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Chapter Twenty-Seven

No matter how long Gina stared at the portfolio spreadsheets on her desk, the numbers refused to come into focus. With everything that had happened over the last month, her work was beyond backed up. That wasn’t the real problem.

The last time she’d seen Jack was four weeks ago, when he’d walked out the door of the Falzone mansion. She hadn’t stopped thinking of him since.

Groaning , she gave up on work for the moment and flipped open today’s newspaper to read the front-page article for the third time.

Franco Falzone Indicted for Murder . Her father’s murder.

Miraculously , the FBI had found the evidence to charge Franco with her father’s death, something that left her mystified.

Rocco and Psycho were old-school mobsters.

They would never squeal on Franco . Given the pricy lawyers Franco employed, and with no witnesses to back her up, Gina had been told by the prosecutor that her word alone wasn’t good enough.

The statements Franco had made ordering her own death and that killing her father was “just business” might as well never have happened.

Somehow , Jack had found a way around that.

She should be happy. She should be bouncing off the walls with joy. Instead , she was numb.

As she turned the page, the pink scar on her hand stood out like a beacon, an ugly reminder of what Tino had nearly done to her.

Ironic that Franco’s arrival had stopped him before he could do any permanent damage.

The wire cutter hadn’t gone deep enough to sever any ligaments or tendons.

All she’d needed was a dozen stitches that had already been removed.

Since the day Jack and the FBI had raided the secret, infamous Mafia Commission meeting in upstate New York , every newspaper in the country continued headlining the latest in Mafia indictments and arrests.

Antonio “ Psycho ” Fiori and Richard “ Rocco ” Lambrusco were indicted for kidnapping her the day Jack shot Tino . With Tino dead, Maria Falzone hadn’t hesitated to relate how her husband had orchestrated the whole thing. The mystery henchman, Meat , somehow managed to avoid charges altogether.

She folded over the front page to keep reading.

A grainy photo of Jack escorting a handcuffed Franco Falzone graced the center of the page.

He had to be up to his eyeballs in work.

She’d lost count of how many times she’d picked up the phone to call him.

Each time, she’d lost her nerve. Facing him again was the second scariest thing she could think of.

Never seeing him again was even scarier.

Laughter and voices from the office Christmas party grew louder. It was Christmas Eve , but celebrating wasn’t on her calendar this year. Maybe next year. If she was lucky enough to stop missing Jack . Or stop loving him .

She threw down the paper and walked to the picture window overlooking the city. From forty stories up, people scurrying about on the sidewalks looked like tiny bugs. Jack was out there somewhere too.

He said he loved her, and she’d pushed him away. After the horrible things she’d said that day in her apartment, he would never come to her. Yet when she’d needed him most, he’d been there, and he’d saved her life.

Her vision blurred, and she blinked rapidly, preventing the tears from falling. What’s done was done. There was no going back. So why couldn’t she let go?

The intercom buzzed. Before she could get back to her desk, the door flew open. Her friends stood in the doorway, smiling. Between the three of them, they carried two bottles of champagne, four glasses, two poinsettias, and a box of chocolates.

“ Merry Christmas !” they shouted, rushing in to hug her.

Charlotte closed the door to give them privacy. Her admin always did have a knack for knowing what she needed. The woman totally deserved the hefty gift card Gina had given her this year.

Kinsey tore the wrapper from one of the bottles, then twisted the cork out with a resounding pop .

“ I love that sound. It’s the sound of par-tay.

” With the skill of someone who’d done so many times, she deftly poured champagne into the four flutes without a single spillover.

Warm color brightened her face, and her energy level was back to normal and then some.

Courtesy of almost dying and a hot doctor she’d met at the hospital.

Tears backed up behind Gina’s eyes, and she quickly blinked them away. Kinsey really had come close to dying, yet her friends were all here. This time, she let the tears fall. Out of sheer joy, love, and thankfulness she could never repay.

“ Oh , Gina .” Anna swiped at her own tears. “ Don’t start that. You know it’s contagious.”

Margo and Kinsey began sniffling, and they all laughed.

“ Sorry .” She grabbed the tissue box from her desk and held it out for them to pluck away.

“ Ladies ,” Margo said a moment later when they held up their flutes. “ It’s been a difficult year. One filled with triumphs, failures, and?—”

“ Adventure !” Kinsey interrupted.

Anna rolled her eyes.

“ I was going to say,” Margo continued, throwing Kinsey a mock glare, “wonderful achievements.”

“ Amen ,” Anna said as they went around the circle. “ Here’s to a wonderful holiday season and an even better new year. Preferably one filled with less exuberant adventures.”

Now that it was Gina’s turn to add something, her throat closed up. “ Here’s to the best friends a girl could ever have. I love you all. I mean that.”

“ Here , here.” Margo nodded.

“ Back atcha, girlfriend.” Kinsey winked.

“ We love you too.” Anna stood on her tiptoes and kissed Gina’s cheek. “ Don’t ever forget that.”

As they clinked glasses and took a sip, Jack’s words came back to her. You’re as tight as any blood sisters. Maybe tighter . He was right. Then , she hadn’t been giving her friends enough credit. Moving forward, she would never doubt their love or friendship again.

“ Gina ?” Margo asked. “ Is everything all right?”

“ Of course.” To cover the fact that it wasn’t, she took another sip of champagne.

She actually did get some good news today.

“ I stopped by the Center this morning to see Maria Falzone . She’s doing much better.

Her injuries are healing and she’s getting counseling.

Since Tino is dead, she may not even need to relocate.

After she married him, he put a wedge between her and her family.

Now that she doesn’t have to worry about him coming after her, she’s thinking about reconciling with them. ”

“ That is good news,” Margo said.

“ I’ll drink to that.” Kinsey raised her glass in the air.

“ So why do you look so sad?” Anna watched her intently.

“ Duh .” Kinsey nudged Anna’s shoulder.

“ Sorry .” Anna held up a hand. “ I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“ That’s okay.” She squeezed Anna’s shoulder. She’d already told her friends every ugly detail of her conversation with Jack .

“ Have you heard from him?” Kinsey asked.

“ No .” She shook her head. “ I don’t think I ever will again. It’s my fault. I pushed him away.”

Margo rested a comforting hand on her arm. “ You had your reasons.”

“ I know.” She let out a heavy sigh, staring at the bubbles in her glass as they rose to the surface. “ I guess I needed time to sort things out in my head. To separate the past from the present and to understand things clearly enough to come to grips with them.”

“ Did you?” Anna asked quietly.

She pursed her lips, nodding. “ I loved my father, but as Jack said, he was, in fact, a criminal.” His motives might have been pure—to provide more for his family than his legitimate job could—but that didn’t change what he was.

“ What happened to my father wasn’t Jack’s fault, not really.

He was just doing his job, and his job was to take out the big fish: Franco Falzone .

Franco hurt and killed a lot of people. It was Jack’s job to stop him, and my father was a way to make that happen. ”

Margo’s brows lowered in concern. “ Can you really forgive him?”

Her heart squeezed because she already knew the answer.

Now , when Jack’s face came to her, it was no longer associated with the same rage and need for revenge she’d carried around for the last fifteen years.

It was with the pain of regret, loss, and love that could never be. “ I already have. But it’s too late.”

“ I say you get him back.” Kinsey’s dark brows bobbed enthusiastically.

Anna grinned. “ We’ll all help.”

Margo set her flute on the desk and rested her hands on Gina’s shoulders. “ You’ll need a grand gesture.”

* * *

Jack threw down the pen, flexing his fingers before filling out the service portion of another arrest warrant. The cast had been removed, but his hand was stiff during a time when he needed it most. For typing reports.

He glared at the stack of case files on his desk that he swore had grown ten inches overnight. Red tape. The FBI was infamous for it, more so than any other law enforcement agency on the planet.

Taking a break, he leaned back in his chair, tracking Annie Oakley as she roamed slowly around the fish tank. Alone .

True to his word, Smitty had safeguarded John Wayne’s little body until Jack could give him a proper burial in his mother’s rose garden. He wondered if Annie missed JW .

He uttered a bitter laugh. Transference . He’d equated his own emotional state with that of a fish because…he missed Gina .

He’d just taken down an entire crime family, busted up the Mafia Commission meeting, making over twenty arrests of high-level mafioso for more outstanding charges than he could remember.

Professionally , it was a monumental coup for him and the entire FBI .

Personally , he no longer cared because he’d lost the most important battle of his life.