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I peek at him. “So fast?” I expected him to take at least two days to get me what I wanted since I asked last night after putting Jinx to bed.
“When the mayor calls the Chief of Police, you better believe he’ll come through after hours for me.” He elbows me in the rib. “He’s in my office, but he’s not too happy to be here.”
“I bet.” I nod toward the scene before us. “Did you ever think we would ever have this?”
Valentino grunts. “You probably didn’t because you never had a reason to fight for the future happiness of your family. Sloane and Tácito were always my end goal.” He glances at Zakiya who sits on a chair close to the house trying to blend into the background. “You seem to have found more than one reason to fight, too.”
“I don’t know if the two are the same or how long it will last, but if I get my way, yeah. And right now, she’s the one I have to fight before I can see where this thing will go.”
Valentino smiles. “I don’t envy you. My principessa has a hard head and made nothing easy.”
“Keep my angioletto occupied. I’m about to battle on two fronts.” I leave my brother to approach Zakiya. “Follow me. I have someone you need to meet.”
She frowns, full of suspicion, but she accompanies me inside Valentino’s office.
As soon as I open the door, Aurelio swings around, his face a mask of fury. “Sansone, I can’t believe you pulled this bullshit on me.”
“Hear me out.” I raise my hands before pulling Zakiya further into the room.
He frowns and leans against my brother’s desk.
“Meet the woman you’ll be guarding.”
“What?” Zakiya spins around and pins me with a heated glare.
“She’s my daughter’s nanny, and possibly my future wife.” The last words slip out without forethought, but I don’t panic. Maybe my lack of alarm should be a reason to lose my shit, but in the split second since my declaration, I’m already fully invested in making it a reality.
“What?” Aurelio slips but corrects himself
“Oh, hell nah!” Zakiya tries to walk out, but I grab her hand. “This isn’t funny.” She tries to pull away, but I swing her into my side and pin her arms at her sides.
“I agree. My daughter?—”
“I protect her.” Zakiya struggles against me, her eyes glistening as if she’s about to cry. She fights me with the desperation of someone about to lose the most important person in their life. “Jinx needsme. You don’t need anyone else. And if this is your way of firing me, to take her away from me, it won’t work. I already told you?—”
“I can’t fire you. I’m aware.” I pinch her chin and look down into her glimmering brown orbs until her eyes focus on me. “My daughter has you and me, but who do you have? This is my way of keeping you safe and under the protection of someone I trust implicitly.”
She abruptly stops fighting as my words sink in. Zakiya searches my face, her brow furrowed with confusion and a hint of suspicion. Whatever she sees doesn’t seem to appease her, but she calms and pulls her face out of my hold.
“Shit, Sansone. I’ve been keeping our connection on the low. Why would you out our association like this?” Aurelio reminds me we’re not alone in the room with his demand.
I turn to him while keeping Zakiya pressed to my body. “I didn’t. I made sure to keep my hands clean so the call came from the mayor’s office. And I only need you around when I can’t be.”
“But you have an army at your beck and call. Why me?” Aurelio folds his arms, though he isn’t as angry as before.
“Because I have few people on my list I trust as much as my brother, and you’re the only one available.”
“Fucking hell, man.” He lapses into a tense silence while studying me and Zakiya.
She raises her head with a glare that would make a lesser man cower. Aurelio isn’t a lesser man.
“Are you sure you can trust me?” His eyes make a slow tour of Zakiya’s body from head to feet.
“One, I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work. Two, I’m not my brother, and I don’t fucking share. And three.” I squeeze Zakiya’s waist. “Although we share excellent tastes in women, we’ve been there and done that.”
“You’re going to owe me big for this.” He loosens his stance and approaches us.
Zakiya, who hasn’t stopped glaring at him since I announced his new role in her life, says, “I do not accept your interference in my life.”
