Mafia love

“You bet, Amelia. Taylor. You know, I never thought that name suited you. I like Rossi.”

“Me too,” Max agreed.

“I can’t believe you guys came for me.”

“We will always be there for you. Always,” he promised. “I’m real sorry about everything. Including Jefferson and Holloway.”

Neither of us had mentioned them. It was too painful.

I shook my head again. “It’s fine. We have each other.”

“We do. We also have something to tell you.” Max smiled.

“What?”

“We did something really bad, so, whatever we’re saying now has to stay in this room.” Sinclaire looked around pretending to look shifty.

“Who’s here?” He lowered his voice.

“Gigi’s upstairs casting runes.” She was. My best friend was upstairs casting runes and spells. She’d a

“Okay, good, she needs to stay upstairs. This is top secret shit.”

Sinclaire nodded.

“Yes, we went rogue,” Max agreed.

I actually laughed. I couldn’t believe it. “What did you guys do?”

“Become mobsters.”

“Jesus Christ. Now’s not the time to joke around.”

“I’m not joking. Listen, we might have been able to get a reduction of Luc’s sentence.”

My mouth dropped, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “What? How?

Really?”

Sinclaire held up his hands. “Don’t get your hopes up too high. We don’t know if it pa

“Yeah, some pretty bad stuff.” Max smirked.

“What? What stuff? You have to tell me.”

“I’m afraid that’s as much as we can say. We found out some stuff and handed it to Claudius, and Roose will be issuing a statement on behalf of our police department, showing how Luc helped capture Demarco and dismantled that whole drug ring. It will help. There’s also the fact that he took down Victor, who is actually on the nation’s most wanted list. It’s all in his good books.”

“Oh my gosh.” My hands flew up to my cheeks. “You guys, I can’t believe you did all that for me.”

“Like we said, we’ll always be there for you.” Max stood, signaling that it was time to go. “I’m going to get our bags in the car. Gives you two a chance to talk without me.”

He looked from me to Sinclaire and smiled. I stood up and gave him a hug.

“I’ll call you when we land.”

“You better.” He left, and Sinclaire stood up. He brought his hands together and looked slightly nervous.

“I’ll miss you. I’ll miss you a lot.” He nodded.

“I’ll miss you too, Sinclaire.” I gazed openly at him, at the man whom I probably should have been with but wasn’t. There were so many good things about him, but I figured it out. More than the fact that I was in love with Luc and not him. I think it was because we were more than that.

“It was hard when I first went to LA. Hard lying to everyone I met.

Hard lying to you. I was someone else. I always thought I was closer to Max than you, but I was wrong. It was you. I hated lying. I’m sorry, and I’m sorry it didn’t work for us.” I felt I should explain that because it really affected him.

“Don’t be. Don’t be sorry. I acted like a real ass for a long time, but I was jealous. I came to the conclusion that I’d rather have you in my life as a friend than not have you at all.”

“I’d rather have you as a friend too, but please don’t think I never valued you, or didn’t care.”

“I never thought that, Amelia. Not once.” He brushed his finger lightly across my jaw. “So, what now? You aren’t a cop.”

“I’m not a cop.” I’d handed in my resignation a few days ago.

“You should have been a dancer. I always thought you moved like one.”

“People said I walked like a cop.”

“No, I saw beneath it all. I saw that there was more to you than what met the eye, but hey, I still get to find out. I’ll come back in a few weeks.”

“Really?” That surprised me.

“Yeah. I thought we could go see a basketball game or something.

That’s me being a friend.” His smile brightened.

“I know.”

“Come here.”

I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug, one that lingered.

Max came back in, and Sinclaire released me.

He planted a light kiss on my forehead and moved to join him.

“Catch you later, boss lady.”

I blew a kiss at them both.

I sat back down in the sofa and put my feet up. I just started to get comfortable when Gigi came in.

“Are the guys gone?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s just you and me, and I guess I’ll be here by my lonesome in this house when you leave next week.”

She shook her head. “No. Amelia, I didn’t want to tell you this, but days ago, when I cast my cards, I was told that great fortune awaited me in a distant land, and I would be needed to help a friend in need.”

“Okay, what does that mean? Clearly, I must be the friend in need, right? So, you can tick that box.”

“Well, this felt like something new on the horizon for both of us.

Anyway, we can work out how helpful I’ll be as the days go by. Until we know, I wanted to tell you that I’m not going back to LA.”

I straightened instantly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ve always lived together. Not that I’m saying we should live together forever, but I was thinking we could live here together. It would be cool, if you want to.” She gave me a tentative smile.

Excitement and hope bubbled within me at the prospect of her staying.

Of course I set out to do this all on my own but having her here would be the best ever. I thought maybe it would make it easier somehow. “Of course I want you to stay. I would love for you to, but what about the gallery and art? Your coven is in LA.”

“They’ll be fine with me leaving. We’re supposed to do good. Plus, I think I’m needed here. I checked out a few art galleries, and two have gotten back to me. It looks hopeful. So, I figured I could stay here. You know, until Luc gets back.”

“Three years and one month?” My voice shook as I spoke. I prayed whatever Sinclaire and Max had done helped in some way. I knew Luc was guilty, and it was wrong for me to wish he wasn’t in prison, but that didn’t stop me. So, I was going to be selfish and hope his sentence could be decreased.

“Three years and one month. We can see what happens.”

“Gigi, that would be amazing. Thank you so much. I really need you.”

“You are very welcome. Now, to find out what great fortune awaits.

Chicago is the distant land.”

“You know we’re kind of rich, right?”

“We?”

I nodded. “What’s mine’s yours.” Dad had left me all his possessions in Chicago and Italy. I didn’t want to even contemplate what all that meant and what it was worth. I knew it was billions. Billions aside from the business. The business he’d given to Luc, who’d given it to Claudius. That existed outside what I had, and outside of me. I didn’t have to do anything where it was concerned, and I didn’t have to think about it. “Plus, I’m still trying to make amends for what happened to you.”

“No, that isn’t something you have to make amends for. Not one bit.

Anyway, I’m over that and thrilled you want to share your wealth with me.