Page 12 of The Disputed Legacy

And good riddance.

Without another word, I walked away from him and returned to the behind-the-counter space.

“Well?” Irene asked.

I shot her a droll look and replayed the end of my chat with Jayden. She winced as I shared it all, then she shrugged. “Well, now I know he’s not the one.”

“I knew that before I walked over there,” I shot back.

“Oh, come on. I hate seeing you waste away. You’re not that old.”

I laughed once. “Is that a compliment?”

“Of course, it is,” she insisted. “I hate to see you alone.”

“Once again,” I told her. “I’m not alone. And I never will be.”

Jayden had already walked out, not any more invested in talking to me than I was with him. As I looked over toward Oscar, I smiled at him with Raul, focused on homework.

Irene sighed. “Hey, I don’t blame you. There’s no way you should put up with a guy who clearly doesn’t like kids.”

I shrugged. “Like I’ve told you before, I’m not looking.”

“But doesn’t it help to have someone looking for you?” She smiled widely, probably in hopes I wouldn’t be mad at her for suggesting I meet an anti-kid kind of man like Jayden.

I rolled my eyes.

“I’m just trying to help,” she said. “It can’t be easy dating as a single mother.”

“I wouldn’t know. Because I haven’t been trying.” If I were to seek love in my life, it wouldn’t be with someone like Jayden or the others she’d asked me to talk to here. It would never happen, but in all my whimsical fantasies, I dreamed of some rugged hero just showing up and wowing up, having the innate goal to take care of me and my son and to fend off any dangers or troubles.

Yeah, right. Keep dreaming.

Knights in shining armor seemed to be extinct around here.

Irene only knew half of it, anyway.

I would face a challenge to put myself out there to go on dates and meet men, but that wasn’t all of my particular struggle. I’d need to juggle being a single mom and getting to know a man out of my own interest and curiosity, but also to gauge whether or not it would be safe for them to know who Oscar was.

I’d spent too many years doing my best to hide and protect Oscar, and the mere idea of letting a man into our carefully protected and sheltered lives seemed like too big of a risk to ever consider deviating from what I knew.

No matter how lonely I was or how desperately I’d yearn for support and companionship from a hero who couldn’t possibly exist.

6

SAUL

The day after the shooting at the café, I reported the incident to my brothers. This meeting was more of the same, and after a year of being in charge of spearheading the collective effort against the Romano Family, it was starting to feel like the same old.

“Fuck it,” Damon said with a shrug after listening to me and Hugo share what happened at that café. “I’m in favor of ending them once and for all.”

We all were. No one in this room would sympathize with a rival family who’d partnered with others to end us. My brothers, my father, Hugo, a couple of other higher-level bosses. All of us, including Katerina, who was sitting in on this meeting for a change.

It went without saying that we would always rule over our enemies. Delivering death sentences wasn’t something new around here. But unlike the others, I couldn’t shake the image of that young girl being shot from my mind. Every time I dwelled on the violence of what I witnessed and almost took part in, it was her face etched in pain that I kept revisiting.

Now, more than ever, it was imperative that we prioritize the safety of our family, particularly the safety and well-being of the newest members of our family. It was on my mind as I embraced my role as an uncle, but something deeper had struck a chord with me after yesterday’s shootout.

It’s not like they’d be out there and at risk of being wounded.