I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, we’re not dating.” I had a feeling she knew about my infatuation for him, though. “I don’t think he’d be interested in me.” The humiliating rejection from the first time we met reared its ugly head. And his interest in me now? I was there, so that made things convenient. I couldn’t read too much into anything. I wasn’t even in the same league as the guy, regardless of how much Justin swore I was.
“Think about it.” El brushed her unusual caramel-highlighted warm-brown hair over her shoulder. “If he wanted to screw with Allen, that’s one thing. And I get it because I’ve met the man. Can’t say I like him.”
“Nope. Not even a little,” Sofia chimed in.
“He could have dumped you at the hospital and wiped his hands of the mess,” El reasoned. “But he didn’t, which is typical of our guys.” She winked at Lil, who burst out laughing.
“There was some seriously hot chemistry between you two when you came into the house,” Sofia said through her chuckles.
“There was not.” I tossed a pillow at Sofia, who batted it away, completely unperturbed. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was lured into a heady sense of belonging from how they were joking with me and including me in the conversation. But these women were badasses and not to mess with.
“Stop overthinking, Hailey.” Sofia rolled her eyes. “I’ve known you for a while, and don’t think I didn’t notice the way you would drool over any tidbit of information about Trey.” She leaned forward and stage-whispered, “Don’t tell my other brothers, but he’s my favorite.”
El snorted. “I might tell Marco that.”
Sofia picked up the pillow and launched it at El faster than I could take my next breath. I waited for violence to erupt. I mean, I’d heard the stories about the gunfights and more that they were involved in. When all El did was snicker, I let the tension drain from between my shoulder blades.
Lil cleared her throat, and I turned in her direction. “In all seriousness, we need to help this situation along.”
A grin curved Sofia’s mouth in a manner that could only have been described as sinister. “Couldn’t agree more.”
“Wait a second.” I needed to stop whatever train they were riding. “There’s nothing to help along here. I’m staying at Trey’s place until we can get the ransom from Allen. I’m sure he’ll kick me out as soon as the money is delivered.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the speculative gleam in Sofia’s eyes. I’d never been lucky in love and didn’t want to read more into anything than was there. Trey and I had shared a kiss that probably meant way more to me than it did him. Besides, Trey falling for me could never work—he’d already shown me that I wasn’t anything special.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TREY
Iignored everyone but Nico. “Check the security camera at the boutique.” I restlessly tapped my foot. I thought I heard a smothered laugh from Enzo and sent him a death glare.
Enzo held up his hands. “Done. Swear it. But you’re both fine, and if the bullet was way off target, it’s hardly a threat. An enemy to be concerned about would not have missed.”
“I understand that, but—”
“I’ve got something,” Nico interrupted then swiveled the laptop so we could all see the screen, split into two images. “This angle here”—he pointed to the left—“is from the shop. We can only see a blurry image and not enough of his face to get a good visual. But we can from the restaurant across the street.”
I grinned. “Guido Amato.” After our run-in with the Amato underboss, I would have recognized his beady eyes and receding chin anywhere.
Max smacked me on the shoulder, and I shared a dark grin with him. “This should be fun.”
The desk chair squeaked as Marco leaned back. “He’s a glutton for punishment. I’m not even sure he’s worth the effort of grabbing him.”
“Luc would think otherwise—”
“It’s a war we’ll have to engage in if we kill him,” Marco interrupted Max. “Guido’s a tool. And before we do anything definitive, we should alert the New York families.”
It was my fault that Guido was after me in particular. I’d told Luc where to aim to render Guido’s hands incapable of accurately shooting a gun. At least until he had several surgeries, and even then, he might not recover the full range of his fine motor skills. It was a fitting punishment and one we’d delivered. It also saved his father from having to mete out his own reprimand. “Wonder if the Amato boss knows his son is here?”
“Doubtful,” Stefano said. “I’ll reach out to Leo Amato and, as a courtesy, to Dante Verretti.”
We had an open line of communication and a level of respect with the Verretti crime family. The other two families that ruled there, Amato and Tucci, were irrelevant. They were so low on the Italian-American Mafia syndicate’s radar that they were laughable, something that disturbed the two families enough to do foolish things, like taking a potshot at Hailey and me. I wasn’t sure I could let go that her life had been threatened. But I would wait to see what Stefano discovered after speaking with two of the bosses in New York.
“What are you doing about Hailey?” Stefano leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.
He was our capo, and I had to answer a direct question whether I wanted to or not. “For now, I’m keeping her.” I clenched my teeth. The thought of her leaving my place didn’t sit right. “There’s something strange going on between Allen and Hailey, and I’m not sure it’s only on her end. It’s better she stays with me until I figure it out.”
“At least we know that Guido isn’t in Italy and after Luc and Summer.” Enzo moved to the other side of the office.