Page 77 of Gin & Trouble

Leo squared his shoulders. “You should know, I plan to seek legal paternity.”

“And Dahlia? Do you plan to marry her?” Calhoun’s smile remained in place, a skill he’d undoubtably picked up on the campaign trail.

“As soon as I can convince her to say yes,” Leo said.

My family whispered amongst themselves, but like Gunnar, they’d never mastered the art of speaking in hushed tones. They knew how to shout, speak loudly, or mutter, but not whisper.

No one, not even my mother, had a negative thing to say about Leo’s proclamation. Then again, Dahlia had been around for almost a decade. We’d all wondered why Leo hadn’t made a move.

“I’d wish you good luck, but I doubt you’ll need it.” The governor clamped a hand on my brother’s shoulder. “Can I talk to you alone for a moment?”

“Sure.” Leo followed him out of the room.

I wasn’t the jealous type, but in that moment, I saw green. I’d played it safe. Kept my dick in my pants most of the time, didn’t do one-nighters, waited for the right woman to come along before getting serious.

I’d done everything right, and every-fucking-thing had turned out wrong.

As soon as the door closed, my mother shot to her feet. “Will someone tell me what Francesca Abruzzo is doing in New Orleans?”

Shanna pressed her hand to her belly. Until that moment, I’d forgotten about Marco telling me she was pregnant. “Francesca? Not Sophia?”

“They’re sisters.” Marco kept his tone soft, but I doubted anything could lessen the impact of the news.

She sank into the chair beside Maggie, Gabe’s wife, and dipped her chin. I hadn’t seen her cry since I’d arrived at the hospital, but the news that an Abruzzo might have had something to do with the shooting brought tears to her eyes.

She’s reacting to the last name. She doesn’t know Frankie. Do I know her? Really know her?

Had Frankie shot Enzo? It didn’t make sense…or did it? She’d certainly asked a lot of questions about him.

The night of the Christmas party…Enzo had said Frankie was following him around. Had she been hoping to get a shot at him? Had she sent me to get wine we’d never carried to get rid of me? Had I interrupted her before she could kill Enzo?

And then there was Abruzzo’s plane landing and my missing alert. Had she deleted it to cover Tommaso’s tracks?

Leo returned to the room, glanced around, and sucked in a breath. “What did I miss? Is Enzo out of surgery?”

“Not yet. Leo… About the woman in the video…” Shanna glanced around the room, likely hoping someone would finish her sentence.

He sighed and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, likely in a hurry to get back to Dahlia. “I thought it was Julia Carpenter, but I wasn’t sure. Why didn’t anyone confirm it outright?”

Marco shot me a warning look. The problem was, I had no clue what he was warning me about.

Nico muttered something or another in Italian.

Gabe folded his arms. “She may be going by the name Julia Carpenter, but that’s Francesca Abruzzo.”

“No. That’s ridiculous. She’s worked for us for months. How is it no one recognized her?” Leo glared at me. “How didyounot know this?”

I couldn’t look at him, let alone answer.

“What would a mob princess want with the former Mrs. Meriwether?”

No one had an answer for him, at least not one they said out loud.

Knowing that Harrison Meriwether’s ex-wife and Dahlia were in the wrong place at the wrong time wouldn’t help Leo.

“Frankie was sent to boarding school in Connecticut when she was fourteen.” Nico sighed as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. “She’s my cousin, but she looks a lot different now.”

Leo gripped the back of the nearest chair. “Is she like Sophia?”

---