Page 17 of Raphael

He chuckled, full of amusement. “Here I’m doing you a favor and you’re hurting my feelings.”

I rolled my eyes. “The only one that can hurt your feelings is your gorgeous wife. How are your wife and kids, by the way?”

“Good. You should give marriage a try. It’s a blissful experience.”

I snickered. “I never thought I’d hear the word ‘blissful’ coming out of your mouth.”

He chuckled. “It’s time for you to get married and have little bambinos running around.”

“I’ll pass,” I grumbled. “What’s up with you and Sailor now? Best buddies?”

I could practically hear him snicker over the line. “She did me a solid. Unlike her family, she’s a good woman.”

An idea sparked in my mind. Sailor was a good woman. I saw it in the eyes of that young woman during our first dance. A soul like that remained good. I wanted her eight years ago. Maybe this was a sign that she was meant to be mine all along.

Yes, my Italian friend might be right. I should give marriage a try.

“She has no connection with her parents,” Nico continued. “That alone tells me she’s a good woman.”

I knew what he meant. All the glitter and diamonds couldn’t hide the rot of her prominent family. The McHale family attended the right schools, schmoozed with the right kind of people, and made deals that made them richer. Without any consideration of the consequences to the average Joe.

Yes, my friends and I were criminals but even we had higher standards than them.

And I suspected somewhere along the way Sailor learned that.

ChapterTen

SAILOR

It had been weeks since the Tijuana bust in the Port of Washington. The feds tailed me, and Santiago Tijuana and his crew were behind bars and awaiting trial. Yet, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was being watched. By whom, I had no idea, but I’d stake my life on it.

So I kept my guard up. I learned a long time ago that depending on someone else to keep me safe was dumb, so I hired a surveillance company to ensure my workplace and our home building had extra monitoring.

Not that the Ashford brothers had flimsy surveillance on the building, but this was extra, to ensure my own piece of mind. The surveillance showed nobody suspicious. Yet, it didn’t do anything to settle my rattled nerves. If anything, it had me even more on edge.

My eyes flickered to Gabriel who sat at the table eating breakfast while reading a comic book. Comics had always fascinated him. Setting my eyes on him, he raised his head and our eyes connected.

Blue eyes were our only similarity. But while mine were light, his were dark blue, reminding me of the darkest oceans. He was a good kid - kind, compassionate, and loyal. Anya would be proud of him, regardless of whose biological son he was.

“Are you okay, Mom?” Gabriel was also a worrier. He always worried about me, Aurora, and Willow.

I told him he had the roles reversed and to stop worrying. Yet, it was like it was ingrained into his DNA. Maybe the Ashford brothers’ overprotective streak rubbed off on him.

“Of course, my little man,” I assured him. No matter how much I tried to protect him, I worried that the past would catch up to us. And then I feared how I’d explain to him how he came to be. “Five minutes, and we need to get going.”

I had to be back in the courthouse today for my big testimony. Of course, I only gave the Feds and police half of the information on what happened that night. I never brought up the name of Nico Morrelli and his crew, who captured the Tijuanas then set the women free. It turned out Nico has had a shelter for years that assisted women who were victims of human trafficking.

I couldn’t quite decide whether to admire the man or fear him.

* * *

Laying my phone into the bin, I pushed it through the security cameras. A cold rush ran from my nape down the length of my spine and my body tingled in awareness. A loud thump came from behind me. Items being thrown into a bin. I was about to turn around to see who was behind me when the guard’s voice stopped me.

“Miss McHale,” the guard, Mr. Roberts, greeted me.

I’d spent so much time at the courthouse that I knew each guard’s name, their wives’ names, and what was going on in their lives.

“Mr. Roberts, how nice to see you. Has your wife had the baby yet?”