Page 54 of Kidnapped By the Boss
“Sounds like it to me,” I said.
We got a table and sat down at the table and placed our orders, and Mitzy immediately started to coo and play with Sascha. He was a dad himself, though his youngest was a preteen now, and he was great with kids. “This baby is so cute,” he said to me. “Looks like Vince.”
“Oh I know,” I said. “Vincent says that he thinks he looks like me, and I do see my family’s genes in there, but I see more of my brother than myself. But you look at him fast and it’s like you’re looking at a baby Vince.”
“Definitely,” Mitzy said, then he pulled out his phone. “Can I take a picture? I want to send it to Chloe. She’s gonna pop any day soon, and she’s feeling a little overwhelmed. I want to remind her that there’s a cute baby waiting for her on the other end of all of this.”
“Oh, sure,” I said, giggling. “I’ve sent her a few here and there, but I’m sure she’ll love another one.”
By ‘a picture’ Mitzy must have meant, ‘conduct a small photo shoot,’ because he proceeded to take a million pictures of Sascha, even going so far as to stage him with a fork and spoon, and fashion one of the napkins like a small hat—all of which Sascha found hysterical. It made me happy that I convinced Vincent it was okay for me to come out. Sascha had seen so little of the outside world since he’d been born, and this was the stuff I was looking forward to most when I found out I was pregnant, sharing my sweet baby with all of our friends and family. Mitzy was probably just one of many people that Vincent and I knew that were hoping to see him, and plus, I didn’t want his world to be shrouded in darkness. There was joy in this world too, like a really weird, yet wonderful dirty cop that just wanted to take dozens of cute pictures of him.
Lunch was the most relaxed, enjoyable time I’d had since Vincent’s inspired minimoon. Mitzy updated us on everything that was going on in his world, and we even charted out some time for him to give us some work-related information, like what other organized crime groups in NYC were up to, and the different areas we had to expand into if we wanted.
He was also able to update me a little more on how Chloe and Maksim were doing out in St. Petersburg. Those two were living a wicked lifestyle trying to take each other down despite being in a committed relationship and living in the same home. There had been movies about that concept, but Mitzy said what they were up to waswaywilder than that because they needed to hide that they were in a relationship from the people surrounding them. It sounded like they were genuinely trying to destroy each other, yet somehow maintaining a loving relationship.
It made me feel stupid that Vincent and I couldn’t get one foot in front of the other while being on the same team.
“Nah, you can’t look at it that way. Chloe and Maks have a ton of history too, so they’re making up for lost time. I’m telling you, though, having a kid in the mix.” Mitzy whistled. “That’sreallygoing to twist them up. Part of me is tempted to pack my family up for a vacation and head to Russia to watch the show.” His phone rang in his hand and he picked it up and then rolled his eyes with severe disdain.
“What?” I said with a laugh.
“This new guy I’m partnered with. I already miss Chloe so much every day, but this guy is apain in the ass. Chloe thought she was going to save the world, this guy thinks he already has. He’s arrogant and really doesn’t actually know what he’s talking about. It’s infuriating,” he said. “I don’t even technicallyneeda partner, but the new boss says I’m the best person to train him in.”
His phone stopped ringing and then immediately started to ring again. “Is that him, again?”
“Him again,” Mitzy said. He held his phone out while it continued and eventually finished ringing and then after a few seconds of silence, it started to ring again.
“Are you going to answer it?” Annie said.
“I’ve been trying not to, I don’t want to condone his behavior, but I’ve also learned that if I don’t answer, he will quite literally just keep calling, and calling, and calling, and calling.”
“No,” Annie said. “I’d have killed him by now.”
“Believe me, I’m tempted,” Mitzy replied, then he answered the phone and set it to speaker. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” the guy replied. “The Wreckers have struck again. We need to go and check it out.”
“I’m not working on The Wreckers any more. That’s Gauge’s case now, call him,” Mitzy replied.
“I just got off the phone with him. He said he needs backup,” the man said. “I’ll come to you. Where are you?”
“I’m with family,” Mitzy said. “I’m off today.”
“I don’t care. Cops never stop working. Send me your address, I’ll meet you.”
“I need to drop my family members off first,” Mitzy said. “Text me the address and I’ll meet you there.”
“No! We need to show up together! We need to show a united front!”
Annie started shaking her head and whispered. “No. I hate him.”
“Deon, please. I’ll meet you there.”
“It’s okay,” I murmured to him. “We can make it home. It’s fine.”
Mitzy narrowed his gaze at me, but Annie nodded too. “We’ll be fine.”
After giving us a long look, Mitzy sighed and said. “I’m at Gianno’s.”