Chapter 41CANDI

Chapter 41

CANDI

Cookie is thrilled with the experience in the saferoom. She talks a mile a minute about the stuff she and mom did with Mario and Boomer.

"We played Monopoly and mom won, like she always does, but I think sometimes Boomer sold her properties he shouldn't have. He lost pretty fast. And Mars was the best dog ever. Did you know he has his own potty room in the saferoom? Boomer trained him to use it."

"I'm glad you weren't scared."

"I knew Angelo would keep everybody safe."

Smiling, I nod. "I did too."

"Alright, you've been up for two hours past bedtime already. I think we're going to have to call in an absence for you tomorrow," mom says.

Angelo, who has been talking quietly with Boomer and Maria, looks up. "Would you mind keeping her out until the weekend? We need to come up with a security plan going forward. Keeping her safe in a public place, like school is harder."

Not impossible. Because nothing is when it comes to our wellbeing for my mafia assassin.

Mom shocks me by nodding readily. "Boomer explained that Cookie's schooling might have to change. Doing it midyear isn't ideal, but keeping my daughter safe is the most important thing. Both of my daughters."

The look she gives Angelo is both a warning and approval. It's strange, but I'll take it over open hostility, which is what I expected.

"Will you tuck me in tonight?" Cookie asks me.

That's her code for mom is too tired but won't admit it.

I nod quickly and smile. "You bet. Come on, you need to brush your teeth. I'm not even going to ask what kind of snacks Mario let you have while mom wasn't looking."

Cookie grins unrepentantly, but Mario dips his head in embarrassment. "She's hard to say no to, Ms. Candi."

"I'll keep that in mind, but if she starts bouncing off the walls from a sugar rush, you're the one staying up to play Mario Kart with her."

"Yes!" Cookie fist pumps the air.

Mario's eyes widen with near comic concern. Hiding my grin, I take my sister to her room to tuck her in.

"You're really okay, right, Candi? You'd tell me if they hurt you?" she asks.

"They didn't hurt me. I promise."

"I didn't think Angelo would let them." She yawns wide and I shoo her off to brush her teeth and wash her face.

Tomorrow is Halloween and if she can't go to school, there's no way Angelo is going to be okay with her trick-or-treating.

I wonder how he's going to feel about having a couple dozen eleven-year-olds running around his…our home for an impromptu Halloween party?

Between me, mom and Bianca, I have no doubt we can pull this off.

Oh, crap. I didn't call Bianca. Mostly because I still don't have my phone, but also because I forgot.

"Hey, Cookie, can I use your phone to call Auntie Bianca?"

"Sure," she yells around a mouth of toothpaste from the bathroom.

Shaking my head, I grab her new and improved phone just like mine. Using the parental override password, I open it and dial Bianca's number.

"Cookie? Is everything okay?" Bianca's worried tone makes me feel six layers of guilt.

"It's me, Bianca. I'm sorry I didn't call right away."

"Candi! I'm so glad to hear your voice. Salvatore told me you were okay, but sometimes he tries to protect me and I wasn't sure if I was getting the full story. His mom is my usual ally, but she didn't have any deets either."

"Well, after I woke up with a nasty headache, I escaped out a window." I gloss over some stuff as I tell my best friend and eager eavesdropper sister, but share enough so they both know I really am okay.

"What about you? Whatever was in the wine left me really woozy and that headache…"

"It was bad, but you know Salvatore. I had two different doctors running blood panels to try to figure it out."

"Bet they were both women," I tease.

Salvatore is like pathological about another man touching her. After her past, she doesn't like men touching her except him, so it works.

Kind of like with me and Angelo.

She about peed herself laughing when I told her Angelo said he wouldn't try to stop me dancing. Turns out he's got a possessive bone as deeply embedded as any of the De Luca men.

After the phone call with Bianca and tucking my sister in, I cross the hall and knock on mom's door.

"Come in," she calls.

I open the door to find her sitting in her lift recliner watching one of her shows.

"Since when do you knock on the door?" she asks with raised eyebrows.

"Well, this is your room."

"Which you are always welcome to come into. If the door to the bedroom is shut, you may want to knock just in case…" She winks at me.

What? "I know Boomer spent the time in the saferoom with you and Cookie. Are you saying a flirtation developed?"

I mean, I'm not against it, but really? This fast?

"Let's just say that you might have been right about me not being too old for a little romance in my life."

"Is that why you're taking all this so calmly? I thought you were going to demand I stop seeing Angelo and for us all to move back into the apartment." And I am so, so grateful that's not what is happening.

Is it? Maybe she's lulling me into a false sense of security to swoop in and get all logical on me. Moms are known to do that. At least mine is.

"Sweetheart, the identity of your sperm donor always meant that there was a risk you would get pulled into mafia politics. I admit I thought that if something like this happened, it would be because of Mr. Bianchi. At least with Angelo, I know you will be protected. He moved heaven and earth—"

"And rappelled out of a helicopter." After I gave him a hand job that we both thoroughly enjoyed, I made him tell me the details of his side of the night.

Mom smiles and finishes, "To get to you."

"There was never a moment when I didn't believe he would come for me."

"Maybe it's because I see him through your eyes, but I believe you will always be his priority. I never doubted he would bring you home safe."

I look around mom's living room that Angelo had designed specifically for her needs. "This is our home now, isn't it?"

"Yes," mom says firmly.

"Do you resent being pulled into the mafia world because of me?" I have to ask.

Mom shakes her head. "You are my daughter. Whatever world that means touches mine, that fact never changes."

I bite my lip, blinking back tears. "You're such a good mom, you know that?"

"I'm aware," she teases. "Now tell me everything."

It's different telling my mom. I don't leave out the parts where I was afraid, or in pain. Because it's my mom.

"You should not have risked falling and cracking your head open when you knew Angelo would come for you." She tsks at me.

I shrug. "Maybe, but I didn't realize they were trying to use me to force Angelo to do something. I thought they were trying to get their hands on him. And if I was around they could use me as the bait."

"Don't you think they could have figured out a much simpler way to get him if that were the case?" she asks me gently with that mom logic I was expecting earlier.

"Maybe I wasn't thinking all that clearly. I'd like to blame the drugs they gave me, but the truth is, logic went out the window when I got worried about Angelo's safety." Which is silly. Right?

Death can take care of himself.

But that doesn't mean it isn't still my job to take care of him.

"I guess that means you really do love him."

"Is that what it means?"

"A woman as smart as you doesn't get stupid for anything less than true love."