Page 27

Teddy was already in bed when Nikki, in her bathrobe, came back into the room.

“How’s Duke?” he asked her.

“Still running his mouth. You’d think nothing ever happened to him the way he’s going at it. I remember the days when you would have to stay in the hospital for weeks after surgery. Now he’s out in two days and acting like he’s completely healed.”

“He isn’t though.”

“I know that. But he doesn’t. He’s resilient.”

“And young and dumb,” Teddy added.

Nikki smiled. “I’m just happy he’s doing so well.”

Teddy nodded. “Me too. What about our ball and chain? How she’s doing?”

“She’s sleep. I was talking with her nanny. She doesn’t feel anything that’s happened has affected her in any way. But I’ll keep making certain she stays away from it as much as possible.”

“I’ll do the same,” Teddy said as he watched Nikki remove her bathrobe, revealing a naked body of curves, and got in bed beside him. By the time they were both laying on their sides and face to face, he was already hard.

But he knew she was still troubled. He could see it in her dramatic eyes. But Nikki, being Nikki, he thought, was more worried about others. “You’re hard on Marco, Teddy.”

“I didn’t like the way he came for you.”

“He was hurt that his friend betrayed him. And hurt people hurt people. That’s the way it is. That’s why Mick lashed out at me too. I’m a big girl, I can take it.”

Teddy knew it too. He pulled her naked body closer to his naked body.

“But you haven’t answered my question.”

“What’s the question?”

“Is it because he kicked you to the curb?”

Teddy hesitated, and then answered. “I accepted him as my son.”

“DNA proved he was your son.”

“What I mean is that I accepted him into my heart. And my family accepted him too. And he can’t call me every once in a while? Or return my calls?”

“I knew I was calling and checking on him, and he always answers. I didn’t know you were calling him too.”

“Many times,” admitted Teddy. “I was worried about him. Pop wasn’t getting bad reports about him, but he wasn’t getting good ones either. But he rarely ever returned my calls.”

“You think he’s still in the drug trade?”

Teddy shook his head. “I doubt it. Does he ship suspicious cargo oversees? Hell yeah. But I don’t think it’s drugs. I think he’s into the art forgery business.”

Nikki was surprised. “Art forgery? That sounds sophisticated.”

“It is. But that’s Marco.”

“I hear he likes older women.”

Teddy looked at her. “Who told you that?”

“He told me that. He says he’s dating an older woman.”

“How older?”

“I think he said she’s forty.”

Teddy leaned back. “Get outta here. Really?”

“That’s what he told me.”

Teddy shook his head. “He’s a different ball of wax, that’s for damn sure.”

“You don’t have a problem with it?”

“No. Not at all. I’ve had my share of older women in my day. What I have a problem with is his secrecy and lack of communication. I know we’re a new family to him, but we’re still family. We’ll remain new until he takes some effort to get more involved with us.”

But after a moment of reflecting on what kind of son he actually had, Teddy realized Nikki had stopped talking. He looked at her. And saw that anguish in her eyes. “It’s not your fault, Nicole.”

“I know that. But when I went to check on Duke I saw Uncle Sal. I asked if they found Renardo yet, but he said they haven’t. They still can’t find him. Which only confirms his involvement. Otherwise he would have been checking in. I haven’t heard from him since the ambush.”

Then she shook her head. “That’s how they were able to plant that bomb, Teddy. That’s how they were able to kill three of our men and set it up as suicides. That’s how they knew who Duke and Jackie’s security detail would be. Everybody trusted Renardo because he was in management. And my dumb behind didn’t bother to do a deep dive on him when I put him in management.”

Teddy pulled her into his arms. “Stop blaming yourself. You didn’t know what you didn’t know.”

“But I should have known just like Pop said. I should have known to deep dive anyway. To take no chances. Why did I overlook that?”

“Just like Marco overlooked Vivian. Just like I overlooked the risk I was taking when I ordered those ships to sail. Just like Pop overlooked updating the threat assessment on the twins after he found out about the issues in the syndicate. We’re human. We get tired. We cut corners. We make bad decisions. It was like the perfect storm this week for us.”

“Yes it was,” agreed Nikki.

And then she looked at Teddy. “But thanks for having my back when Pop was coming hard for me. That man still scares the shit out of me,” she added, and Teddy laughed. “For real though.”

But then they were still staring into each other’s eyes. “Are you still thinking about jumping ship?” Nikki asked him.

“Working for Pop has never been good for my health or yours.”

“That’s so true.”

“But if I leave him, it’ll feel like I’m actually leaving him , not just his organization. And I don’t know if I can do that again. I have always felt, my whole life, as if I’m attached to that crazy-ass man and can’t break myself free from him. And I don’t know why that is.”

“Father. Son. Hello? You’re your father’s son. That’s all. That’s it. That’s powerful, Teddy.”

Teddy nodded, but it didn’t feel that way. It felt needy and clingy to him. But not him needing Mick, but Mick needing him. He felt as if he was his father’s protector just like his father, he believed, was his protector. But that was their own personal struggle. He wasn’t going down that deep with anyone.

But then they continued to stare at each other. And Teddy kissed Nikki. And Nikki returned his kiss. And before they knew it, they were hugging tightly and kissing harder and massaging each other and then coupling.

Teddy entered her. And they were in that bed making love in a deliberate way that was more relaxing than earth-shattering. That was more to ease tension than to release it. That took nearly an hour of pure pleasure before they came. And then they came and they went from slow and easy to hard. They came in a delicious dose of pounding, ejaculation, and pulsations that overtook them. They both throbbed with orgasm.

But as Teddy was still pouring into her, and as she was still feeling those sensations, knocks were heard on their bedroom door announcing another major problem.

“Teddy, Nikki, get up!” It was Sal Gabrini pounding on the door. “Stonegate has been breached. Stonegate has been breached!”

Teddy pulled out of Nikki so fast that he spilled on her. But their anxiousness overtook their cautiousness and they both hopped out of bed throwing on clothes. All they could think about was their prisoners escaping. All they could think about was starting from zero all over again.