“Hey, you got any employees who could come and help out?” Big Joe asked into the silence, his voice low, cajoling, as if he was trying to ease the tension. “Make sure our guys don’t touch anything they aren’t supposed to, maybe do a little cleaning, and lock up after we’re gone?”
“Yes. My friend, Jules.” Mia shot Big Joe a thankful look. Obviously, very politically aware, he had used very specific language to suggest a way out that would give Nico a way out without causing offence or disrespect.
“Whaddya think, Mr. Toscani?” He turned to Nico. “You’re my boss, and if you say get her out of here, then I’ll get her out. I’ll toss her over my shoulder and carry her if I have to. But getting her friend in might be another possibility.” His gaze flicked to the Wolf and back to Nico. “After you’re done, of course.”
Nico didn’t respond, but she didn’t expect him to. His will was absolute. As far as he was concerned, she was already gone and the reality was there was fuck all she could do about it. Still, Big Joe had given them a way out that would allow Mia to escape humiliation and ensure her office was secure, so she decided to play along.
“If you approve,” she said to Nico, biting back her anger. “My friend Jules could come and keep an eye on things. Although I don’t see why—”
She cut herself off when Nico’s face turned stony. Okay. Time to shut up and take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity to make a graceful exit that involved walking and not being carried out like a sack of potatoes.
“I’ll call her when I get outside.” She grabbed her purse, and swept past Nico, standing over the Wolf’s twitching body like a predator over a kill. Frankie moved to the side to allow her to pass, and she stepped over the enforcer and made her way down the stairs, Big Joe behind her. Once outside, she called Jules, tried to explain the situation without alarming her friend.
“All good?” Big Joe gestured to a blue Volvo. “I’ll take you home and come back for your car. We got a coupla extra guys out here. Frankie doesn’t like to take any chances with the boss.”
Mia drew in a ragged breath. “Thanks for what you did back there.”
“No problem. After ten years, I think I’ve got a handle on Mafia politics. You can’t tell the boss right out he might have missed an option, but there’s ways around it.”
“I mean for showing me some respect,” she said. “That’s not something I see much. In my family, if your boss tells you to put the dog out, you put the dog out. You don’t try to spare the dog’s feelings.”
“Well, ma’am.” Big Joe scrubbed his hand over his face. “You’re not a dog, and you said you didn’t want to go.”
Mia laughed bitterly. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m a woman. In this world, I’m nothing. You should have picked that up when he said, ‘Get her out of here’ instead of ‘Mia, I think we should take you someplace safe, what do you think?’ Or ‘Mia, I’m about to kill a man in cold blood in the middle of your office, and I don’t want you to watch.’”
Big Joe’s nose wrinkled ever so slightly like what she’d said was distasteful. “I’ve never seen Mr. Toscani treat any woman with disrespect. All the women he’s been with—”
“I don’t want to know.” She felt a stab of jealousy at the thought of Nico with other women. Had he seduced them the way he seduced her? “I thought Nico was different, but I was wrong.”
She heard a loud crash and looked up just as the lights in her office flickered off. No doubt her office would be destroyed by morning. And Wolf … Her stomach clenched. She was so tired of picking up the pieces. Her life had been shattered the night Danny died, her illusions about what it meant to be part of a Mafia family destroyed in the time it took to pull the trigger. She’d thrown out everything soft and feminine she owned the next day, remade herself in kick-ass punk as a “fuck you” to her father and because the anger in the music soothed her soul. Only the ink she’d secretly gotten a few years later reminded her of her femininity, gave her strength for the punishments that would never end.
Big Joe’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out and checked the screen. Tucking it away, he opened the door to his vehicle. But as Mia moved to enter, he hesitated, as if he had something to say.
Mia frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t want you thinking the wrong thing about Mr. Toscani,” he said. “He’s a good guy. The best. He treats everyone with respect. But sometimes in the heat of the moment—especially when a guy is trying to protect someone he cares about—he doesn’t think straight. Maybe all he wants is for his woman to be safe, and he doesn’t use the words he should.”
Mia’s heart warmed to Big Joe. If her father could inspire this kind of loyalty in his men, he wouldn’t need to use his fists to keep them in line, and he wouldn’t be constantly looking over his shoulder, worried that they would betray him. Instead, he could turn all that energy into the family business, and his power would be unrivaled.
“I’m not his woman.”