30

MARGO

“Morning,” I said to Jumaine, when it was his turn to babysit me again. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I felt a little less comfortable around him than I had at first. He’d been the first of the three that I’d felt a connection to, back on that night when the three of them showed up, bloodied and injured, at Zoey’s house. Back when Piper had fixed them up.

But then he and I had gotten hot and heavy at Rocello’s house, and I’d cut things short. Did Jumaine resent that?

He might—especially if he had an idea of what Rocello and I had been up to recently.

I sighed as I poured myself some cereal. I still couldn’t get that encounter with Rocello out of my head. It had started off as two sad people comforting each other, and it had turned into something amazing. Every time I thought of it, it made my cheeks flush and my clit ache.

But Jumaine’s distant attitude was bringing me down. “How are things back in New York?” I asked.

He just grunted as he looked at his phone screen. Either he wasn’t a morning person, or he was pissed about something.

The image of the bar at the Rusty Bucket popped into mind. I missed the hustle and bustle there. I missed my customers. I’d called in to work and claimed I had a family emergency a few days ago. That was true—but the emergency was that I didn’t know who my family was. Or at least not my father.

“Thanks for enlightening me,” I said, but there wasn't any heat behind my voice. “How about the other project, the DNA. Has the university gotten the results yet?” He’d taken in a strand of my hair and a glass that Roscano—my possible half-brother—had drunk out of. I was a little unclear on how Rock and Slade had obtained it.

Jumaine set his phone down. “I was just checking, and no.”

Okay, maybe he wasn’t angry. That was good. “Did you eat already?” I wasn’t exactly a domestic goddess, but I could fix him some eggs.

“I’m good.”

Carrying my bowl, I sat down across the table from him. “So, after we get those results back, what will we do? If they’re a match I mean. Do we get them notarized or something?”

Jumaine stared at me, his eyebrow raised. “This is the underworld, not the DMV.”

“Well, I don’t know how it works,” I said defensively. “Even with a copy of the will, Roscano might dispute the legitimacy of it.”

Those mesmerizing blue eyes rolled. “You crack me up sometimes.” He wasn’t laughing when he said it, however. “Roscano is a cheap, mean motherfucker. He’s not going to dispute anything, because he’s got a faster way of dealing with this—putting a bullet in your head. We’ll try and take him out first, if we get the okay from the organization. If we don’t…?”

“Yeah?”

“Use your imagination.”

I knew I shouldn’t have been shocked or scared. And yet, at his last sentence, I was both. I wasn’t used to having my life threatened. I hadn’t adjusted to this new reality yet. I suspected it would take a while for me to do that. To make matters worse, I couldn’t forget who had put me in this situation. The woman I had looked up to my whole life. My mother.

Jumaine was staring out the window, presumably at the beautiful scenery, but when he glanced back at me, he scowled. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not.” Or at least not much.

“I’m not trying to be harsh, but well, this situation we’re in sucks. This isn’t a matter that can be resolved in a court of law. To be honest, it’s probably not going to end well—for any of us.”

His words, and the manner in which he delivered them, chilled me. “Then why bother? Why hide up here? Why not just go back to the city and take our changes?”

He stared at me. “Do you want a shorter life?”

“No.”

“Then we stay here.”

“Fine,” I said stiffly. “Good thing I have such pleasant company.”

Jumaine looked away, but not before I caught the corner of his mouth twitching upward. “Glad you think so,” he muttered under his breath.

After that, I did the dishes. Then I made the bed. I even cleaned the bathroom. After that, I was completely out of ideas. The guys wouldn’t even let me use my phone because they said someone might be able to track it. They got to use theirs, though, which was annoying. They told me theirs were different. Not sure if I believed that, though.

By midmorning, I was bored out of my mind. Jumaine had gone out to check the perimeter—which may or may not have been an excuse to get some fresh air. I decided to take advantage of his absence to try to remember some poses I’d learned in a yoga class at the community center ages ago.

Balancing on one foot on the shag rug in front of the sofa, I attempted one pose after another. None of them were super accurate, but the stretching felt good.

At least until Jumaine strode back into the cabin while I had my head down and my ass up in the air. Stupid downward facing dog. It was the only pose I was sure I’d gotten right.

Jumaine whistled. “And I thought the view was good out there.”

I scowled, dropping onto the carpet and crossing my legs. “Well, what else am I supposed to do?”

He sat down in an armchair across from me. “I’m sure as hell not going to stop you. Proceed.”

“Get your cheap thrills elsewhere, pal.”

“Those are in short supply lately.” He shook his head ruefully. “You’re really not going to continue?”

“Of course not.”

He cocked his head to the side. “How about if I make lunch?”

“Nope.”

“How about if I give you a million dollars?”

“Nope.” But then I thought of something. I’d spent so long worrying about if my supposed half-brother was going to kill me that I hadn’t spent much time considering the inheritance itself. It seemed like a real longshot that I’d end up with it, but it would be good to at least know about it. And it was a way to pass the time that didn’t involve mooning Jumaine. “Did Nick really inherit millions?”

Jumaine sighed, apparently accepting that no more yoga was going to happen. “Yeah. And not just that. He’s got a bunch of businesses, too.”

“Legal ones?”

“Both kinds.” His forehead wrinkled as he thought about it. “On the legal—ish—side are some spas, tanning salons, nail salons, and I think a hardware store or two.”

“And those could be… mine?”

“They would’ve had been already, if the will had been followed.”

“Weird.” It just didn’t add up. “Why would Emilio leave those to me when he never even wanted to know me?”

Jumaine’s expression darkened. “Well, he knew his son, so must’ve known he was an asshole.” He sighed. “I can’t tell you why he did the things he did, but I found him to be a fair man. A good man, even, which is rare in this business.”

I hugged my knees to my chest as I thought about it. “What if I just renounce my claim to all those things? Would Nick leave me alone?”

“No,” Jumaine said shortly. “He wants you out of his hair permanently.”

“Great.”

Jumaine was staring in my direction, but I didn’t think he was really seeing me. He seemed lost in thought. But then he abruptly met my eyes. “Want to make lunch together?”

“Sure.”

Twenty-four hours later, all three men were in the cabin, making it feel claustrophobic. Rocello had actually given me a kiss on the cheek when he arrived. It made me blush, since it was in front of the other two, but I liked it all the same.

Slade had handed me a shopping bag. Inside were two paperbacks, a handful of magazines, and a bar of chocolate. “Jumaine said you were going a bit stir-crazy,” he said with a wink.

They also brought lunch, some Chinese food they’d gotten along the way. For a while, all concerns left my mind as I enjoyed the tangy chicken and the delicious sticky rice.

Then Jumaine’s phone rang.

We all tensed up and stared at him while he answered.

“Yes, this is he.” His eyes settled on me, and I could guess who was calling. Tension filled me and I tapped my fingers nervously on the table.

All Jumaine was doing was nodding and saying “uh-huh,” and the anticipation was killing me. When Slade reached over and stilled my nervous fingers with his, I latched on, squeezing his hand nervously.

Finally, Jumaine hung up.

“Well?” Rocello demanded when I couldn’t find my voice.

Jumaine turned to me. “You and Nick share DNA. You’re half-siblings.”

My shoulders slumped as I continued to squeeze Slade’s hand. I’d been expecting this, but still… it was somehow still a shock.

“We knew this was the likely outcome,” Rocello said gently. “Roscano’s put the hit on you for a reason. You’re a threat to him.”

That was almost laughable. How could I be a threat to anyone? But it wasn’t really me, it was my existence. And my parentage.

“Guess it’s official,” Jumaine said. “We’re at war with the Roscano family.”

A tear slipped down my check. “Doesn’t this mean that I’m part of the Roscano family?”

Slade squeezed my hand once more before pulling his back. “Yes, but a far superior branch of it.”

“And that’s not what he meant,” Rocello said, jerking his head at Jumaine. “By family, he meant the entire organization.”

“Oh, is that all?” I gave a watery little laugh.

“It is daunting. But the next step is to pick up the documentation of the test and take it to Don Gambini,” Slade said.

“We will,” Rocello said.

As I looked from one man to another, I couldn’t hold back the tears.

“What is it?” Rocello asked gently.

“I can’t believe my mom kept this from me.”

“If you ask me, she wanted to protect you,” Rock said. “That name would have been a burden. Your mom probably wanted you to have a normal life. To be an average nobody. Roscano’s life ain’t what you’d call normal.”

“Rocello’s downplaying it,” Jumaine commented. “You don’t know what you’d be in for, if your name was ‘Roscano’ instead of ‘Owens.’ In fact, no one can, until they’ve seen it for themselves. I could tell you a thousand stories of people who wound up dead, because at some point, they screwed up. That’s how easy it is for someone to lose their life in the so-called family, Margo. One mistake is all it takes. So, yeah—I agree. Your mom probably saw what was going down in your dad’s life and decided to keep you out of the loop for your own good.”

“He wasn’t my dad,” I said swiftly. But then I thought of Seth. Seth hadn’t been my dad, either. “Excuse me. I need to be alone.”

The guys exchanged looks but didn’t say anything when I retreated to the back bedroom.

To cry.

Again.

That felt like all I’d been doing lately. Crying and sleeping. But then I remembered sleeping with Rocello—or not sleeping, actually—and those sexy memories made me feel a little better.

An hour later, when the knock at the door came, I hoped it was him, but it wasn’t. It was Jumaine.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

He ignored the chair with my clothes slung over it and strode right to the bed. I scooted back against the headboard, and he sat on the edge. “You okay?”

“Not really.”

“Fair enough,” he said. He had on a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The hairs on his forearm caught the light from the window. “It’s a lot to take in.” He sighed. “And I know I haven’t exactly been helping you through it.”

“I thought you were mad at me.”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been trying to keep you alive. We all have. It’s not an easy job, especially since we’re also trying to keep ourselves alive.”

“I realize that.”

“I don’t know that you do. You’ve been up here, completely isolated. And yes, bored as hell. But you haven’t seen all the precautions we’re taking. To make sure no one jumps us when we’re in the city. To make sure no one follows us back here. To make sure no one finds you. Organized crime is a huge business, Margo. Their reach is pretty much endless. They have money and power.”

“So you’re saying it’s hopeless?”

“Of course not. But… maybe instead of thinking of your mother lying to you, it would be easier to focus on that side of things.”

“The power?” I couldn’t imagine ever having that for myself.

“Yeah, and the money. There’s a lot you could do with that kind of money.”

“Like be a crime boss?”

He shrugged. “If you wanted to. It’s a seductive life—the life the three of us chose.” He paused, frowning. “Well, maybe we didn’t choose it, but we ended up here. But you could do good with that money.”

I frowned. “It’s dirty money.”

“Then do something clean with it. A girl I knew in foster care, she now runs a shelter for women on the run from domestic violence. They could always use a cash influx. Or you could fund a no-kill animal shelter. Or buy a hospital wing. Hell, you could go to law school. Become a lawyer, and rob from the rich to give to the poor.”

In spite of myself, I laughed. “That’s Robin Hood, not a lawyer.”

“Whatever.” He waved that away. “I don’t know why Emilio wanted you to have his money any more than I know why he never got to know you. But—if we make it out of this, there’ll be some perks down the road.”

Perks. I nearly snorted. Was that how he referred to millions of dollars? But he was trying to cheer me up, in his own way. His own way just seemed to be grumpier than it used to be.

I opened my mouth to thank him, but something entirely different came out. “When I said before that I thought you were mad at me, you didn’t deny it.”

He tilted his head to the side, studying me. “It’s been a busy time. Everyone’s under a lot of stress.”

“I get that. But you just did it again. You switched topics.”

He shook his head ruefully. “You remind me of a teacher I had in middle school. Mrs. Parker. She never let me get away with non-answers, either.” He looked away, exhaling loudly. “I may have been… a bit out of sorts.”

“A bit?” I scoffed.

“Maybe a little more than a bit.” His blue eyes locked in on my face. “I was jealous.”

That was the last thing I expected him to say. “Of the inheritance?”

“Of your relationship with my friends. You seem to be moving forward with Rock and Slade, but going nowhere with me.”

I stared at him, not sure what to say.

“You look like a deer caught in headlights,” he observed. “I’m not accusing you of anything—just stating facts.”

“It’s not a fact,” I said slowly. “It’s just how things worked out.”

“Things didn’t work out very well for us in Rock’s apartment,” he said.

“Because it was Rock’s apartment,” I emphasized. “This is all new to me. You think I regularly go around falling for three different men at once? It feels wrong but it also feels right, somehow. I don’t even understand it myself, but I know that it only can feel right if there are some boundaries. If no one gets hurt. And getting frisky in Rocello’s living room felt wrong.”

“Getting frisky?” he mocked, and I smiled a little. It was a rather prissy phrase. Then his expression turned serious. “Do you mean it?”

“About boundaries?”

“About falling for three men at once.”

I nodded. “I never expected to—but then again, a hell of a lot of unexpected things have been happening lately.”

“That’s for damn sure,” he said. “You’re sure you haven’t been trying to freeze me out?”

An impish thought took hold. “If you come closer, I’ll prove it to you.”

He grinned and immediately slid toward me, his knee lightly touching mine. “Can I kiss you, Margo?”

I leaned in close, my gaze on his full mouth. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“If you’ll climb in bed and fool around with me for a while afterwards.”

He flashed me a grin. “I thought you’d never ask.”