Page 72 of Off-Limits Protector Daddy

“They might be. You know that they would have heard that I was in that warehouse with you. They won’t like the idea of me being in danger.”

Tyson rolls his eyes and lets go of my hand. “I told you not to come with me. Like usual, you didn’t listen to me.”

I grin and get out of the car. A man with several laptops stacked high in his arms heads to one of the forensics vehicles.

“What are y’all doing here?” I approach my brothers and give them a smile. “I thought that they wouldn’t want you around in case you interfered with their investigation.”

“Well, it seems that they have nothing really concrete on us. We’re allowed here today to pack some things that they can’t prove were purchased with dirty money before moving on,” Matteo says, pulling me into a hug.

“Not mad at me anymore?” I hug him back tighter, tears welling in my eyes.

“I’m still pissed at you, but none of us are in jail right now. How are you doing, though? We heard that you were the one who shot him.”

“I’ve been better,” I say, pulling back from him to hug Gio and Damien. Salvatore keeps his distance, but he doesn’t try to kill me either. I’ll count that as a win. Maybe one day he and I will be close again.

I don’t think that day will be anytime soon.

“I don’t like you,” Gio says, looking over at Tyson. “I really don’t. You came into this family and lied to all of us and then you knocked up our little sister. However, you kept her safe when none of us could. For that, thank you.”

Tyson nods and crosses his arms over his chest. “I can’t say that I like any of you that much either, but we’ll have to learn to get along. I plan on marrying Aria and we are going to have a baby.”

Damien studies Tyson for a minute before nodding. “We’ll learn to get along. Aria, can I talk to you?”

“Okay.”

Damien leads me away from the house. He doesn’t stop until we’re away from the agents near the water fountain. As the water trickles, he looks around. Though a few agents are far away and watching us, none of them are coming over.

“We need to talk about what’s happening to the family business. While we’re under active investigation, I’ll be taking us deep underground. I was able to take a few choice assets and hide them before the raids began.”

I nod, knowing that the mafia I was raised in isn’t going to look the same. It’s a good thing. Damien is the kind of change the family business needs.

“Once the investigation dies down, I’ll begin slowly bringing us back to life. We’re going to sink more money into legitimate businesses while we’ve gone quiet. Do you want to be a part of that?”

“Anything legitimate that will stay legitimate,” I say, my hand resting on my stomach. “I’m not going to risk being taken away from my baby.”

He nods. “I’ll let the others know the arrangements that need to be made. We’re going to have a lot to do to bring about reform in the family. I’m going to be weeding out the ones who are likely to be coming after you. Then I’ll start on the members who no longer align with our values.”

“Are you sure that you want to do that? You know that there could be a lot of repercussions from cleaning up the family.”

Damien shrugs and tucks his hands into his pockets. “I know there will be. I’m going to feed you information on the ones that I can. Have them locked away. I’ve cut off communications with them already.”

“You’re moving fast.”

“I am. It’s going to take time to get everything sorted, but I don’t need problems standing in the way.”

I nod and sigh, looking over at Tyson and my other brothers. They aren’t talking to each other but they aren’t trying to hurt each other either.

“There’s one other thing.” Damien pulls a key out of his pocket and hands it to me. “I know that you guys have nowhere to go right now. This is one of my houses. Stay there until you get everything figured out.”

“When do you want the key back?”

He shrugs again, shifting his weight. “I don’t know. There isn’t any point in the near future other than Dad’s funeral that I can say I’m going to see you again. You can give it back to me then, if you’re done with it. Other than that, hold onto it until we see each other again.”

“I’m going to miss you while you’re gone.”

Damien smiles. “I know you are. I’ll miss you too. I love you, even if you are a pain in the ass, little sister.”

I laugh as I pull him into a tight hug. “You’re going to be a good leader. I’ll see you at the funeral.”

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