull back. “Well, just remember that. Have a nice day.” I walk back to Mia, and we head outside.
“They said they didn’t know you,” I tell her.
“They’re lying. I recognized them.”
“I know. And I believe you. But there’s not much more I can do at the moment. They did look oddly familiar, but I can’t place it. It’s like I know them from somewhere. They’re definitely Mafia men, though. From the way they’re dressed and their fucking attitude. I would have punched them if I weren’t in a crowded café.”
Mia places her hand on my cheek. “I still appreciate you standing up for me. That means a lot.”
“Let’s head back home.” I slide my arms around her waist. “I’m ready to spend more time with my wife.”
She laughs, her cheeks turning pink. “I think I’d like to spend more time with my husband.”
On the drive back to my house, I notice a car following us. I keep my eyes on it for a while. When I take the turn close to my house, the car keeps pace with me.
“Mia,” I say. “Not to scare you, but there’s a car following us. I think it’s the men from the café.”
“How do you know?” She turns to look.
“Because I can see the driver, and it looks like one of them.”
“What are we going to do? Why are they following us?”
“Let’s just get home. We’ll get inside. We’ll be safe.”
I pull into the driveway when I reach my house. “Ok. Let’s go. And hurry.”
Mia quickly unbuckles her seatbelt and heads for the house. The car pulls into the driveway behind us, and the four men get out.
“Mia, get into the house.” I nudge her to hurry up.
“Not so fast,” John says, pulling out a gun.
I freeze. Mia yelps and clings to me.
“What do you want?” I ask, holding my hands up.
“We didn’t like the way you talked to us,” Sam says, sauntering closer to us.
“Yeah. It was disrespectful,” Liam says.
Henry walks around on the other side of us. “You treated us like we’re boys. But we’re men. And we don’t take orders from you.”
