Page 93 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

Lucie sits with Harry who holds Clawzilla’s carrier, and Arnold is pressed in between Lucie’s legs.

I miss a dunk and Dec rolls his eyes. I wipe the sweat from my face, the adrenaline pumping, my body alive.

What I’d rather be doing is Ava. Failing that, working on my motorcycle. I’ve been neglecting it, but it’s a great way to center myself and just think.

And I need to.

Because last night at the diner wasn’t a random attack. Men dressed like that don’t typically leave a trail of bodies behind. No man in my world does that, either.

Not unless the point is to send a message.

And it would be a hell of a message. Did whoever it was lure her friend or just… what? Lie in wait for Ava to show up at the diner? No, that last one doesn’t make sense. Ava hasn’t been there since we got married.

To me, it feels like the work of someone who knows her or someone who very specifically followed her. Someone I’ve missed.

The ball hits me hard in the thigh.

“Fuck,” Torin says. “We’re calling a time-out. You’ve got a visitor.”

I turn. There at the edge of the chain-link fence that stops balls from hitting traffic is Ava. Everything in me implodes.

Mikey stands behind her. And she’s holding a bulging cloth bag with what looks like a loaf of bread sticking out. But she sees me looking and her eyes narrow. Before I can make a move, she and Mikey walk away.

Cal nods his chin at their backs. “What the fuck was that about?”

“Do I look like I can read the mind of evil?”

He studies me for a minute, closes his eyes, and shakes his head. “Oh, man. You got it bad.”

I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about, but the game goes from bad to worse. When Lucie and Harry leave to go to their respective places… Lucie to her pet adoption café and Harry to Dirty Harry’s flower shop, Torin gets a phone call that ends the game.

“Cartel members have been seen meeting with Romanov,” Torin says as we pile into one of our cars. “These guys traffic girls. And one more thing… the guy with the scar? He’s been seen, too, in those same meetings.”

“Let’s talk to Romanov,” I say. Then I dig out my phone, ordering Mikey to keep Ava safe.

It’s linked to her, all of it. And someone is after her. Cartel on Romanov’s orders? This Hank?

Fuck that.

I might hate her, but I don’t want her in danger. Because no matter what, right now she’s fucking mine. And if anyone touches her, they’re dead.

TWENTY-TWO

ava

I have minutes,I think. Minutes between the phone call Mikey’s making and me getting grabbed by Seamus.

But I want to see what’s going on. I need to see why the fuck the Murphys are meeting with Romanov in his Upper West Side townhouse.

I know Seamus called and told Mikey to take me home, but I threatened Mikey with finding my own way to this townhouse with or without him.

So he took me, and yeah, he’s calling Seamus.

Called, rather.

There’s a tiny, gated green space next door to the townhouse, and it’s easy enough for me to use it as a way to climb the tree that will help me scale the wall and jump into the tiny back courtyard. From there, I can?—

Someone grabs me and I topple from the tree before I can execute my grand plan.