Page 6 of Keeping My Girl

“Tell me you two weren’t just at Berlusconi’s party in Manhattan,” Benito starts.

I glance at him and give him a one-shoulder shrug.

“Goddamn it, Nico!” he practically roars. “I hope to fuck you didn’t have anything to do with Carbone’s son being dead.”

Damn. Word travels fast.

I wince at his accusation, and I can’t even meet his eyes. I’m not scared of anyone, but I am scared of Benito’s disapproval. I always want to make him proud. And my actions tonight are going to bring a lot of repercussions; ones that I haven’t even had time to think about yet.

“You better have had a damn good reason,” Benito hisses.

“I did.” Slowly, I walk back to the van and open the back doors before moving aside.

Benito steps closer, checking out the cargo, his eyebrow suddenly arching in surprise. “Who the fuck is that?” he questions.

“Selina McCall.”

His head whips to the side and he meets my eyes. “Your Selina?”

“Yes.” I turn to look at the blonde beauty sleeping in the back. “She was at the party. Gino was hurting her. Hell, he might even have killed her if I hadn’t intervened.”

“How do you know it’s her?” he asks, and I can hear the unease in his voice, because I’ve been wrong before. I’ve saved what seems like a hundred Selina McCalls before, claiming they were her before finding out they weren’t.

“It’s her,” I tell him confidently. “Not only the eyes but the same birthmark on her neck. I’m a thousand percent sure it’s Lina.”

“Holy shit. After all this time…” Benito’s voice trails off as he shakes his head. Then with a grim voice, he tells me, “We’ll deal with your father’s wrath when he gets home.”

“You’re not going to call him?”

“And risk ruining their anniversary trip? No fucking way,” he grunts. “They’ll be home in a few days. We’ll figure out what to tell them by then.”

I nod my head in agreement, and then I glance over at Aldo, who emphatically nods. He doesn’t want to piss my father off either.

“Your team is freaking out over Gino Carbone’s death,” Benito tells Aldo. “I suggest you guys cover Nico’s tracks to lessen the fallout from tonight.”

“Right away, sir,” Aldo mumbles before jogging off towards the part of the property that houses the underground network of computers, servers, and IT equipment.

“Carry Selina inside,” Benito starts. “I’m going to phone the on-call doc and tell her we need her ASAP.”

I give him a nod before I lean down to scoop Selina into my arms. Her head lolls against my chest as I carry her into the compound. It’s hard to believe that after all these years she’s finally home where she belongs.

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