Marco was speaking to another man who looked hastily dressed. Ryker, she remembered, recognizing his tattoos. Two men from the Familia had arrived with him and were talking about how to dispose of the corpse quickly and efficiently while Marco spoke in a low voice with Ryker.
Ryker jerked his head toward her direction.
“What about her? She saw everything,” Ryker was saying.
She froze like a deer caught in the headlights. Why hadn’t she tried to slip away when she could?There’s no use, she thought. She was knee-deep in mafia business now.
Her father might’ve tried his best to hide what he did but she knew on some basic level how they operated. Lila had witnessed the head of the Familia commit murder. They weren’t going to just let her go.
“Lila’s with me. She’s not going to talk,” Marco answered for her.
That gave her some relief but now, Ryker and the other two Familia members’ gazes landed on her. She stared them down, not giving an inch. Finally, they went back to whatever they were doing.
Ryker shrugged. “I understand. Matthias would have wanted to question the shooter.”
Matthias? Marco’s brother was the Familia bogeyman. Someone who specialized in getting answers. No one had seen him in public for years and for a good reason. Her father told her a very bad man once tortured Matthias, disfigured him so badly that Matthias only kept to the shadows these days.
“I’ll deal with Matthias,” Marco said impatiently. “I’m taking her home. You’ll handle the police?”
“Leave them to me.” Ryker then walked up to her. She stood up. Marco looked pissed as hell. “Lila, you’ll really keep quiet about what you saw here?”
Marco scowled and looked ready to murder Ryker, but she knew Marco saw the other man like a brother. They were close, best friends even. Ryker was only concerned about Marco. That was all. The Familia protected each other. Always. That was what her father told her.
She needed to make a decision there and then. Marco claimed he intended to keep her, not discard her right away. She chose to believe him. Lila wasn’t picking a side. She already did that when she’d agreed to Marco’s proposal. To want him meant accepting who he was and what he did. Marco would never change. Unlike her father who chose to be in this life, Marco was born to it.
“Marco protected me from him,” she said, nodding to the corpse. “That’s all I need to know.”
Ryker gave her a small smile. “Good. That’s allIneed to know.”
“Was that necessary?” Marco asked Ryker coldly.
“Just making sure, that’s all.”
“I’m taking her home now,” Marco said.
He offered her his hand and she saw blood had dripped from his wound to his fingers. She grasped it. The road Marco walked would be steeped in blood, and she knew that from the start, but someone had to be by his side. To walk that path with him.
Being the head of the Familia took its toll on him. To stand at the top, Marco had to stand apart from the others. In his own way, he was lonely just like she was. He didn’t need to tell her all this. She knew some of it from her father because Marco was all her dad talked about during their conversations.
Marco led her to his car. The drive back was a silent one. When Marco told her she wasn’t a simple distraction, that made her incredibly happy. Deep in her romantic heart, she’d always known Marco was her guy. Despite the complications he came with, she still wanted to be with him, to get to know him on a deeper and more intimate level.
She’d known since she was fifteen. All the men who came after him had been nothing but disappointments. Even after her father took a bullet for Marco, a part of her still loved him, but the rest hated his guts.
Her father had devoted his entire life to Marco, to the Familia. That had been his choice. She couldn’t condemn her father for his actions when essentially, she was doing the same. She chose Marco, chose the Familia.
Lila changed her mind about going back to her apartment. She wouldn’t be able to sleep after what she saw tonight and the last thing she wanted to do was be alone.
“Do you have a first-aid kid back at your place?” she asked him, breaking the quiet.
“Sure I do.” He sounded surprised.
“Take me there. I’ll patch you up,” she said. An excuse, and they both knew it.
Marco didn’t argue. He turned the car around and drove. They arrived in a good neighborhood in the city. Not the best, but a decent one. She got out of the car and glanced at the apartment building he must be staying at.
“What happened to the big house on Burton Avenue?” she asked.
“Still there. Matthias and his Lara took up residence there. I wanted my own place. A big house is just a pain in the ass to maintain, especially when I live alone,” he said, ushering her inside the building.