Chapter 65 MICELI

Róise is on the back of my motorcycle, her body pressed tightly to mine. It's the last trip we'll make to the studio until the yellow alert level is over.

This trip is too important to put off though. I've taken precautions. Keeping Róise safe means sharing my secret with four of my most trusted men.

One of them is the man I plan to make my underboss when I become don, Allessio. Not only do I trust him like family, he has the intelligence and animal instinct to do what must be done.

He came up with the route and strategy for getting me and Róise safely to the studio.

The trip goes without incident and the security detail peels away in the parking garage to take up guard positions outside the private access.

I haven't told the team what I do in this building, but telling them I come here is an exercise in trust. As I told Róise, it has to start somewhere and a don has to trust more things to his men than the underboss.

I stop the bike and climb off before helping my fiancée. After checking the guard positions, I close the door and arm the alarm on it. Then I divest both me and Róise of our helmets and leather jackets before taking her by the hand and leading her to the access panel.

Sev gave Catalina access to the secret archives of our family's history in the New York Cosa Nostra and to the safe in his office. But Róise doesn't care about information, family, heirlooms, or money.

I'm here to give her something a lot harder for me to offer: access to what is left of my heart. I hope she can hear the message in my actions, because I'm still struggling to come up with the words .

"I'm glad we're here. You need this space, Miceli."

I grunt. Not as much as I need the woman at my side.

"Thank you for bringing me."

"I want you with me." Always, but that's not practical.

I understand why my brother has changed his schedule and where he works so much since marrying Catalina though. I said I'd never be as gone on a woman as my brother and cousin, but the truth is? I'm worse.

No way can either of them be as obsessed as I am with my Aphrodite. Having Róise an elevator ride away is fucking intoxicating.

And when things are trying to go to shit, knowing she's there in the penthouse brings me peace.

I access the panel and explain to her how to do it. "Now stand still and try not to blink."

The retinal scanner takes a map of her retina's blood vessels.

When it's done, Róise blinks up at me, her eyes soft. "I think your painting is an important part of you and I hate that you hide it from everyone who loves you."

My lips twist too, but it's not a smile. "I don't think the world is ready for a don who is also an artist.

"I think the world, including the world we live in, can surprise you. Look at how well Uncle Brogan is doing with the calf's eyes that Zoey and Fi keep making at each other."

The older man does surprise me with his acceptance of his youngest daughter's choice in partners. But Róise told me that one of the conditions of her agreeing to marry me is that Fiona will never be forced into an arranged marriage.

Perhaps not being able to see his daughter as a mob asset allows Brogan to be more accepting of Fiona's choices.

"Those two are so into each other it's like walking into an electric field when you stand between them." Me dolce fiore fans herself. "Everyone is going to be relieved when Fi turns eighteen, and they can start dating."

I grunt again. It's a useful expression with my woman. She comments on things I don't have any interest in. Like her youngest cousin's dating life. If I say I'm not interested, it hurts Róise's feelings.

If I grunt she assumes agreement and keeps talking. I like the sound of her voice, so It's a win-win.

"Speaking of Fi…" My fiancée stops talking, a cagey expression on her face I don't like.

"Speaking of your cousin?" I give the little troublemaker a look meant to intimidate as the elevator doors open .

Of course, she just smiles back and steps onto the elevator. There is not one iota of fear of me in her clear green eyes, and I cannot regret it. That doesn't mean I'm leaving this elevator before she gives me the answers I'm looking for.

I press the emergency stop. Recognizing my print, the elevator halts.

"What did you do? We're not moving."

"I'm aware." I lean back against the wall. "You did say you are going to work on my communication."

"What does that have to with…" She realizes the trap.

I smile. "Lead by example."

She rolls her eyes, but starts talking. "Fi wants to sneak away for her 18th birthday celebration."

"She wants to sneak away from the big ball? Doesn't she always find a quiet room to hole up in at parties? What's different about this time?"

After making an appearance, the guest of honor is not necessary at these events because the real reason for them is the chance for syndicate players to gather without drawing scrutiny.

"Nothing. We've already got the room she'll retreat to planned out. She wants to have a private birthday celebration with me, Kara, and Zoey. But she wants it to be…"

"What does she want it to be?" I prompt when Róise doesn't finish the sentence.

Why do I feel like my feisty fiancé has something to do with whatever scheme her cousin is trying to cook up?

"Well, you see for my 21st birthday…" She looks at me. "Can I tell you something in confidence?"

"What do you mean by confidence?" I'm not sure I have any limitations on what I will do for her.

Keeping her secrets is a pretty easy ask, but I won't allow her to put herself in harm's way. I guess that's my limitation.

"I need you not to tell my uncle. Because other people are involved. Adults. And we all have a right to privacy."

I warn her, "I can't allow you, or anyone else in your family, to be put at risk."

"No one is going to be put at risk and there is no risk in regard to past actions because they are over." She looks up at me with sweet innocence.

Which I know is a lie. What the hell has my fiancé been up to? "Talk."

With a disgruntled look, she does. "I wasn't thrilled about spending my 21st birthday having a fake party with a bunch of cronies of my uncle and you guys."

"What did you do about that?" I ask with genuine curiosity.

"My friends and I got together and watched Drunk Shakespeare. "

"I'm surprised your uncle allowed that. It would be a difficult venue to secure "

"Well…" She looks up at me through her eyelashes, which is far too effective. "He didn't exactly know about it."

Understanding is making my gut tight. "Are you telling me that you snuck out?"

Did she hear a single word I said that day in my office when we argued over her new security detail? Said detail is in so much fucking trouble.

"I know that look on your face and knock it off. At that time, I didn't have guards assigned to me when I was at home. They didn't know about my plans. Neither did Ollie. No one knew about it and they never found out either."

She sounds proud of herself.

"How?" I'm not relaxed against the wall anymore, but looming over my unrepentant fiancée.

"Everybody thought the three of us were in the theater room for a movie night."

"But you weren't?" How the hell did they get out of the mansion without being seen?

She tells me.

And I am equal parts, impressed, and furious. "You paddled on a blowup raft to a boat in the dark on the bay? Those waters are choppy. You could have capsized."

My throat muscles are straining with the effort it takes not to yell.

"It was amazing. You should've seen Kara, she was so like 007, except she said she was Salt. I felt like a superspy though."

She thought she was 007? Was she carrying a gun? "Do me a favor and explain this amazing escape in tiny detail for me."

The rest of the telling is no less hair-raising than their trip in the boat. "Your uncle's men could have shot you thinking you were intruders," I grind out.

"Oh, no. We timed it right and Kara's hacks worked perfectly."

"What if they didn't?"

"Then the alarms would have blared and we would have yanked off our hoodies so they knew it was us."

"What if there had been a trigger-happy guard on duty?"

"There wasn't. Or if there was it didn't matter because nobody saw us, okay?"

So not okay, but I want the whole story, so I don't say anything.

"Kara was careful not to shut anything down long enough for our enemies to get onto the grounds and sneak up on the guards, or into the mansion undetected."

"I am so glad you were worried about the armed soldiers." Can she hear the sarcasm in my tone ?

Her grimace says she definitely does. "It wasn't that bad. We had it all planned out. We got to the boat. My friends took us to another house further up the shoreline. We changed into clothes for our night out in the City and it was wonderful. The perfect night before losing my freedom. Or at least that's how I saw it."

How does she see it now?

Am I her jailer? Or the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with?

"I think that's the problem though. We told Fi all about it. And now she wants a night like that for her 18th."

"You have to be twenty-one to get into Drunk Shakespeare. It's in a bar."

"A lounge."

"The distinction does not matter to me. Your cousin is only turning eighteen." Another thought hits me. " You weren't twenty-one yet. "

She rolls her eyes at me.

Rolls. Her. Eyes.

"I wasn't twenty-one when I got in at Nuovi Inizi either. I have a very good fake ID."

"Which you have now destroyed?" I ask with little hope.

"Well, no." She looks up at me appealingly. "It's a keepsake now. A memento of my 21st birthday and the first night I met you."

I don't have anything to say to that, so I say nothing but neither do I demand that she destroy the fake ID.

"Kara and I aren't stupid, Miceli. We wouldn't do the same thing now, not with the threat level as high as it is. But at that time, neither of us had any reason to believe we were in danger."

She starts counting facts off on her fingers, like that makes them more convincing. "No one saw us leave. No one knew we were going to Drunk Shakespeare. My friends bought the tickets. And they were sworn to secrecy."

"You trust these friends to keep secrets like that?" I'm not judging her.

I am asking if she really believes she can trust the four students she spends most of her time with on campus. Of course, I know who they are. I know everything about my fiancée.

Except that she has a stronger predilection for sneaking out than I believed. The self-defense classes start tomorrow and she's sharpening her gun skills.

Róise looks at me, her expression as serious as I have ever seen it. "Yes, my friends, Aleks, Carrie, Traci, and Goodwin are as trustworthy as any human beings on this earth. "

"Okay then. None of my investigations into their background contradict your assessment." Time to get this conversation back to the present plans. "If not drunk Shakespeare, what does your cousin want to do?"

"She's agoraphobic, yeah? So, it's not going to be to go to some crowded bar to watch actors do improv."

Róise has me there. I shouldn't have guessed that particular thing. "What does Fiona want to do?"

"To go bike riding at Caumsett Park."

I wait for her to add something else to this big secret birthday getaway and when she doesn't, I stare at her with incomprehension. "Why does this have to be a secret? "

"The most important element of the bike ride for Fiona is the sneaking away part." Her eyes beg me to understand.

I don't, but that doesn't mean I won't help her. "This is not the first time I haven't understood what is motivating a Shaughnessy woman. Go on."

"If we told Uncle Brogan that Fi wants to go on a bike ride, he wouldn't deny her. He's not a monster. But he would send a bunch of soldiers with us and it wouldn't be the same at all."

"What do you need from me?" Does she want me to help them sneak away from their security?

Because that's definitely not happening, even if I accompanied them. Not with the threat level where it's at right now.

I want you to tell Zoey that it's okay for her to pretend to sneak away with us. And I was really hoping that you would send that awesome security detail that I can never spot when we're out on our dates to protect us, so there's no question of safety."

I shouldn't be surprised by the maturity of this beautiful woman. But her solution to her cousin's desire is both compassionate and intelligent. Róise is not going to put herself or her cousins at risk.

However, she's determined to give Fiona an experience like the one she had for her recent birthday. Which will be giving me nightmares for months.

"Done." I press my finger to the button to get the elevator moving again. "You figure out how to make it seem like it's the great escape. And I will make sure that you have a security detail on you at all times."