Page 13 of Unbroken (Russo Mafia)

“You kinda do. I’m a lot to handle and I can’t bring home the chicks if you’re sitting on the couch all the time,” he said with a laugh.

I couldn’t help the snort that left me. “You wish old man. Come on, let’s make some supper. I feel like I’m always feeding you.”

“That’s because you are. Soon I’ll have to come to you for supper.” He rests his arm around my shoulder.

I smile at him. That will be nice. I hope I have more days like these with him. I try not to think too much into the future. I want him to be around for a long time.

“Oh, I start work soon.” I tell him as we walk into the kitchen.

“That’ll be nice. I hope you like it there. Want me to run their names through the database?”

I groan. “Dad, come on. I can handle it. I’m a grown woman and I don’t need you to always be dealing with my employers. Besides, my old boss spoke highly of them, so I don’t think they’ll turn into psycho killers overnight.”

“I can’t help it. You’ll always be my little girl and I’ll worry about you.” He walks to the fridge to grab food for supper.

“I know that. But come on. I’m twenty-six. I think it’s time for you to stop it.” I raise my eyebrows at him. “Don’t you think,” I say to him.

He shrugs. “Perhaps. You’ll never know if I do, anyway. Come on. I’m hungry, and I’m sure you have things to do tonight with Scarlett.”

“I’ve been trying. She’s been working up a storm. Maybe this weekend or something. I don’t know. Life’s been crazy.”

After supper, I head to my room. I sometimes wish Dad wasn’t so nice and demanded me to go into the family business. Not that becoming a detective is family business, but this way I could take his workload from him. Looking at him right now, I can tell he’s been working way too much while I was away. I should’ve moved back sooner. I put my own selfishness ahead of him. All because of one guy. I won’t even let Scar bring him up. I vetoed his name from every conversation, and I have a feeling now that I’m back she’ll be bringing him back up and I can’t afford to hear his name still. If I became a detective, I could’ve found out more about him and dug so deep into his family. That’s one reason I didn’t want too especially after he broke my heart. I didn’t want anything else to do with him. I moved forward with accounting. Not the most exciting job out there. It’s safe and rewarding, mostly.

I pull my phone out and hit Scar’s name. It rings until I get her voicemail.

“Hey it’s me. Call me when you can. I know you’re probably still at work. No rush I’m lying around. Love ya.” I hang up and lay on my bed.

Surprising as it is. Scarlett became a lawyer of all things. I find it funny when you think about how she chased Rett around and who he hangs around with. She still has no clue and I feel sorry for her. I’ve kept that secret all this time. I feel like the world’s worst friend.

I can only hope she finds out before I have to tell her.

I’m sitting in this meeting ready to pull my hair out. I should’ve cancelled it. If only I could. You try to keep the chief of police in your pocket this long without it causing no issues. It’s hard work. I feel like I’m always trying to keep him happy. He always wants something new almost every month and if I don’t deliver, he threatens me. Like he forgets who he is dealing with. I’ll have to remind him again, apparently.

“Listen here Chief. I don’t know if you forgot or not, but I’m in charge here.” I rise out of my seat and walk towards him. “You keep forgetting your place and I’m tired of reminding you. You do your job and I’ll do mine.”

He snorts. “Right, and like I keep telling you, kid. It’s my job as the chief of police to keep shit bags like you off the streets, so maybe do your job a little better and clean up after yourself. I already had to pin two murders on Seth’s gang, and we all know how he took that,” he said, his voice lowering to a whisper.

“I’ll handle Seth. He isn’t high on my list right now. I need you to keep your detective out of my way.”

“Detective Holmes? Don’t worry about him. He’s no longer a threat. He’s only working until his sick leave kicks in.”

Sick leave. The fuck, when did he become sick. If he’s sick that means she’s back. I don’t need this right now.

“Whatever. We have a deal or not?”

“Yeah, we do.” He gets up and straightens his jacket. “Make sure not to have any more accidents. I don’t think I can cover for you anymore.”

I roll my eyes at him. “For sure, bud, I’ll get right on that.” I extend my hand. He reaches for it. I tighten my hold and watch him wince in pain. “Remember who’s really in charge here for now on, or you’ll be the next body to be found.” I release his hand. He shakes it out.

He nods before leaving. I turn to Rett. “He better keep his word. I’m done with his shit.”

“I hear you. He’s beginning to be a real problem and eventually we’re going to have to deal with him. He’s lucky he was voted back in.”

“In a way, it’s a good thing, or we would have to break in a new chief and I’m not about that. Our life is about to get so much harder if Holmes is about to leave. He’s going to be so far up our asses now it’s not even funny. We have to watch what we do for now on.”

“Great, another thing to look forward to,” Rett deadpans.

I’d have to agree with him. I don’t like it either, but what other choice do we have. He’s going to be like a fly to shit now and digging into every single thing and most likely start trailing us again. We got lucky a few years ago and pushed everything off onto Seth. I don’t think we’ll get lucky a second time around. He’s going to be like a bloodhound and especially if this is going to be his last run at the mill, he’ll want something big before he goes out.

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