Page 11 of The Mobster’s Daughter (Massachusetts Mafia #2)

Grady

H is heart thudded in his chest. Feelings complicated things.

They didn’t just complicate things; they changed everything.

His best friend was almost murdered the last time he let his feelings control him.

He had been shot and nearly lost his life.

All because of a woman, a woman Grady thought he loved.

When Caitlin put her hand on his cheek, his frozen heart cracked and for a second, he considered what might happen if he allowed her in. He shut down that thought as soon as it entered his brain a nd bolted.

Grady darted out of the bedroom, went into the bathroom, splashed some water on his face, and dressed. Then he headed straight to the liquor cabinet, grabbed the bottle of Glenlivet scotch, and took a drink from it. He then poured a small amount in the glass on the coffee table and pic ked it up.

He exhaled and walked to the open bed room door.

“Caitlin?”

She squinted at him from the be d. “Yeah?”

“You want a drink?” Grady asked. “Water or s omething?”

She pointed at the glass in his hand. “Wha t’s that?”

“Scotch,” he replied. “I drank all the whiskey.” Did she even care he drank all the whiskey? Pro bably not.

She pulled the sheet around herself and got out of bed. “Isn’t it a little early for alcohol?”

He shot her a dirty look. Was s he joking?

“Okay, no jokes in the morning. Noted.” She grinned, and the ice around his heart melted a bit more. “You know what, I’ll have a glass of that,” she said.

Grady raised his eyebrows, but he kept his mouth shut. No arguing with her; she was a grown woman and could do what sh e wanted.

Caitlin followed him to the living room and stood right beside him while he poured her a glass of scotch. She took it and held Grady’s gaze as she downed it. To his surprise, she didn’t ev en flinch.

“You good?” he asked.

“Mm-hm.” She held the glass out and gestured for more. Grad y obliged.

Once he refilled her drink, she sat down on the couch and cleared her throat. “Are you going to do this every time we have sex?”

Grady groaned, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned against the wall next to the bookcase. “Do what?”

“Run off after we fuck and make some excuse to get away from me,” she replied. “Making a fire, getting a drink. What’s next? Running a marathon?”

He sighed. She would not let him off the hook easily. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not great at expressin g myself.”

“Oh, I noticed.”

Grady glared at her. Caitlin had the good sense to close her mouth. She nodded at him to continue.

“This thing between us is complicated,” he continued.

“No shit,” she in terjected.

“Dammit, will you shut up and listen to me?” h e snapped.

“Sorry, sorry.” She made a motion like she had zipped her li ps closed.

“Thank you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m supposed to be protecting you, not fucking …” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I mean, I’m not supposed to be having sex with you. It complicates an already complicated s ituation.”

“Maybe if we talk to m y father—”

Grady shook his head. “Do you think we should talk to your father? Considering everything that is happening right now, something like this might push him over the edge.”

Caitlin nodded and mumbled, “You’re right. It will piss him off.”

He sat on the edge of the chair and sipped his drink. “Tell me abo ut Bobby.”

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“Did he have a relationship with his father? Why was he working for the Moretti family? Did he need money? Or maybe he pissed the Italians off and had to work off a debt or s omething?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He rarely mentioned his father and when he did, he never said who his father was, just vague references to ‘my father.’ I didn’t know Moretti was his father until you told me. I know he sold drugs, but he never talked about it.”

“How did you know about the drugs?” Gr ady asked.

Caitlin gave him a weird look. “Seriously? I’ve spent years around people who …

well, let’s just say people who weren’t on the up and up.

I notice things, and I know when people are doing something they aren’t supposed to do.

Late-night phone calls, not letting me see what was in his backpack or check his phone, plus we never stayed at his place, and weird people were always coming around or calling him at all hours of the day and night . I knew.”

“That might have pissed off his father,” Grady muttered.

“Enough to kill his own son?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

He sat back and closed his eyes. “None of this makes sense. None of it. I can’t believe Aldo would risk jeopardizing a deal that has been years in th e making.”

Caitlin narrowed her eyes. “W hat deal?”

“Your father worked tirelessly to get the Italians to agree to a partnership between the two families. They were going to work with us in our East Coast dealings. I don’t know how h e did it.”

Caitlin’s eyes widened and her lips twisted in a grimace. Before he could ask her what was wrong, his cell p hone rang.

He didn’t just want to ignore it; he wanted to throw it out the window and run over it with the Bronco. Or maybe use it for target practice. He snatched it off the table and hit t he button.

“Yeah?”

“Grady?”

He gritted his teeth. He wasn’t interested in talking to his boss less than twenty minutes after he’d had sex with the man’s daughter.

“Grady? Are yo u there?”

“ Yes, sir?”

“You haven’t checked in,” Sean said. “Is everyth ing okay?”

He forgot he’d promised to check in at six a.m. He glanced at his watch; it was a lmost ten.

Shit .

“Everything is fine,” Grady replied. “How are things on your end?”

“Not good,” Sean muttered. “Moretti is on the warpath. Understandably. His son is dead, and he was found in my daughter’s apartment.

He is convinced Caitlin is responsible for Roberto’s murder.

I tried to tell him what happened, but he hung up on me.

I’m sending Finn and Declan to New York to talk to him in person.

Listen to me. If Moretti finds her, he will kill her. You have to keep her safe.”

“I’ll protect her with my life,” G rady said.

“I know.” Sean sighed and his voice shook when he spoke. “No matter what happens, your only job is to protect my daughter.”

“I will,” Grad y replied.

“I don’t trust anyone but you. Do you understand?” S ean asked.

“Yes, sir,” he whispered.

“If you do this for me, if you keep Caitlin safe and alive, then consider your debt to me paid.”

“You don’t have to do that,” G rady said.

“Yes, I do.” Sean cleared his throat. “I can’t help but wonder if this is because I called off the wedding.”

A chill raced down Grady’s spine. “Wedding? What wedding?”

Caitlin abruptly got up and went into the bathroom. The shower turned on a few seco nds later.

The room closed in on him, and he couldn’t breathe. He squeezed the phone in his hand so hard he heard a crack. Sean was unusua lly quiet.

“What wedding are you talking about?” Grady as ked again.

Sean cleared his throat before he spoke. His voice was low, practically indiscernible. “Caitlin’s wedding. She was supposed to marry Moretti’s oldest son, Massimo.”

The room spun, and Grady’s vision went black. His head throbbed, but it wasn’t from alcohol.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it was none of your business,” Sean said. “It was between me and Moretti.”

“I’m your leascheannasaí . If you can’t trust me—”

“It had nothing to do with trusting you,” Sean snapped.

“You know I trust you, with my life and with my family’s life.

There isn’t anyone on Earth I trust more.

But it was a delicate situation. It’s Moretti; he doesn’t trust anyone.

He insisted we keep the negotiations between us. I did as he asked.”

Grady sat on the couch. “Why? What were you trying to gain by marrying Caitlin off to the Morettis?”

“Aldo’s trust,” Sean replied. “And an ally. Instead, I made him an enemy. He was furious when I called off the wedding. He couldn’t understand why I cared how my daughter felt about her impending nuptials.

In his eyes, all that mattered was merging our families into one of the most powerful on the East Coast. When Olivia married Declan and he took over the Muldoon family, Aldo saw it as an act of war.

He swore he would make us pay for ruining h is plans. ”

Grady groaned. “Do you think Bobby’ s murder—”

“I don’t know what to think,” his boss said.

“I can’t imagine Moretti would kill his own son to get back at me.

It had to be someone who knew how tenuous our working relationship was and used Caitlin and Roberto Corelli to start shit.

What I do know is Aldo will have no problem killing Caitlin because he thinks she killed Roberto.

As a bonus, it will be the perfect way for him to get revenge for fucking up the marri age plan. ”

“You should have told me, boss.”

Sean sighed loud enough for Grady to hear it through the phone. “I know, but like I said, it wasn’t any of your business.”

“It is my business, especially now,” Grady interjected.

It was his business because Caitlin belonged to him .

She was his, and no one would ever touch her again, especially one of those damn Morettis.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t think like that; emotions made everything more difficult.

“I’m sorry,” Sean murmured.

“Great, you’re sorry. But that’s not good enough. This situation is significantly more complicated than I thought. Things have escalated to a level I cannot control.”

“You can and you will. Keep Caitlin safe, Grady.” Sean was quiet for a long moment before he spoke again. “I will not call anymore. I’m worried someone might track the calls back to your location.”

The phone went dead in Grady’s hand. He tossed it on the table and rested his head against the couch. He desperately wanted another drink, but he needed to stay sharp. He’d already had more than enough alcohol.

Instead, he got up, went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and drank half of it.

When he turned around, Caitlin stood between the living room and the kitchen, staring at him.

She was dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt with little blue cartoon dogs all over it, and her long blonde hair was in a braid that hung over her right shoulder.

Her face was clean and shiny. She gnawed on the nail of her left thumb, a habit she’d had since she was a lit tle girl.

“What did he say?” she asked.

Grady gave her a brief rundown of his conversation with her father. Tears welled in her eyes when he told her how worried Sean was about her.

“Shit,” she muttered. “It is my fault.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. None of this is yo ur fault.”

Caitlin sighed. “You can keep saying it, but I don’t have to believe it. If I hadn’t gotten involved with Bobby in the fir st place—”

“Knock it off, Cait. You cannot let yourself go down t hat road.”

“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “It is my fault.” She took a step closer to him and released a shuddering breath. “Do you know why I’ve been so difficult for the last few years? Why I’ve broken every rule, pushed every boundary?”

Grady shook his head. “You mean it wasn’t just to get me to come to you r rescue?”

Caitlin’s cheeks turned bright pink. She must have forgotten she told him that.

She took a deep breath and continued. “That was part of it. But I also thought if I was awful enough, if I was impossible to be around, or if my father thought he couldn’t rein me in, he would leave me alone to live my life. ”

“Did you know,” he asked, “about the marriage and the wedding being ca lled off?”

Caitlin nodd ed. “Yes.”

“You never said anything.”

“You’re right, I didn’t. Daddy asked me not to tell you.”

Anger rushed through him at her words. He slammed the bottle of water on the counter, sending droplets flying everywhere. “God dammit! I cannot believe he put you in this position.”

Caitlin moved closer, stepping into the kitchen, leaving two to three feet of distance between them.

“I’ve forgiven him. I swear. But I hated him for it for a long time.

Then everything with Olivia came to light and, for the first time in my life, my father apologized to me.

He swore he never intended for either me or Olivia to get hurt.

Shit, he was distraught over what happened to Liv.

Horrified. He called off my wedding to the Moretti kid and promised me nothing like that would ever happ en again. ”

Grady snorted. “And you bel ieve him?”

She nodded. “I want to believe him. My father and I are still rebuilding our relationship. It’s not going to happen overnight.

” She giggled. “Not to mention, this whole situation throws a monkey wrench into things.” Another giggle burst out of her and then Caitlin laughed, her entire body shaking as the laughter overcame her.

She put her hand over her mouth, but she couldn’t stop.

She sank to the floor, wrapped her arms around her knees, and laughed until tears streamed down her face.

“Jesus. Christ,” she muttered, gasping for air between each word. “My life is a … a soap opera … or a, a terrible movie. People are trying to kill me … and … it’s all because my father is a mobster.”

Grady crouched in front of her and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “Hey, lo ok at me.”

When she brought her face up, he realized the tears weren’t from laughter. The pain and fear in her eyes completely melted his icy heart. He would do everything in his power to keep her safe, and he would give her anything sh e wanted.

Caitlin stared up at him and whispered, “I’m scared. I’ve never been this scared in my life. Those people mean business. They want me dead.”

Grady took her arm and helped her to her feet. He kissed her forehead before he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.

No one would ever hurt her. They wouldn’t dare, because he would destroy anyone who dared to harm her.