I wince.
For decades, I’ve only ever wanted to prove myself to my brothers. To show them I ain’t just a manwhore or party animal, but am hardworking and dependable and deserve the rank granted to me. I don’t like the reputation I’ve earned. I crave their approval. When our father died and Romeo took the lead, I felt there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. And I’ve saved their asses more times than I can count. But now…
“Yeah, man. I just wanted a night off. I went dark because this girl… she was special.”
Romeo raises a brow. Now that’s a line I haven’t used before, because I’ve never believed it to be true.
“Right,” he says thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “And what happened?”
“She took off this morning. Before I woke up.”
His brows raise in surprise. “You missed her leaving the room?”
“Yeah.”
“Were you drinking or high or both?”
I look away. “Drinking. But she’s slick, man. The girl knew how to move quietly.”
“Slick,” Romeo repeats. “And what else did she do? Just leave?”
“Nah, man. Stole my wallet and phone.”
Romeo stares at me, unblinking. The only indication that he’s angry is a slight flushing of his cheeks and the way his steepled fingers come together as if folded in prayer, but his knuckles whiten.
“You won an illegal race against the governor’s son. Went dark. Took a girl to bed you didn’t know, who managed not only to escape without your notice, but lifted your wallet and phone, too?” He shakes his head. “Jesus, Mario, what the fuck am I going to do with you?”
Yeah, it sounds a lot worse when he says it all like that.
I don’t respond. I feel like a Class-A fuckup right about now, and I don’t wanna dig myself into a deeper hole. I swallow and shake my head. “Sorry, Rome. I really am.”
He nods. “I bet you are. But it was only a matter of time before your heedless behavior would come to something like this, wasn’t it?” Oof. Now that has Narcisso Rossi written all over it. Heedless behavior.
I blow out a breath, squirming under the uncomfortable scrutiny. “How can I make it up to you? I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
He strokes the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. “Did you exchange names?”
“No, but if she has my wallet she knows who I am now.”
“So it was a real I.D.”
“Yeah.” We rarely have need to carry fakes.
“We have to find out if that’s a problem,” he says softly. “Any indication that she could be a rival? Someone on the inside? Did she set you up?”
I shake my head. “Nah, man. No way.”
“When you lead with your fuckin’ dick, it’s easy to think that,” Orlando says. He ought to know. His wife Angelina hoodwinked him into thinking she was someone else altogether. By the time he found out, she was already pregnant with his child and bearing his ring and name. It all worked out, and they’re happily married with two kids of their own, but they had their fair share of challenges to overcome.
“Right.” I scrub a hand across my brow. But they didn’t see her last night. They didn’t hear the sincerity in her voice or see the way she submitted herself fully to me. They don’t know how good it felt to hold her, to make love to her, or how real it felt when she folded herself in my arms when we were drunk on sex and exhausted.
They didn’t see what I did—a woman plagued with her own demons who needed to escape them for a night as badly as I did.
“You know you deserve to be punished after something like this,” Romeo says. “For so many reasons.”
“Right. I know it, brother, and I’m sorry. I won’t fight anything you say, I promise.” Jesus. I’d stand with my hands behind my goddamn back at this point. Humility in the face of having royally fucked up can go a long way.
“I don’t see the purpose of it, though. The biggest problem right now is that there’s an anonymous chick out there who stole from you, who knows your identity, and that puts us all at risk. You get that?”
“I do.”
Romeo sits up straighter. “You find this woman. You show her what happens to people who steal from the Rossi family. You punish her, and you bring her back here, to me. Understood?”
He had me until he got to bring her back here to me.
“Back here?” I repeat, trying to understand.
He nods. “Let’s be honest. She was no anonymous chick, brother. I want to find out all I can from her myself.”
There’s no fucking way I’m bringing that woman here to be interrogated by my brothers. Seconds ago I told Romeo I’d do what he said without question, but now…
“Romeo.”
His brows raise, curious. “Yes?”