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“He was born into this life. His folks were part of La Luna Noir.”
“Huh? He worked at the club?” He plucked a tissue from the box and wiped his red-rimmed eyes.
Big mistake, my wolf piped up.
Shush!
The club existed back in the day but looked nothing like it did now. But I was talking about the pack, the one my grandfather created and named after he was thrown out of his birth pack. He’d disrespected the Alpha and was lucky to survive with a scar raking along one side of his body. But he’d never seen his parents again.
“Maybe. I’m not sure about that. But he wasn’t a stranger to the mafia. Both his fathers worked for my grandfather.”
Tony wiped a hand over his face, and my heart softened. I’d dealt him a severe blow. The father he never knew, who had been held up as an honest man, one who would have loved and provided for his family, was a member of the mafia. I didn’t see the contradiction. I was honest to a fault, at least from my perspective.
“I… I see.” He dabbed his eyes again.
“I’m sorry it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.”
He pressed his lips together before fiddling with a thread on the robe. “But that doesn’t answer how he died.”
“As I mentioned, I don’t have all the details.” I may never, but I’d sent word to Emilio to investigate. Our family had an aversion to keeping records, saving only what was necessary. I’d have to rely on people’s memory.
But I had to get to the office, the one in the gleaming office building in the city center that I’d had built, an ode to our pack’s success with me at the head.
“You have food for today. I’ll bring more this evening.”
I got up awkwardly. Leaving a guy you’d kidnapped when he’d learned bad news about his father screamed cruel. But focusing on work pushed the decision about his fate further away.
“Don’t leave me, please.”
I could stay a while. “Do you like coffee?”
He studied me from behind his long dark lashes dotted with teardrops. “Are you asking me on a date?”
And he had to go and ruin the moment with snark. “I was being kind.”
I flounced to the coffee maker and grabbed two mugs, not speaking, only fuming, until I had two steaming cups. Too bad if he wanted sugar, I was in no mood to act as a good host, though maybe sugar might have sweetened him up. I tried to imagine being mated to Tony. It’d be like living with a prickly pear.
I shoved the mug at him, and the seconds ticked by before he took it, mumbling a thank-you. He took a sip and made the ahhh sound people did when they got their first coffee in the morning. It was an “all’s right with the world” sigh, except nothing was right in Tony’s life, nor mine.
“Is it weird that you have a huge house, grounds, and probably a large-ass pool, but we’re sitting in the basement?”
I studied my manicured nails, not wanting to admit I slept down here most nights and ate breakfast and often dinner in the apartment.
“You’re wrong.” I drank a mouthful of coffee. “It’s only a medium-ass-sized pool.”
His eyes crinkled, and he put two fingers to his lips. He snorted, the coffee jiggling in the cup. “You’re funny.”
No one had ever called me that. I was the serious one, the responsible son who had taken over the pack before I was ready. I wasn’t funny. Ever!
“You didn’t think so last night.”
He stiffened. “Well, sorry for not laughing as I was kicked, slammed into a wall, thrown on the floor, and kidnapped.”
I gripped the cup. “When I mentioned licorice.”
“Huh?” He frowned and took another sip. “You inserted yourself when I was talking about being scared. Dark places. Ithought you…” His voice trailed away, and his gaze dropped to his coffee.
“Sorry. I thought we were telling each other interesting things about ourselves.” Saying it out loud sounded pretty silly. No wonder he was pissed.
