Page 15 of Bound By Her Mafia Bosses

“Whenever you three are ready to come back, you’ll be safe in Chicago again,” Gabe promised.

“What about Cola? Will he be free to leave the family? I know that they will hold on tightly to all of us, with Isabella’s death,” Lucky said. The Gallo family won’t want to lose any members now that there could possibly be a war with whoever killed their matriarch.

“I called in a favor down at the precinct and one of my buddies was actually able to get him out. He was on a job for the family, at a downtown bar. My friend arrested Cola, charging him with something bogus, and booked him. He was released the next day and I had him moved to a safehouse. I’ll keep him there until you guys get back and then, maybe you can talk some sense into him,” Gabe said.

“What do you mean by I need to talk some sense into him?” Lucky asked.

“Well, your brother seems to be stuck on the fact that the Gallos were trying to help him. He’s loyal to them and thinks that you abandoned him. I’m so sorry, man,” Gabe said. Lucky was afraid that something like that might happen. Cola would see him leaving town with Zan and Jules as an act of betrayal. The Gallo family would have used Lucky’s absence to really drive that lie home too. They’d fill Cola’s head with shit like Lucky abandoning him and that really pissed him off, but there was nothing that he could do about it. Gabe was right—when he got back home, he’d find a way to talk some sense into his little brother and if that didn’t work, he’d lock his ass up until the brainwashing from the Gallo family wore off.

“Thanks for the heads up, Gabe. I’ll work on my brother when I get back to town. I appreciate you getting him out of there though,” Lucky said.

“I have something else that I need to tell you,” Gabe almost whispered.

“There’s more?” Lucky grumbled. “Isn’t Isabella’s death and my brother being brainwashed enough?”

“Yeah, but I think that you’ll want to know this next part,” Gabe said. “I did a little bit of digging on Zan.”

“You fucking did what?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah, well, you two are involved with my sister and I wanted to make sure that she’s safe. It’s the former detective in me, I guess,” Gabe said.

“Or, it’s the overly protective big brother in you,” Lucky mumbled. “What did you find out?” He wasn’t sure that he wanted to know, but Gabe was right, it was important to keep Jules safe, even if that meant keeping her safe from Zan.

“Well, you know most of it,” Gabe said. “He works for my replacement—the new Commissioner.” That much Zan told them. “But he was a part of the Gallo family long before that.”

“He what?” Lucky growled.

“Yeah, he was initiated into the family when he was just a kid really—sixteen. He got out when he turned twenty and went into law enforcement. I hope that this isn’t a surprise to you, but I thought that you should know. Jules told me that Zan came clean and told you both about working for the Commissioner.”

“Yeah, he just never mentioned that he used to be a part of the Gallo family.” Lucky hated that Zan was keeping secrets from him and Jules. She wasn’t going to take the news well either.

“I’m going to stay out of it. Delivering the news was as far as I take this. But I expect you to find out why he has kept it a secret and keep my sister safe, Lucky,” Gabe ordered.

“You don’t ever have to ask me to do that, Gabe. I love Jules and she’ll always be safe with me. You have my word,” Lucky assured.

“Thanks for that, man,” Gabe said. “I have to run. The older kids have soccer practice this morning and I promised to grill tonight, so that means a stop at the grocery store that will eat up way too much of my time since I’ll have to drag them along with me.” Lucky chuckled at the thought of Gabe having to drag a few kids through the grocery store with him. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself, but the thought of him, Zan, and Jules having a bunch of kids crossed his mind. First, he was going to have to figure out why Zan was keeping a secret from him and Jules, then, he planned on getting them all home. It was time to put this nightmare behind them.

* * *

He walked back into the bedroom and found Zan and Jules cuddled up in the middle of the bed sleeping. Lucky hated to do it, but he was going to wake them up and get some answers. He was thinking about doing this without Jules in the room, but he also knew that keeping her out of the conversation would only serve to piss her off.

“Hey, wake up guys,” he said. “I’ve got news.” Jules stretched and gave him her sexy smile. He thought about forgetting what he needed to tell them and just stripping and climbing back into bed with her, but he needed to get this part over with.

“What news?” Zan asked. He rolled over and pulled Jules into his arms.

“You both might want to put on some clothes for this,” he said.

“You’re scaring me,” Jules breathed. She sat up from Zan and pulled on Lucky’s T-shirt. “What’s happened?”

“Isabella’s dead,” he said. He was going to start with some good news and work his way back to Zan keeping secrets from them. “She was killed in prison by a rival family.”

“I thought for sure that you were going to say that one of her asshole sons took her out,” Jules said. “Well, that’s good news.”

“It is,” Lucky agreed.

“So then, why do you sound like someone ran over your puppy?” Zan asked.

“Because there is more,” Lucky said.

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