Page 83 of Ruthless Daddy
He said, very quietly, “I am so proud of you, Angela.”
I felt it in my bones, the weight of the words. Nobody had ever said it to me and meant it.
I stepped in, closed the space, and put my forehead to his chest. He held me, arms around my shoulders, chin resting on the top of my head. We stood that way for a long time.
When I stepped back, I said, “Make the call.”
He did.
He dialed. He spoke to Dante, Italian fast and low. He told him everything—the bakery, the men, the route, the safe house. He said my name, my real name, and didn’t apologize for it.
He hung up.
He said, “They’re ready for us. We go in one hour.”
I nodded.
He reached for my hand.
He said, “You’re not alone anymore.”
I squeezed his hand, hard, and believed him.
For the first time in two years, I let myself believe it.
We waited, together, for the next thing to come.
Chapter 15
Pietro
Thecarriagehouse.Coldbrick on either side of us. Salt grit on the cobbles. Angela’s boots scuffed once, twice, and I felt her hesitate at the gate without looking down at her.
I put my hand at the small of her back. Light, just enough.
“Baby, they’re not going to be happy,” I said.
“I know.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
She looked up at me. Her face was pale, the shadows under her eyes deeper than they’d been this morning. But her jaw was set in a way I had not seen before. “Yes I do.”
I knocked.
Tonio opened the door with a dish towel over one shoulder and a wooden spoon in his hand, mouth already open to make whatever joke he was going to make. He saw me. He saw Angela. His face did something quick — a stutter, the smile dropping a fraction before he caught it and pulled it back into place. Not fast enough for me to miss.
“Bella,” he said, and bent and folded Angela into a hug. He was good at it. He hugged like a man who meant it, both arms, full pressure, the kind of contact most people in our world had forgotten how to give. Angela went rigid for a beat and then, against her own training, softened into it.
Over the top of her head, Tonio looked at me. His eyes had gone hard.
“Pi,” he said, voice flat under the warmth of his arms. “What the fuck are you doing.”
“I’ll explain inside.”
“They’re all in there.”
“I know.”
