Page 109 of Till Death Do Us Part

“Ye—”

“Mrs. Maggio,” Felice corrected.

“I’ve recently gotten married,” I said. “How can I help you?”

“Uh…” He stared at me.

“What’s your business here, kid?” Felice’s voice was authoritative. He wasn’t to be fucked with.

The guy, who was not a kid, but maybe in his late twenties, older than me, snapped his attention to Felice. He made another stunned noise before he held the package out.

“A delivery for Mr. Burton,” he rushed out. “Mr. Burton said Ms. Cor—Mrs. Maggio—would sign for it.”

Felice took the package and signed for it. The guy looked around the office, anywhere but at the two of us, while he waited. Felice had scared the shit out of him. Felice handed him the receipt and set the box on my desk. The delivery guy was gone before Felice had turned around.

I sniffed the air, making a deal of it. “Do you smell that? His sneakers started smoking, he peeled out of here so fast.”

Felice pulled a gun from his back and pointed it in the direction the guy had gone in. He made a noise to go with it.

He wasn’t fucking around. I didn’t blame the guy for burning rubber to get out of here. If I wasn’t in love with Felice, I would have run too. To the world, I could see how scary he could be. Razor sharp meat hooks in a freezer, a bunch of guys hanging from them, slipped into my thoughts, and I shivered.

Maybe the delivery guy recognized his name. I’d learned it was synonymous with the Chicago Outfit.

I gasped when he pinned me against the wall. “I’ll give you that one Ms. Corvo slip-up. Next time, you’ll answer to me, Mrs. Maggio.”

“What will you do?” I forced myself to hold his stare. It was like challenging a wild animal.

He smiled, but it didn’t seem all that friendly. It was wicked. “Have a good day at work, honey,” he said, leaving me staring behind him.

His cologne lingered in the air. I was almost too desperate to soak it in. It was as hypnotizing as the man himself. The smell of him, the way he looked, the way he walked, the way he talked…my entire body yearned to follow him wherever he went.

Hayden walked in, oblivious. He had a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. “Roma! Or should I call you Mrs. Maggio?” He laughed. “It’s great to have you back.”

“Thank you for allowing me to take so much time off,” I said.

He glanced at my wedding ring and whistled underneath his breath. “Think nothing of it.” He scooped his package up and disappeared inside of his office.

It was a little strange he didn’t put up a fuss about the time. He wasn’t a tyrant, but he would have never held my job before, unless the circumstances were dire. Like when Lo and I had been attacked. He would have expected me to give him a heads up about a wedding, and especially about the time I took for our honeymoon.

“Either you’re constipated or thinking really hard,” Elsa said, setting her bag down. “Since you eat so many greens, I’m thinking the latter.”

We hugged, rocking back and forth, and then headed back to our desks.

“Hayden,” I said. “He didn’t have a problem with all the time I took.”

She grinned. “We were all Gucci here as Lo would say.”

I laughed. “As Lo would say.”

Elsa asked me about the grand opening for Lo’s Chicago salon. We talked about it for a while, then she updated me on everything going on with the museum. Kerry had four big events booked. We had a major donor contribution, and another one was interested. Elsa said Hayden was going to have lunch with the interested party.

Before the day got away from me, I marked a few things down in my calendar.

Lo’s Chicago opening was a huge deal for her. I was sure Babbo would have something at his place to celebrate, but I wanted to connect with my sisters. I’d run the idea of having a small party at our house by Felice that morning. He said it was my house, I did what I wanted, but he was fine with it. Elsa’s birthday was coming up, and Felice had said that Tommaso wanted to have a reception for us. I wasn’t totally comfortable with the idea, but saying no to him was even more uncomfortable.

After I was done, we discussed exhibits and finding a new cleaning company.

By the time lunch rolled around, I was ready to eat. “You want to grab lunch at The Herbivore? See if Kerry wants to go?” I asked Elsa as I dug around in my bag for my wallet. “My treat.”

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