Page 40 of Veiled Amor

Oh, wow. Where would Lucia begin with that?

“How long do you have?” She joked. “The official story is we’re friends, I guess. Unofficially, I have no idea.” Wasn’t that the damn truth?

Capone’s mouth said one thing, but his ardent gaze claimed her.

At her side, Jacie laughed. “It’s usually the hot bastards who are the most complicated. Hang in there, girl, if you think there’s something between you. I mean, he’s going to all this effort for you. He cares.”

The problem was, Lucia wanted Capone to love her as fiercely as she loved him.

There was no room to reply because Tiger’s noise increased. The big guy looked agitated. “Oh, boy,” Jacie said. “Let me sort this out.”

Lucia finished her ice cream, and she watched the small girl march up to the biggest man on earth. Like magic, his roar turned to silence as Jacie laid her hands on his chest. “I’m doing this, Tiger. I want to help. I never get to do anything.”

“You’ll get hurt.” He dropped his head, staring at her. Jacie smiled at him. It was easy to see they had a connection.

“I won’t.”

“And I won’t be there to stop it.” He growled gruffly.

“Would you feel better if you came with Capone and me?”

More growling, Tiger looked ridiculously tamed by the smaller woman. It was incredibly sweet to watch. He nodded.

“Shark, is that okay? Could we do that?”

“We can work with it to stop the big bastard going nuclear.”

Things happened fast after that. The two girls had similar clothes, so Jacie copied Lucia’s clothes by changing into grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt. Jacie let her wear one of her white baseball caps, and then she went outside to be seen by the spying car.

“Relax,” Capone said from behind her. She hadn’t realized he’d followed her outside.

“I am relaxed.” She lied, wringing her tight fingers together.

She wanted this over with, longing for a boring and wonderful life.

As she walked, she felt his hand come to the back of her neck, squeezing gently. She couldn’t help it, Lucia flinched. “Relax,nena. Don’t pull away. The jackass has to see you close to me because I’ll need Jacie close when we leave.”

Lucia frowned, but stayed against his chest. She hadn’t thought about that when he’d explained what he wanted to do. What did she care? They were friends… barely. And she’d seen him plenty close with women years ago. Knowing it was to help her get free didn’t stop the turbulent washing machine in her stomach going on a fast, jealous spin.

“If I haven’t said it already, thank you for helping me, Capone.”

A little grumble from his chest.

“It’s no problem.”

They walked a small way around the compound in silence, making sure the car from the street would see them being cozy. A few minutes later, an SUV started up behind them, and when it passed by, driving out of the complex, Capone raised his hand to the driver, who waved back. That was the starting pistol. The second car going to the airport was leaving. It would be the car to bring Capone and Jacie back undetected, hopefully.

“Let’s head in,nena. I’ll leave in thirty.”

A few steps that way, she looked up at him. “Do you still want to kill my dad?”

To be fair to Capone, he didn’t even hesitate. “Sí.”

“Why haven’t you tried to over the years? Dad is vocal about people going against him, I would have heard about it.” Lucia wasn’t so hateful to want her father dead, despite every heinous, unforgivable thing he’d ever done. Could she still love Capone if he acted on his vengeance one day?

She couldn’t blame him, that much she knew.

When he didn’t answer right away, it was very telling.