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“Good girl.” I kiss her cheek. “Keep being strong.”
Her lips tremble, and she nods slowly before throwing her arms around me. “Do you have to go?”
Holding her while also making sure not to touch her back, I sigh. “Yeah, sweetheart, I’m afraid I do. It’ll be best for both of us, I promise. Enzo is out of town for at least a few weeks after tonight.” I pull back, looking down at her, trying to convince myself just as much as I am her with the next words to leave my mouth. “You’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine.”
I reach into my pocket and pull out a chain with a small pendant on it before holding it out to her. I put it in the palm of her hand. “I’ve carried this with me for most of my life. It’s kept me safe. At least, I’ve always told myself that.” I kiss her forehead once more and swipe my thumb under her eye to brush a tear away. “Now, it’ll keep you safe.”
Before I change my mind, I quickly turn and walk toward the door. “Bye, Dove,” I say before pulling the door open, leaving Briar in the room alone, looking down at the necklace my father told me long ago was his family’s good-luck charm.
A necklace with a dove pendant.
Once I’m in the hallway, Rossi stands a few feet away. “I was just about to bust in there and beat your ass for taking so long,” he grumbles. “You gotta get the fuck out of here, man.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” I say, looking at the closed door, already wanting to be back on the other side of it with her. “She thinks Enzo’s planning to take her to Vittoria Island after she gets back from the wedding.” I narrow my eyes at him, knowing he’s going to think the same thing as me.
“She could lead us in,” he whispers as if thinking out loud.
“I don’t know.” I drag my hand down my face. “It’d be dangerous. And if she dies—”
“She won’t,” he says quickly. “Now, go. We’ll figure it out soon.”
Quickly heading down the hallway, I feel myself getting further and further away from her. It’s like losing myself all over again.
Being a sitting duck should scare her. Yet, somehow, I know if we asked her to do it, she’d say yes. She wouldn’t even flinch.
If it wasn’t for being thrown right into work for Beckett and staying busy with all that entails, I would have lost my mind days ago, thinking about Briar and what’s happening to her.
I’m such a fucking failure. The only woman I’ve given a shit about in six years, and she’s in another country, possibly getting hurt. Or fucking raped by her creep of a fiancé. And there isn’t a thing I can do. No matter what, I’m going to get someone hurt.
If I had stayed and drawn my gun and shot at him, I’d have had a dozen of his employees on me within seconds. There were only two people I could trust in that house, and I couldn’t put their lives at risk.
I returned to the United States four days ago, and in that time, I’ve waited by my phone for Rossi to give me an update on Dove. I know she’s been locked in her room, and I know there’s been a guard by her door and outside of her window twenty-four hours a day. The one thing that’s making me feel better is Rossi confirming that Enzo did leave the country. He simply said he was traveling for business for at least a few weeks and gave orders to make sure Briar was kept prisoner in her room.
In the days I’ve been back in the States, I’ve had to care for Poppy Wilson. The same Poppy who is Briar’s friend and who lost her brother. Apparently, she and Briar’s brother are together—or he wants to be. Or maybe it’s her who wants to be. Honestly, I don’t really fucking know. Either way, they are most definitely a couple. Or might as well be.
Poppy was attacked by some thugs who her brother had owed money to before he passed away. Walker—being the protective, good guy that he is—made a deal with good ol’ Uncle Boobies that if he paid me to watch over her when Walker was at hockey; put her up in a nice motel, where she could heal from her injuries from the attack; and helped him find the two men who had hurt her, he’d marry Romano’s daughter, Gia. Because apparently, Marco wasn’t all that pleased with just having Briar. And now, I’m pretty sure that arrangement might not happen at all. Though Rossi wasn’t sure what the hell Enzo planned to do with her.
Walker has no idea how I feel about his sister. Fuck, half the time, I don’t even know how I feel about her.
I guess that’s not really true. I know how I feel about her, but I’m fighting it because I know I can’t give her what she needs or deserves. I’m a fraction of the man I was nearly a decade ago when I gave myself to someone else. You can’t give what you don’t have.
With Walker in for the night to keep watch of Poppy, I decide to go ahead and call my mother. It’s been weeks, and I know she’s worried. I guess I’ve been putting it off because once she knows I’m back in the States, she’s going to want to see me. And until I finish this job with Poppy and somehow get back to Italy to save my Dove, I don’t have time for that.
Looking out my hotel window, I bring my phone to my ear.
My mother answers on the second ring. “Hi, baby!” And there’s no mistaking how excited she is from my call.
“Hey, Ma.” I grin. “How’s it going? Miss me?”
“Of course I do, asshole.” She sniffles. “It’s been over a month, Hudson. Over. A month!”
I press my shoulder against the window frame and watch as people come and go. “I know,” I say apologetically. “I’m sorry. Things have been … tricky.”
“That’s what you always say,” she gripes. “I’m ready for you to get out of whatever the hell it is you’re doing for work. Life’s about more than just working, you know.”
“Oh, yeah, says you,” I tease her.
My mom has owned a bakery since I was a kid. She does all the baking herself and works seven days a week.
