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“How did you find me?” I wondered.
The De Sanctis men cleaned up around us. They seemed to be under instructions not to leave any survivors. That was a terrifying thought, and yet it wasn’t my choice or responsibility. It was my husband’s.
“I started with this, and it brought us pretty close.”
Renato reached into his pocket, rooting around until he found what he was looking for. Then he wrapped my Da’s rosary around my wrist. New tears filled my eyes.
“You put a tracker on my sister?” I wasn’t mad. Maybe I should have been, but I wasn’t. His high-handed, controlling tendencies had saved the day. We lived in his world now. New rules applied.
“Of course, I did. She’s family.”
I wet my lips and attempted my best pronunciation. “La famiglia prima di tutto?”
His smile was broad and real. “Brava,anima mia. Now, let me take you home.”
38
RENATO
Charlotte sat obediently on the seat in the bathroom where I’d left her a few minutes ago.
We were at home, having put down every single Castillo Cartel member, including their cowardly leader. Kirill Chernov had come through, with a helicopter, no less. I’d owe the bratva a favor down the line, but he was family of a sort. The Russians might be unpredictable psychopaths for the most part, but he was also family.La famiglia prima di tutto.
I’d taken Charlie and my men away before Kirill and his Russians had executed the survivors. I’d lost three men in the fight, and that weighed heavily on my conscience, as did the state of my wife. We’d stopped by the hospital on the way home, where she’d been checked for a concussion. She had bruised ribs, cuts, and contusions, but thankfully, not much more. The doctor had wanted to keep her in regardless, but Charlotte had insisted on going home. She wanted her own bathroom and bed, and I wasn’t going to argue with that. Not when she was so muted. A muted Charlie just wasn’t right.
My blood boiled to look at her. Her face was purple along one side with bruises, her lips cut and swollen, and she had one hell of a black eye. Her wrists bled, marked by handcuffs, and she was sore all over, like she’d been beaten. I hadn’t seen beneath her dirty clothes yet.
Just the fact that they’d treated her with so little respect, forcing her to sit in those dirty clothes, made me want to dig the fuckers up and dismember them all over again. Unfortunately, that was a pleasure you couldn’t repeat more than once.
I stepped into the bathroom. Charlotte jumped. More anger flooded through me. My wife was afraid in her own home, because of those men.
Because of Commissioner Reynolds. He’d get what was coming to him, and soon.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I told her briskly.
Her gaze skittered from mine.
“I can do it myself,” she murmured, embarrassment staining her cheeks.
“I know you can, but I want you to let me.” I crouched in front of her and put my hands on her knees. “I don’t want you to disappear on me or go where I can’t follow.”
She chewed her lip and then grimaced as she hit a cut with her teeth.
“Let me take care of you, Charlie.”
She swallowed hard. I could see how it cost her to be vulnerable like this, and then how bravely she faced it. No one was as brave as my wife.
She squared her shoulders. “Okay. Fine. If you insist.”
“I do.” I removed her socks first and then her T-shirt and bra.
Her side had bruising across the ribs, and she jerked when I lightly touched the purple skin there.
I moved to her jeans next. She made a muffled, embarrassed sound when I tugged off the dirty, dried-up denim. Once it was off, I dropped it straight in the trash can, along with her panties, and turned the shower on. The air filled with steam. Her hair was knotted with tangles. I picked up the brush beside the mirror and slowly ran it through.
Her eyes closed as I worked, the brush tugging her scalp, and she leaned back against me. Lucy had fallen asleep with Carmella sitting by her bed. Sleep would do the girl well. Shock comes slowly and then in waves. Charlie was still soldiering on. She didn’t know how to give up.
“Okay, in the shower with you.” I set the brush down and guided her into the hot, steaming glass stall.
