Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Sleep was impossible; I knew that after ten minutes, so I reached for my laptop, fired it up, and got back to work. A massive criminal empire didn’t run itself, and just because I wasn’t in California to keep an eye on things didn’t mean I could let shit slip.
That was how the enemies got in and took what was yours.
Not on my fucking watch.
I started with emails because those fucking things seemed to multiply faster than anything. There were the usual messages from vendors, professional acquaintances, people looking to get their booze inside my clubs and restaurants—all kinds of shit. But it was a message from an unknown sender with no subject line that got my attention.
It was sent a few minutes ago. In the middle of the night.
When I opened it, my blood ran cold. It was a photo, taken from a close distance. The subject was clearly smiling at the photographer, which only added another hundred degrees to my anger.
It wasn’t Matteo this time. It was my niece, Ella.
I picked up the phone and dialed Luca. “Yeah?”
“We need to pull Thorn in,” I said abruptly, talking about the hacker we often did business with. The dude was shady as fuck, but he was the best I’d worked with, and he was discreet. “I just sent you an email that I received a few minutes ago.” I waited, and when he let out a muttered curse, I knew he’d seen it.
“I’ll pull in Thorn right away. How are you guys holding up?”
My mind immediately went to Ren, and I smiled. “Not as terrible as I expected, but it’s hard being away from everything.” The truth was I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to leave Lucky—okay, to leave Ren—once it was safe to do so.
“How’s Serenity?” he asked, a teasing smile in his tone.
“Fuck off,” I replied, half-laughing as I ended the call.
Chapter 13
Serenity
Iwas still thinking about the kiss, which was annoying, inconvenient, and wildly inappropriate given the circumstances. He was my boss. My ex. The man who broke my heart and stole my belief in love. Romantic love, anyway.
Mattie sat across from me at the picnic table in the backyard with his book propped open, finger tracking the words as he read aloud. I nodded at all the right places, smiled when he paused for effect, and missed at least three full sentences because my mind insisted on replaying the exact moment Enzo’s mouth had pressed to mine.
Damn him.
“Ren,” Mattie sighed dramatically. “You’re daydreaming. Again.” His tone was slightly put out but his smile was absolutely contagious.
I blinked, guilt blooming instantly. I was here to keep an eye on Mattie. To keep his days normal and stable, not daydream about his off-limits father. “You caught me.”
He leaned back on the bench, hands folded on top of each other on the table like a tiny executive. “Is it because grown-ups get bored when kids read?”
I laughed. “No, it’s because grown-ups also forget how to focus sometimes.” I closed the book gently. “How about we take an outside break?”
His cheer was immediate and enthusiastic. “Yes!” He paused, brows dipped in confusion. “But we’re already outside.”
“We are, but now we’re going to take advantage of being outside by doing something to enjoy it.”
“But I’m already enjoying it,” he insisted.
“Okay,” I said, reaching for the book again. “Let’s just keep reading.”
“Wait!” His lips slowly curved into a grin. “Maybe we can enjoy some outside time.”
“Sounds good.” I stood, letting my gaze sweep over the greenery. “Let’s explore.”
Mattie took my hand and we wandered towards the edge of the property, where the trees grew thicker and the air felt distinctly cooler. Leaves crunched beneath us. Sunlight filtered through branches in uneven patches, dappling the ground like a moving mosaic. It was peaceful.
Mattie kicked at a pinecone. “Why do trees lose their leaves but not the needles?”
I explained photosynthesis in the simplest terms I could manage for a boy his age, grateful for the distraction. He nodded like this was vital information he’d been missing his whole life.
Then he glanced up at me with his brows crinkled. “What was my papa like when he was little, Ren?”
The question caught me off guard. I recovered quickly, too quickly, but I stumbled before I could catch myself. I smiled down at Mattie’s curious expression. “I didn’t know him when he was little like you. I knew him when we were both younger than we are today. We were in college.”
He thought about that for a second and nodded. “What was my papa like when you knew him?”
Smart. Funny as hell. Warm. Mine. I didn’t say any of that, of course. “He was charming,” I said instead. “He was incredibly smart and he liked to ask plenty of questions.”
That made the little boy grin. “Am I smart like him?”