Page 22 of Wrapped in Silver (Dark Ties #5)

Quinn

He’s a little looser around me after our session.

I’m in his car, hanging onto his arm as I relish in the impossible thought of us sharing a normal life.

He always holds me after all things sexy, which is something I never thought I’d want.

Usually, I can’t wait to kick a guy rolling the other way after we make love.

But with Silver? I want to feel closer to him, and by the looks of him clasping my hand tightly with his, he wants it too.

“See? Wasn’t it nice without a condom?” I eye him knowingly.

“Of course it is. Do you think me some kind of lunatic?” he growls, his eyes lingering on me.

“Watch the road, cowboy. We wouldn’t want to get into an accident.” I touch his leg to tease him, and he purrs like a lion.

The way he looks at me, like I’m the finest piece of meat he’s ever seen… it sends steaming flames from my calves all the way up to my thighs.

He grabs my leg suddenly, which makes me gasp, and then I slap his arm playfully.

“What are you trying to do to me?” I say.

“I’m tempting myself,” he purrs.

“And?” More heat flares up to my face. I must wear it like a shirt.

“Nothing.” He makes a face like I’m garbage, and my jaw hangs open.

We start fighting in the car… Well, mostly me hitting him while he cackles.

It’s like we’ve found our own miniature silo to enjoy while the world around us burns.

When I think about it, I fall for him a little more.

He was just minding his own business that early morning with his brown bags of groceries.

He didn’t have to involve himself into my insanity.

But he did.

And now he says he has to give everything to make it right.

My playful slaps calm into a hug around his waist. The console is digging into my already bruised ribs, but he has to know I appreciate him.

“It’s going to be alright, Quinn.” He holds me back in a rare moment of comfort.

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

We pull up to a familiar gate, and my heart starts thumping in my chest. This is it… the stage house where my dad sits tied up like a hog. Today, that all ends. It would’ve been on better terms if my goddamn uncle wasn’t involved, but he is, and because of it, none of us are safe.

Parking the car and heading inside, the air around us grows tense. Is he really going to let me interact with him? It’s been so long. The poor guy.

Silver unlocks the cellar door to fidgeting downstairs in the basement. My heart breaks as the chair screeches—my big bear of a father desperate to get out.

Hang in there, Dad.

It’s almost over.

“Back already? Did I miss another holiday?” my father jokes sadly from down the stairs.

“Pig man always thinks it’s time to eat,” Silver puts on his deadly-accurate Russian accent again out of habit, I hope.

“Well, what, then?” His blindfolded head follows the sound.

I’m silent as a lamb as I descend the steps, holding back my tears. I’m shocked when Silver’s big arm drapes around me, begging me to look up at him. I do, and I see a softness in his eyes that speaks a thousand words.

I raise my eyebrows to make sure he’s telling me what I think he is.

“ Go, ” he whispers.

It’s like he’s cutting me loose, setting me free. A semblance of my old life.

“Dad,” I cry.

He startles in his chair. “Little Bear? Is that you? What have they done to you?”

“Dad!” I sob, wrapping my arms around him. His confined embrace is so desperate and protective it’s like I’m back in the cradle again.

“Tell me you’re okay, Little Bear.”

“I am. I’m fine.” It takes everything for me not to lift his blindfold, but I have to calm him down first. “This man protected me, Dad.”

His body stills. “You, bratva? You kept your word?”

Dad’s face is getting blotchy and wet from the tears leaking under his blindfold. I dry them with my finger.

“I’m no bratva,” Silver drops the accent, pacing closer to us.

“Italian,” Dad says plainly. “What the hell is going on here?”

Silver takes a big step and removes the blindfold for me—taking all of the guilt off my shoulders. Dad’s irises blacken, letting in too much light before he immediately squints them shut.

“I’ll let your daughter explain.” Silver paces with his back to us. “Because you wouldn’t believe it any other way.”

Dad fights past the pain of light hitting his eyes for the first time in a while, I suspect. Then he tries to focus on me until his vision finally clears.

“God, Quinn. What happened to you?”

I shake my head and give him a big squeeze. “I’m fine.”

“Did he?” Dad nods to Silver.

“ No! ” I push off of him so not to hurt his joints any more than they’re already aching. “I’d have a bullet in my head and some less than pleasant experiences I would’ve had to take to my grave if not for this man.”

Dad tenses his jaw. “Who are you?”

“A nobody, Captain Dall,” Silver says cryptically.

“He’s our neighbor,” I say. “The one at the movie production house.”

“That house has been empty,” he scowls. “What are you, some kind of actor? Is that what the accent was about? The hell is going on here?”

“I promise you I’m no actor,” Silver replies.

The mood is lighter than I expected. With my dad constantly gripping my arm to make sure I’m real, it’s like he’s on some type of disbelieving high. But I know that won’t last long.

“Dad, he’s an ex-mobster who saw the bratva symbol marked on the side of our house. Uncle F was convinced that it was the cartel that had gotten you, but he—”

“The cartel?” Dad says in awe. “What gave him that idea?”

Silver and I side-eye each other.

“Gambling debt gave him that idea,” Silver says. “Debt to the Russians, who only have one way of collecting.”

“Get the hell out of here. What is this, some kind of torture game?” Dad laughs it off. “Quinn, untie me. This is all a bunch of bullshit.”

“Of course I will, but I need you to listen first,” I say hesitantly. “I’m worried you’re not letting this sink in.”

“ You’re worried? The hell is going on around here? You have bruises, Quinn. He could be forcing you to say all of this for some sick game.”

“ Dad. ” I look him in the eyes and grab both his wrists. “This man saved my life. The bratva almost raped me. They would have too, right before Yuri Patrovski put a bullet in my head.”

The rough brow over my father’s eyes softens. “You’re not kidding.”

I shake my head slowly so he understands. “The only reason you’re tied up, is because he wasn’t sure if he could trust you not to talk.”

“And now?” His lip quivers.

“Now that we’re sure Ferraro is involved, things have changed,” I say.

“Your uncle would never . He was at your baby shower, your baptism, your first birthday—that man would die for you—”

“You put too much faith in an addict,” Silver says harshly. “Been around them all my life. They might’ve started as good people, but most wind up the same. Manipulative, slithering beasts that would do anything for another hit.”

“How are you going to talk like you know the man?” Dad jerks in his ties.

Silver sighs and reaches into his duffle bag. Of course he came prepared.

“I want you to listen to me very carefully, Captain Dall.” He starts pulling out printed photos.

“My name is Arosso Valentino. I worked for the mob for a very long time, and have since retired after my wife and daughter were murdered. I live a legitimate life now, managing movie and TV sets. I happened upon a symbol on your house, as Quinn here has stated, and decided to help a crying woman out.”

Dad’s heavy breathing starts to calm. It’s working on me too. Silver can be soothing when he wants to be, which is all sorts of weird.

“Once I got involved, I did my diligence, and against my orders and better judgement, I rescued you from bratva custody.”

Dad holds his breath at that. “Y—you, could start an underworld war—”

Silver nods. “Now you understand my hesitation and precaution?”

Dad’s eyes squint disbelievingly. “Risk everything for a cop’s daughter?”

Silver’s jaw tenses hard. “She reminds me of what I lost.”

The words hit like a bullet to the chest.

“So needlessly, my wife and daughter died because of my involvement in something. Yours might have for the same reason. Two sides of the same coin, Captain Dall, even if yours faces the sun.”

I’ve never seen my dad stammer in all my years, but here? He’s at a loss.

“Had Ferraro not kidnapped your daughter by using policemen to restrain her and drag her to his house—”

Dad shakes his head. “No...”

Silver drops a photo on the floor, showing Ferraro exiting an underground casino with a large jacket on and a baseball cap.

“It took me a while to figure it out,” Silver admits. “And once I did, all became clear.”

“Mara would never let you get hurt,” Dad protests.

“Mara is dead , Dad. I was there when the Russians broke into their house to take me.”

“Oh my…” Dad looks to the floor. “Once this Valentino saved me from that warehouse, they wanted to go after you… This was my biggest fear all along.”

His eyes are bulging as he stares blankly at the photos on the floor.

“This isn’t the first time Uncle F acted weird, Dad. You’ve seen it before. The sweating and edginess,” I try to pour gasoline on the budding fire. “He literally grabbed me from our home, stuffed me in a car against my will, and sent me to his home to be captured by the Russians.”

There’s a long silence after that… until Dad finally looks up, staring Silver in the eyes.

Silver peers back with his hands on his hips.

“So…” Dad says. “That’s two I owe you then.”

I sigh with relief and plop on the floor next to my tied-up father. Thank God . I’m still not convinced he’d let Silver go if he was cut free, and I’m pretty sure there’d be a gun fight like in those old Westerns if he knew that I’m falling for him… but I’ll take my wins where I can get them.

“Now what, Valentino?” Dad says, showing his tied-up arms.

“If I untie you, are you going to try and restrain me?” Silver asks point blank. “I don’t want to have to harm Quinn’s father.”

He laughs into a growl. “You may be in better shape, but I’ll maul you to fucking death.”

Silver laughs back.

I swear they’re getting along in some man-speak that should be left to the cave dwellers of our ancestors. But whatever works, right?

Silver whips out a switch blade and cuts the ropes at his wrists, then his legs. He takes a step back.

The moment is silent, and there’s a second where I hold my breath. Dad could charge Silver now, and even though Dad’s a bear, I’m afraid that might be the end of him. Silver is a certified killer.

Don’t do it.

Don’t—

Dad looks at Silver with a grin, then offers his hand for me to grab. He pulls me into the most comforting hug I’ve ever had.

Oh, thank God.

His warm musky smell is the same as when he would come home from an all-night shift. His big arms really are like a bear’s. I’m home again, for this instant… and it’s all because of Silver.