Page 22 of Shades of Loyalty
“She’s my sister.”
OhGod.
She walks toward me to shake my hand. “My name is Victoria, but you can call me Vicky. Everyone does around here!” she laughs.
I nod at her words. “It’s nice to meet you. Really… Thank you for bringing her here safely,” I thank her.
Vicky smiles. “She’s a precious angel. I’d always do it again.”
“She is, indeed,” I agree. Daniel smiles at us softly as he watches us interact.
Something about him is different now. The way he looks at me, at his mom, his sister…
At my daughter.
It makes me want to soften around him, but I can’t. He’s a completely different person from who he was this morning, but…
This morning, he seemed like a cold killer to me. Even when I found out it wasn’t them who killed the man, it didn’t change much about my opinion.
They were involved in a murder, and frankly, that’s not something I want to be part of.
I prefer a quiet, calm life with my daughter. Alone, without any dangerous man.
Let’s just say life had different plans for me. And I despise life for being such an asshole. I overslept last week. Couldn’t it have been today, instead? I thought the butterfly effect was supposed to warn me.
Though, maybe I would’ve met Daniel last week already if I woke up on time. I sigh internally. Why the hell did I have to choose this route today? Why did Ieverchoose it? I’m such an idiot.
Daniel’s body language is completely different from this morning. He’s calm now, his shoulders relaxed, and he sure as hell doesn’t look around like he’d get killed any second—or like he’s about to kill someone.
It’s not just his body language that’s changing. He’s letting me know everything about how he feels toward me. The expression on his face as he looked into my eyes while I hugged Mary…
And for the first time today, I realize that there might be more to Daniel than I thought. There has to be more to him than just being a mafia boss. He’ssomuch more.
I can feel it deep inside of me.
Chapter Nine
Jennifer
“So…” he starts, “I’ll show you where you’ll stay for tonight.”
“For now,” I add, but he doesn’t seem amused by my words. It doesn’t surprise me, though. He wants us to stay.
Something which isn’t in my plans. It seriously throws me off guard.
He walks straight past me and Mary, heading in another direction this time. I have no idea how big this house is, but it’s big enough to have more than three families living here, including my daughter and me.
Mary stays quiet as we follow Daniel, her eyes wandering everywhere.
The house seems normal for the most part. I couldn’t even tell that there’s a mafia boss living here if I wouldn’thave known beforehand, but the decorations, the paintings on the walls, and the expensive furniture make it clear this house belongs to rich people. And, in fact, it does.
“I told Vicky to get you two some food. I’m sure our chef already prepared something,” he explains. “Also, in the future, we’ll all eat together in the dining hall. You know, breakfast, lunch, dinner… You can eat with us.”
I nod, although he can’t see it anyway. The dining hall is huge. In a normal family, I’d expect them to host family dinners.
I kind of doubttheywould do that, though.
Vicky and Daniel’s mom seemed nice, especially when talking to Mary. So I’m guessing the women in this house show their feelings.
