Page 48 of His Broken Queen

“Joey and Salvi are coming with us,” Gio said. “Sam and Jag will stay with Lu.”

“Don’t leave the property,” I said to Luciana. “If you want to walk on the beach take Sam with you.”

“I have school work to do,” she said. “I’ll probably just hang out on the patio.”

“Your new favorite place.” I stepped outside, but she didn’t follow. “We’ll be home later.”

When I turned to shut the door, the look in her eyes was enough to make me fall to my knees. The hurt etched in her expression would haunt me for the rest of the day, but I wasn’t ready to forget about our previous conversation.

“I see you and Lu are getting along.” Gio opened the car door and climbed into the backseat. “What did you do to her?”

“Fuck off.” I got in and slammed the door. “Why is it that I had to have done something?”

“Because you have a temper.” He shrugged. “Usually you’re all over her, but you didn’t even kiss her goodbye. You probably hurt her feelings.”

“We had a stupid argument and it escalated. She never came to bed last night.”

“So, then the argument was your fault.”

“I don’t think it was.” I rested my head against the seat. “Maybe it was.”

“What happened?”

“The topic of having kids came up.”

“Lu wants to have a baby?”

“Not exactly.” I glanced at my phone, hoping she would give in and text me. “She doesn’t think now is the right time.”

“And you disagree?”

“No.”

“Why are you mad?”

“She’s right, the timing for us to have a baby is off, but she doesn’t think I can keep her safe, and that pisses me off. If I can’t keep her safe, how can I keep a kid safe?”

“She’s upset about Stella,” Gio said. “You have to give her time to mourn.”

“I know, but she’s not wrong. It’s just that when she said it out loud, it bothered me. I said some things that I shouldn’t have.”

“I’m shocked.” He rolled his eyes.

“Shut up.”

“When you and Lu are ready to start a family, you’ll do everything in your power to protect her and your children. What happened with Stella was awful, but that’s not how our business works. Whoever is responsible for doing such a horrible thing, well, it feels really personal to me.”

“You don’t think it has to do with our line of work?”

“I’m sure it does, but I’ve been thinking about it and checking some things out. The cartel has stopped all of us from moving products in and out of the city. We’re all at a stand-still because we know if we cross them, they hit back harder.”

“There would have been no reason to come at us, unless they were being proactive. Maybe Stella’s death was a warning.”

“Perhaps, but why go after her? Why take a shot at us and miss? It seems a little sloppy.”

“I wondered how we escaped the bullets that day too. They had a clear shot at me but hit me in the shoulder.” If whoever targeted me wanted me dead, I would be dead. “How are things at home?”

“Everyone is still laying low.” Gio took out a pack of gum and offered me a stick.

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