20
Angelo
Anger rushed through me as I felt the sting of accusation again, but I exhaled, letting it go. Cameron had chosen to stay with me, and I had a chance to make him understand. “It’s not that simple. There are people who depend on us. If we just stopped everything we do, the people who do business with us would come for us. Assuming we survived that, the people who depend on us and the businesses we support would suffer. While we are more than willing to hurt our enemies, we also help people.”
“Like Elena?”
“Yes.”
“Like my father thought he was helping me by ignoring me all these years?”
“Your father made some terrible choices, and I can’t respect a man who treats his family the way he did, but you’re right that he had both bad and good in him. We all do.”
“Maybe I was better off not knowing any of what was in that letter.”
I encouraged Cameron to lie against my shoulder and kissed the top of his head. “I get that. Sometimes it’s better to just believe things are the way you want them to be.”
“Is there something I can do to help you track Sergio down?”
I tilted Cameron’s chin up so he was looking at me. “You really want to help?”
He held my gaze as he nodded. “The man wants to hurt you, your family, and an innocent woman who’s already suffered too much.”
Lucien wouldn’t like me letting Cameron help, but I had an idea for something he could do that wouldn’t put him in danger or in contact with anyone outside the family. “Are you still as good at puzzles as you were in high school?” Junior year, our math teacher had started every class with a logic puzzle, and inevitably, Cameron had solved it before most people even finished reading it.
Cameron frowned. “I guess. Why?”
“Sergio’s minions have left notes at every business they’ve attacked. The notes include a sentence that’s meaningless to us. He’s either a really fucking bad poet, or he’s leaving us clues to find him. I thought you might be able to find a pattern or something.”
“I’d love to try.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” He smiled at me, and my heart hammered against my ribs. I was more afraid of what I was feeling for Cameron than I’d been of anything in a long time. Caring for him could make me weak, and it could put him in danger. Someone could go after him to get to me the way the Riccis had tried to take Peter. I’d sworn to Devil that I didn’t feel that way about Cameron, but sitting here on the porch of a house I’d played in so many times as a kid, with Cameron next to me, felt right and natural. I was in deep shit.
As the sun set, I held Cameron, and we listened to the waves in silence. We’d crossed a line tonight. There was no going back. Cameron was mine. I would deal with the fallout from that any way I had to.
My phone rang as I drove Cameron back to the bakery. I glanced down and saw it was Devil. He’d known where I was going, and he wouldn’t call unless he really needed me. “What’s up?”
“There’s been a fire at the sandwich shop a few doors down from the bakery.”
“Fuck. Mo Santino’s place, right?”
“Yeah. That’s the one.”
“Is he all right? Was anybody in there?”
“No one was hurt, but the kitchen’s damaged. It will be a while before he can open again, but there’s more.”
I tensed. Devil’s tone let me know I wasn’t going to like it. “What is it?”
“The same thing almost happened to Art’s Bakery, but Ralph took down the men who showed up. They’re incapacitated at the moment, but he made sure they’d be able to talk later.”
They’d be having a very unpleasant conversation with me. No one threatened Cameron without paying for it. “They’re mine.”
“I thought you might say that.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“At the bakery.”
“Stay there. We’ll be there in five.”
“So I get to meet your new man?”
I glanced over at Cameron. How ridiculous was it that I wanted to keep him to myself? “You’ve met him, remember?”
“I want to meet him all grown up.”
“Watch yourself.” When I ended the call, I looked at Cameron again. He was giving me a wary look.
“What’s going on?”
“That was Devil. Remember how I told you there had been attacks on some businesses that work with us?”
“Ones that pay you for protection?”
“Yeah, you could call it that. Someone set fire to Mo Santino’s sandwich shop.”
“Oh, fuck. Is everyone all right?”
He sounded horrified. “Yes, but—”
“Wait. Mo works for you too?”
I didn’t want to have to explain that now. “He does.”
“Is everyone around me part of a criminal network? How did I not know?”
“Not everyone. But Cameron, I need you to listen to me.” I braced myself. I didn’t want to have to tell him the rest. “They tried to go for the bakery, but Ralph stopped them.”