Page 29 of Her Keeper
“I will never let anyone else have you,” I whispered against her golden curls. “And that’s a promise.”
* * *
“So let’s go through this again,” Penny said, shuffling through the papers on the table. “We need to know who Monica Hart is working with. Or who she’s working for. You don’t think it’s the Carusos. At least you don’t think they’re the end of the line. But if we figure out who it is—who’s behind everything—you think we can go to your dad with the information.” She looked up at me with doubt in her eyes like she wasn’t sure any of this was a good idea. “And you’re sure about that?”
I pulled the papers to me and glanced through the notes we’d made about everything that had happened. “I’m sure that Monica is working for someone, yes. When I went to see her, she had protection, and those goons were mafia. I’d swear to it. I also didn’t recognize them, which means they weren’t Carusos. But the timing is too convenient for it to be unconnected. Some random reporter decides to do an expose on my family at exactly the same time we start having problems with other families? I don’t believe in coincidences, Penny.”
She frowned. “And then there’s what happened to Sloane in Italy.”
Penny’s game might have been numbers, but she was equally good with problem-solving, and I was starting to think that if we came out of this, I needed to give her a bigger role in my own operations.
Stupid, of course. If we came out of this alive, I should get her as far from New York as I could manage and keep her safe.
Though the idea of having her any further than two minutes from me—and then only if she was on the other side of the house—made me hurt in ways I didn’t understand.
“Exactly. I don’t know how Reno fits into any of this, but he told Joseph he had a better offer on Sloane’s life, and that had to come from somewhere.”
The frown on her face deepened. “So this is someone who’s going after both the Rossis and the Brennans. But that doesn’t make sense. Those families have never been allied. How would you have the same enemy?”
Now it was my turn to frown, because it was the question that caught me up, too. The Rossis and Brennans had been fighting each other through my entire life. Brennan territory butted up against the Rossi border, and that meant we were always fighting—either because we were too close, geographically, or because we were trying to take over the same neighborhoods. We’d hated each other until Joseph and Sloane got married.
Until someone started going after both families.
It made no sense. But that didn’t change the fact that it was happening.
“I don’t understand that part either,” I told her. “But if we can figure it out and give my father a real enemy to fight, I’m thinking he might forget about the hit on you. We know Monica is after you, in one way or another. So we might even be able to use you to draw whoever she’s working for out into the open.”
Penny nodded, still thinking, then asked, “So how do we find out?”
I reached out and took her hand, smiling a smile that I knew was wicked. “We call Tony Caruso and ask who the fuck he’s working for and why they have it out for us. I’ve known Tony a long time, and I’m betting he’s just stupid enough to admit it. Brag about it, even.”
I didn’t mention her history with him, or that I thought we might be able to use that, too.
I didn’t want to make her nervous before we made the call.
Instead, I got my phone out, found Tony’s contact, and hit ‘call,’ putting the phone on speaker so Penny could hear everything that happened.
“Yeah?” Tony snapped into the phone.
I almost laughed. Evidently, he didn’t have my number saved, or he would have answered more respectfully. “Caruso. This is Michael Rossi.”
The long silence on the other end of the phone told me that he was not only surprised, but also suspicious. He was probably gathering men to him as quickly as he could right now so he wouldn’t be the only witness to what I was about to say.
I would have thought that was smart, except that I knew Tony Caruso, and ‘smart’ had never entered his particular conversation.
“What do you want, Rossi?” he finally asked, the snarl clear in his voice.
“Thought it was time we talked. Got some shit figured out.”
He laughed. “Talked? What are you doing, trying to call for help? Word on the street is that you’re on the run. With my sloppy seconds. How’s the blond slut treating you? That pussy still as—”
I slammed my fist down on the table. “One more word, Tony, and I’ll come and find you myself, just to watch the expression on your face while I pull your guts out. Got it?”
Penny’s hand darted out and grabbed mine, and when I looked up, she shook her head sharply. “We need him,” she mouthed.
Dammit.
I stifled the rest of what I’d been about to say and stared at the phone, wondering if I was actually releasing steam from my ears. I was so angry I felt hot, like I was boiling, and it wouldn’t have surprised me.
