Page 24 of Honor and Claim (A New Reign #2)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Z

C osima disappears through War’s office doorway with Dario. He asked her to go have breakfast with him. Dario wants to smooth things over with her. He has always doubted her; hell, most of the family has.

As pissed as I am about the promise he made to the Amato family, I get it. I’d sell my soul to save Cosima. On that, Dario and I relate.

I did take note that there wasn’t a ton of pushback when all of the details about Cosima were fleshed out to her father. It’s almost as if he knew it was coming.

“Z?” War asks.

“I’m not going off half-cocked.” As long as my wife is tucked away safely, then I can bide a bit of time, not much. I don’t like not knowing what the Amatos are up to. That’s the only way to ensure Cosima remains out of harm's way.

She can’t stay locked up here forever. It would drive her crazy, and she’s pregnant. Sure, I could likely pay to have everything she needed brought right here, but that’s not the point. No one gets to make Cosima a prisoner.

I smirk hearing her voice in my head: No, only you could make me a prisoner . She’d roll her eyes but hide a smirk of her own.

“Should I believe you?” War pushes back, worried I might have my own agenda.

“Nope.” Ronan pops the P loudly, still fiddling with that damn phone, which now has my attention. “He’ll go off full-cocked.” He glances up at me. “Right?”

“Right,” I agree.

I don’t want to make a lot of waves if it’s not needed. Besides, Dario did have a really fucking good point when he said people wouldn’t be too happy if they knew all that I could do.

“How much history do you know about the Amato family as it connects to your father?” I ask, standing.

“They have been close but not too close. I don’t think he’s ever seen them as a threat.” War answers.

“Could he have blinders on because of them helping find Rochelle?”

“It’s a possibility.” War nods, thinking it over more himself.

“The Amato family has been stagnant for a lot of years. If they married in…” Ronan lets out a low whistle. His mind having gone where mine had.

“They’re playing the long game,” I add, making War’s brows furrow together.

“Now tell me how close the Amato family was to the Lombardi family.” I already have a few theories in mind, but I need some back information to see if I’m heading down the right path.

If I’m going to try to limit the amount of digging I do, then any known details are key to doing that.

“I honestly don’t know. I don’t give them any thought because that family is no more.” The Lombardi name as a whole might as well be dead. Anyone that’s left is scattered.

“And no one wondered how Tullio just happened to know who took Rochelle?” That was my first thought, and I can’t see Dario not having circled back to that when all the dust settled and he had his wife safely back home.

“There was no gain for the Amato family when the Lombardi family was washed out.”

“Except there was.” I walk toward War’s desk. “Tullio got a debt and favor with Dario.”

“Bingo,” Ronan adds before looking down at his phone again.

“Start looking into Sal sooner rather than later. If they are playing some sort of long game, then we need to know what their end goal is. Marrying Cosima was to get their foot in the door, it seems.” I let out a growl at the mere mention.

“If they realize that Cosima is no longer an option, they might make another move.” War wants to make sure we are ready for whatever the Amato family has planned.

I can’t see Sal giving up on Cosima. That doesn’t compute for me, but I might be biased.

“Desperate people do desperate things,” Ronan mutters. I fight the urge not to grab his phone and check it. What the hell is he so engrossed in?

“We do this together,” War makes sure to remind me. I nod in agreement. “All right then, I’m going to take my wife breakfast in bed and hope she keeps it down.” We still haven’t told anyone about Cosima being pregnant.

War exits his office, leaving Ronan and me alone. I knock his damn feet off the table he put them on.

“We need to talk.” Ronan grunts a response. “Let me see your phone for a minute.” Finally he glances up.

“No.”

“No?” I didn’t expect that. It’s not abnormal for me to do checks on our phones.

“No.”

“You already know what you’re going to find.” Ronan shrugs.

People often sell Ronan short. He’s not thick in the head; he just doesn’t speak unless he feels the need. When you’re the one talking and dominating the room, or so you think, the quiet ones are more often the ones with more control.

You don’t know shit about them because they haven’t fucking said anything. All the while you’re running your mouth, giving many things away.

“Don’t underestimate that girl.” One thing Ronan isn’t is tech-savvy.

“Never have.” A wisp of a smile hits his mouth. I watch him. Can Ronan handle Marks?

Marks has a handler, one with the arm of the government behind them, and he can’t keep tabs on her for the most part.

Despite this, Ronan possesses a skill for locating individuals without relying heavily on technology.

He takes everything with a hands-on approach.

Ronan is all brute force, which also shouldn't be underestimated.

"All right." I sigh knowing nothing I can say will change his mind.

It's already strange for him to be okay with the possibility of someone spying on him. Right now, he appears to be enjoying it. In my life, I have never seen the man use his phone as much as he does now. In the past, he wouldn’t take it with him or he would leave it in the car.

All of that changed since Marks came into the picture.

"Welp, if you need me to"—I nod toward his phone—"I can clean it."

"Don't touch my phone." He gets defensive, standing up. I hold my hands up, letting him know I’m backing off.

"All right, but I warned her."

"You what?" He cocks his head, sliding his phone into his back pocket. Let's just say he doesn’t look happy. “Warned her about what?"

"That if she crosses a line, then I'll have to cross one back." Ronan takes a step toward me.

"The fuck does that mean?" There is no missing the hint of aggression in his tone.

"Honestly," I bark a laugh, "I don't know now. I was going to expose her to you and then likely send you after her.”

"You better not be fucking tracking her," he warns.

Damn, this is all kinds of interesting. I’ve never seen Ronan get this way about anyone besides his family.

"I'll remember that when you ask me to do that one day." I expect him to relent, thinking he might need me to ask that of me in the future.

"I know how to get the little fox to come out to play."

"If you say so." I chuckle. "I've got shit of my own to start tracking down."

Sal and the Amato family are on the top of my list right now. They are the only thing standing between my wife and me fully starting our lives together.

We've been waiting long enough to do just that already. As I said, Sal is a dead man walking.

I could give a shit if he's been up to something. He sealed his fate last night. All I have to do is to make it as clean as possible.

But only because my wife asked.