“You got a lot of nerve showing up here after we’ve asked you to stay away. She’s healing, and shit, I’m healing from your fuckup too. You put my kid sisters in danger, man.”
“I’ll apologize. We’ll get over it. I know it’s a lot, Dom.”
His jaw worked, and his fist closed and opened. I waited for a swing or a lunge, but he sighed and opened the door instead. “Mom, Dad. Dante’s here. Should we grill his ass some more?”
My friend crossed his arms and glared at me. Izzy and I had hidden a secret for a long time. We’d broken a lot of people’s trust.
Their dad ambled in, a big round teddy bear with his button-up flannels and worn jeans. He’d worked for a beer company most of his life and retired when the kids had all graduated. “Dante, she’s not going to want to see you. She doesn’t want to see anyone. She wants to sleep.” He rubbed his large belly, a normal gesture, though it was usually one he did with a smile.
Her mom, with her wavy dark hair, came in and wrung her hands in front of her maxi dress, just the way Lilah did. “I think she’s tired. Or I don’t know. We need her to stop all this nonsense of traveling the world after this. Can you believe she was even nursing away from home?”
“Oh, she was just bored, honey,” Mr. Hardy replied.
“She shouldn’t be bored. She should be going back to medical school, for God’s sake. And if she had been, she wouldn’t ever have had this happen.”
“Not true, Mom.” Izzy walked in and bit into an apple as she plopped down on their leather sofa by the TV. She clicked the remote and shrugged at me while she lifted a brow. “Dante and I sort of threw her into the mix.”
“That one’s on you, Izzy,” I grumbled, not really wanting to take all the responsibility.
“How chivalrous of you,” she shot back.
Dom didn’t find any of our jokes funny, though. He stared at us both like we were enemies, menaces, monsters. “Want to explain exactly what the hell you’re both doing for the government, anyway?”
“Confidential,” we both said in unison.
Or so we wanted it to be, until another knock landed on the door. Dom had left it open, so I could already see the visitor. When I turned, my eyes bugged out, and I almost shut the door in his face.
“Surprise.” Cade quirked his head and smiled a fucking shark smile at me. It was calculating and intended to cause havoc. “News from the underground. Seems like our job isn’t quite done. Iago’s boss is Albanian, and he just went missing. So he’s probably plotting against us, and that means we need to plot faster than him.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growled.
Izzy jumped up and told her parents that maybe they could go get us some lemonade while Dom stepped up to my side and said, “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Cade Armanelli, brother to Bastian Armanelli and cousin to Dante Armanelli, the man standing next to you.”
“What in the actual fuck, Cade?” I murmured.
Dom’s stare widened, his muscles bunched, and his head cranked slowly my way. “What did he just say?”
“Dom…” I started, “take a breath.”
“You better not feed me that bullshit, Dante. What did he just say?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was all going to come out anyway. “You heard what he said.”
Izzy and her mother were walking back in with a tray of drinks, and their father was just taking a seat in his recliner when Dom cranked his arm back and punched me square in the face.
I probably could have ducked, but I figured I deserved maybe one, two good ones.
“Dom!” Izzy dropped the tray. Her mom screamed, Mr. Hardy started to chuckle, and Cade laughed his ass off.
I rubbed my jaw and bent over. “Damn. Your right hook still don’t play. Dimitri didn’t even connect.”
“Dimitri swung at you?” Izzy asked, disbelief in her tone.
“I’m calling Dex and Declan. They’re going to hit your ass too,” Dom grumbled, turning to look for his phone.
I rubbed my jaw. “I’ll give you that one, Dom. No one else gets any more.”