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“She has two of our guys with her everywhere she goes when she’s not with me. I told her I didn’t want her going anywhere without me, or out at all–”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Alec, man, you’re fucking crazy. That’s not going to work and you know it. Besides, you don’t want her escaping your penthouse prison and have her out on her own even more vulnerable than with guards, do you?”
“I know,” he growls, pushing his chair back and standing quickly. He walks over to his bar cart and pours himself two fingers of whiskey, knocking it back in one swig.
“Jesus, it’s 8am, Alec.”
“And? I have a lot on my mind. I already go crazy making sure Tessa is safe, now I’m going to have a goddamn baby to keep safe. An innocent baby. A fragile little thing that can be hurt by literally anything in this fucked-up world.”
“But you’re not going to let anything happen to it, are you? And you know I’ll protect the little nugget with my life. We all will. I’ll be the best fucking uncle. The favorite.” I grin. “As always.”
Alec scoffs. “Sure.”
“Do you know if it’s a boy or girl yet?”
“No, we’ll find out in a few months.”
“Imagine having a girl? A little Tessa? Man, you’ll be screwed.” I laugh, and Alec levels me with his best death glare, his fists clenched on top of his desk. “Okay.” I hold my hands up in defeat. “I won’t torture you anymore.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, seeing a text from Jimmy.
Jimmy: Finishing up at Manzato’s. She wanted me to tell you that you should have chosen an ugly sign so that she’d have been mad enough to come to you like you want.
“What the fuck are you smiling at?”
“Just a text from Jimmy.”
“He has you smiling like that? Do you have something to tell me?”
“He’s doing me a favor and just gave me an update.”
“What’s the favor?”
“Nothing,” I tell him, typing out a reply.
Me: Did she reply to my note?
Jimmy: Yeah, she did. I’m on my way back now.
Me: I’m in Alec’s office.
I slip my phone back in my pocket and look up to see Alec leaning back in his chair, looking smug.
“What?”
He shrugs and types something on his keyboard.
“Is there anything new we need to be concerned with?” I change the subject from not talking about Lexi to business.
“It hasn’t affected our business directly, but this month, there’s been a group of assholes running around our city robbing locals. They’ve hit three businesses already and we need to step in since the police haven’t caught them yet. Locals know to trust us, and if we can’t protect them, then we’ll be the assholes who let our community fall apart.”
“Are they the same ones who hit a deli a couple weekends ago?”
“Yeah, they did. How’d you know? I only had one of our guys brief me on it all this morning after a corner store was hit late last night. The same family has owned and operated it since the seventies.”
“I know the owner of Manzato’s.” I scratch my chin and pick up my coffee cup to take a drink before adding, “And his granddaughter.”
“And there it is,” he says, raising his eyes to the ceiling.
