“I’ve seen enough.”
“But you haven’t seen the back. It has a really cute--”
Gary’s voice rose over the vacuums. “It belongs in a pastry shop window. In fact, it’s not even worthy of the pastry shop window. Not even the one where they put the stale pastries that they can’t sell anymore. The ones that sit for weeks on end. It’s that bad. It’s terrible.”
Suzy was stunned by his candor, placing her hands on her hips as the vacuums finally moved away, their loud roars fading.
“Now, Gary, you are the…” Suzy threw up finger quotes. “Man-of-honor, so it’s up to you to set the tone for the entire bridal party. Let’s refrain from using strong words like ugly, or terrible, or ‘pastry shop window.’ It only makes the bride feel bad and, since this bride is pregnant, it might just make her homicidal.”
Zoey watched Suzy with astonishment. “Amen, sista,” she beamed.
“Fine,” Gary said. “No offense… but it’s terrible.”
“Now see, saying the words ‘no offense’ before you say something offensive doesn’t counteract the offensiveness,” Suzy said.
Gary caught Suzy’s eyes, and stared.
Suzy stared right back.
Zoey gave Suzy a look. “We weren’t raised by wolves, Suzy, I promise.” She motioned to Gary. “This one just got very lost along the way.” She and Gary shared sugary-sweet smiles, that were the farthest things from sweet.
“I think he’s right, Zoey. I’m sorry, but I don’t like it, either,” Angie said.
Gary threw his arms up, thankful for small victories. “So it’s a no. Next.” He waved his finger impatiently.
Looking to Suzy, Zoey was about ready to give up, and it showed in her eyes. “Maybe it’s time we just call it a night, Suzy. I’m leaving town in a few hours, anyway. No other customers are here, and the cleaners are climbing all over us. We can take a hint.”
“No we can’t.”
Zoey turned at the sound of a deep voice over her shoulder, and her mouth dropped at the sight of Leo standing behind her, a soft smile on his face as he cradled a floor length, slinky dress in his hands.
“We’ve still got three minutes,” he said, smiling wryly.
“Leo,” Zoey whispered. She was truly surprised to see her burliest, surliest, and most hard-edged brother behind her. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you were looking at dresses today. Thought I’d drop in.”
“But you hate this kind of stuff.” Tears came to Zoey’s eyes.
“If you shed even a single tear, I’m out,” Leo warned.
Zoey choked back her hormonal cries, pressing her lips together as she begged for control.
Meeting Suzy’s eyes, Leo smiled an unsure smile, lifting the dress in his hand. “I saw this one on the way in. I don’t know…” He looked down at the dress, and seemed suddenly embarrassed he was even holding it. “I thought it was nice.”
“It looks like a curtain,” Gary said.
Before she could stop herself, Zoey had launched her body at Leo. She wrapped her arms around his neck so tightly he could barely breathe. Not only had he shown up at the mall, one of the places he hated most, he’d actually picked up something off the rack on his way in. It was all Zoey had not to explode into uncontrollable sobs of love against his leather jacket.
Leo caught her around the waist with one hand, laughing gently.
“Alright…” he breathed.
“I don’t even care whether or not Val put you up to it, and I don’t care that the dress really does look like an Ikea curtain, I’m just so glad you’re here.”
Leo embraced her, not pulling away until she did. “I wouldn’t miss it, Sis.”
Zoey took the dress he offered, and turned back to Suzy.
The frown was back between Suzy’s eyebrows. “So… is this the brother, who’s also your fiancé?”
“Nah,” Leo shook his head. “That’s our other brother, Val.”
Suzy waved a hand of exasperation, giving up, before motioning Zoey back into the dressing room.
Leo moved across the room and took a seat in the empty chair next to Angie. He nodded to Gary, and gave Angie a playful nudge.
She met his eyes, and they smiled at each other.
“How’s my brother?” he asked, nudging her harder.
“A jerk off,” she answered.
“Why don’t you tell me something I don’t know already?”
“A little warning would have been nice,” Angie grumbled.
Leo’s smile grew. He had no idea she was being serious.
Angie was thankful when Zoey stepped out of the dressing room, distracting her from the conversation about Roman.
As Zoey moved, the “Ikea curtain” flowed gently along with her. She ran her hands nervously along the front, her eyes jumping between the people she loved most.
She’d known it in the dressing room, but it was solidified the moment she saw Angie, Leo and Gary. They all sat a little taller.
For the first time that night, Gary smiled.
At the sight, Zoey broke down into tears before she could even make it to the podium, covering her face with her hands.
“We think this is the one,” Suzy said, running soothing circles along Zoey’s back.
Leo blinked softly. “It’s stunning, Sis.”
“It’s beautiful,” Angie breathed.
Zoey took her teary eyes from her hands, mascara dripping down her face as her eyes went expectantly to Gary.
“That’s the one,” he said, nodding. “That’s it.”
“Really? The curtain? The curtain is what’s won you over?” Zoey teased.
“It doesn’t look like a curtain when it’s on you. It looks…” Gary tried to find the right words. “That’s it, Zo.”
It was.
Zoey turned to Suzy, sniffled, and smiled widely. “We’ll take it.”
Suzy whooped, nearly coming off her feet with glee.
Every employee that remained broke into cheers.
Even the cleaning crew joined in on the celebration.
Though she was distantly aware that the employee’s happiness was likely due to their desire to get them all the hell out of there so they could go home, Zoey didn’t care.
It felt really good.
***
The following night, Angie stepped off the train on her street in Washington Heights, still smiling. Wedding dress shopping with Zoey had been something she’d been secretly dreading. Surprisingly, it hadn’t been so bad.
She loved seeing her friend happy. Seeing tears of joy filling Zoey’s eyes was enough to fill Angie’s heart for days to come.
Even as she texted Jessica furiously on her phone, Angie couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off her face. Knowing this neighborhood like the back of her hand, she didn’t even have to look up from her texting working thumbs as she made her way down sidewalks, around corners and across streets. She turned a corner, and flashes of light instantly hit her so hard against her lowered eyelids, she was forced to look up.
The sight that met her shocked her still. The smile on her face vanished, and the cell phone tumbled from her hands.
She heard it crash and shatter at her feet. Her heart shattered right with it.
The flames lapped at her office building quietly, calmly.
So calmly.
The flames’ tranquility was a direct contradiction to the madness that had commenced in her heart. Even from across the street, she could see that the fire had taken everything. Not just her office, but also the mini mart of the Pakistani family next door. She didn’t just weep for her life’s work, but for the life’s work of the Kapoors. The family was out of town on vacation, in Mumbai. Surely their phones were turned off.
Angie’s tear filled eyes finally fell to the cellphone at her feet. Through her shock, she managed to bend down and swipe it up with trembling fingers.
The screen was shattered. She pressed the power button, and was not surprised to fi
nd it dead.
As she rose her eyes back to the building, she realized she was as good as dead too.
14
Roman’s eyes were inflamed and agitated when he opened the door to his apartment. An unlit cigarette hung down between his lips, but it tumbled out the moment he caught sight of Angie, pale and trembling, at his doorstep.
She was a large part of the reason why his eyes were bloodshot. She was the only reason why he’d been mere seconds from lighting the first cigarette he’d smoked in months. Before she’d knocked, he’d had the lighter engaged. The flame had been lapping mere inches from the tip.
She’d knocked just in time. Just before the flames burned the tip, filled him to the brim with poison, and erased the hard work he’d being doing since the moment they’d met.
If Angie Cole being at his door wasn’t a sign, he simply didn’t know what was. He could no longer deny what was true. He needed her. She’d saved him. Not just from lighting that cancer stick, but period. He needed her, period.
Some selfish part of him hoped the tears on her face were from missing him. That she’d shown up at his door to say she was ready to lay her armor down.
He was ready, too. He’d been ready, since the moment she’d walked out on him back in the Hamptons.
Three days without her had left him missing her with a ferocity that had caught him off guard. Seeing her now, at his door, made him miss her more. His heart already churned in fear of her leaving, and she hadn’t even come in. He wanted to tug her inside, and never give her the chance to leave again.
Yes, he would drop his armor. He would drop it all, right that second, if she was willing to drop hers with him.
Sadly, Roman could see that reconciliation wasn’t what had brought Angie Colt to his door that night. Whatever had driven her here was bigger than missing him, bigger than whatever problems they were having with each other.
She looked broken, devastated, terrified.
Panic flashing across his eyes, Roman reached through the threshold and immediately took a firm hold of her sweater.
The tears she’d been fighting exploded to life the moment he touched her. She allowed her body to be tugged to his, sobbing into his chest as he enveloped her in his arms.
He took his attentions away just long enough to kick the door of his apartment closed before wrapping his arms around her tighter. He nearly suffocated her in his hold. His hand went to the back of her head when she tried to pull away, holding her to him, refusing to let her retreat.
“What happened?” His voice was deeper than usual. Angry. He was ready to fuck somebody up, and he didn’t even know who it was. When she didn’t answer, he gently shook her with the arm that still held her around the waist. His other hand disappeared into her curls. His voice boomed louder. “Who?” he demanded.
Angie couldn’t manage to speak passed her trembling body. She knew what she wanted to say, what would calm him down. He clearly believed there was a human being walking around out there somewhere whose skull he would have to crush. She tried to tell him it wasn’t a person that had her shredded, but a loss. The loss of one of the few things she’d ever truly loved.
“Talk to me.” Roman tried to hold her tighter, but realized it wasn’t possible. The pain in her eyes soaked through his t-shirt. His frown deepened when her cries became strong enough to make him tremble along with her. “You’re scaring me. Talk to me. Who did this to you?”
Angie hiccupped. “It’s just gone,” she finally croaked.
At the sound of her voice, he unconsciously shook her, again. “What? What’s gone?”
“It was my whole life, Roman. It was everything I loved. It was all I had. It was my home.”
Roman finally pulled away, keeping a tight hold on her arms as his eyes met hers. “Your office?”
She inhaled sharply. “It’s gone. I got off the train, and it was on fire.” Her face curled with pain. “It was just gone.”
“Who did this?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes narrowed. “It was all I had, Roman.”
Roman pulled her back to him. “It wasn’t all you had.” His hand returned to the back of her head, nearly swallowing it whole in his large palm as he held her face to his chest. “You have me. I got you.”
She clutched the back of his t-shirt, but didn’t have the courage to remind him that he really didn’t have her. Not in the way she wanted to be had. She was nothing more than his sex buddy, a convenient distraction from his own screwed up life, a wet hole with which to partake, but by no means lock down. She didn’t have the heart to say any of it, because deep down, she wanted to believe him.
At that moment, she needed to believe him.
“Zoey’s out of town, and my mom wasn’t home. My phone is dead. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“I got you.” His own fingers took hold of her sweater as he pressed his face into her hair, eyes fluttering shut. “You’re staying here.”
***
Later that night, Angie couldn’t help the small smile that pushed at her lips as she sat Indian style on the recliner in Roman’s living room. She sipped a cup of tea he’d whipped up for her, biting her lip as her eyes jumped back and forth between the four huge bodies that surrounded her.
Leo and Gary sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of her, leaning forward on their knees, watching her with concerned eyes. To her right, Val sat on the arm of the recliner, studying her in much the same way. Next to the coffee table, Roman was pacing, his hand covering his downturned lips.
“Are you sure the firefighters said it was arson?” Val asked.
“They said it would take a few days to be certain, but I spoke to the Chief, and he made it pretty clear that the results would come back arson.” Her eyes rose to Val’s. “He said he can tell a man made fire from a mile away. He was old as hell, too, so I imagine he’s seen his fair share.”
Val held her gaze, a slow frown growing between his eyebrows.
Angie wasn’t sure what she was waiting for as they watched each other, but when that thing never came, she went back to her tea, cutting her eyes in Val’s direction as she took a slow sip. She had to ignore the feeling. The one she’d been getting lately when she was in his presence. There simply wasn’t any room for it in her mind, or her heart. She was maxed out. So she took a hearty sip of her tea and tried to ignore it.
“There’s no one you can think of who could have done this?” Leo asked. His eyes and voice were filled with the same dangerous determination that had been in Roman’s earlier that night.
Angie shook her head, still unable to hide her smile. Apart of her wondered if the Romanovsky brothers didn’t live for moments like this. Moments were they had an excuse to right something that had been wronged with someone they cared about. To strong-arm someone who must have had them completely fucked up, to exert their immense power.
Angie wondered if they even cared that someone had set her building on fire, or if they were just itching for a fight. Any fight.
She hoped for the former, because it made her stomach roll with warmth.
One phone call from Roman, and they’d all dropped everything to come to his place. They were determined to help her get to the bottom of it.
Even Gary.
Her eyes went to him when he spoke for the first time.
“You make a living trailing people. Is it possible that someone knows you’ve been trailing them?”
“No,” she said, her eyes going wide. “I’m extremely careful about covering my tracks. That can’t be it.”
“No disgruntled old clients? Anyone who hasn’t been satisfied with your services?” Leo pushed.
“No. I’ve solved every case that has ever come across my desk, except Zoey’s.” The moment Angie said her friend’s name, something shifted in her. For some reason, she immediately looked up at Val, and was not surprised to find his intense stare watching her right back. She felt it, again. That feeling. It drove her to move her eyes back to Le
o. He was Val’s twin, but for some reason, he was easier to look at. “Anyway, I’ve worked over a thousand cases since I was sixteen, cases that branched off to involve other people, probably tens of thousands of them. I suppose I’ve probably pissed off a lot of people, indirectly, but it would be impossible to know who.”
Gary suddenly sighed. “What about recently? Who’s cases have you been working recently?”
She cut her eyes at Val over her teacup once more. The death of Zoey’s parents. She’d dropped all of her cases, even stopped accepting new ones, so she could focus on the Blacks’ death 100%.
Gary’s question was valid, and her blood chilled once more when she realized the person who’d set fire to her office was more than likely connected to her sudden interest in the Blacks, in Knox Jefferson, in the Governor.
Leo must have sensed that Angie was in another place, because he sat tall. “Well. You’re in a shaky line of work. And you’ve definitely pissed someone off. We’re going to get to the bottom of this. Please believe it,” he said, standing from the table.
Gary and Val followed, each making similar assurances.
They said their goodbyes and passed the recliner. Leo leaned down, pressed a soft kiss to her cheek and gave her a wink before he passed.
Val clapped a hand on her shoulder.
She jolted.
So did he.
Their eyes met. Her tea wobbled in her cup. “You guys really didn’t all have to come down here,” she said, mostly to Val.
“Course we did.” Leo frowned from the doorway, shrugging on his coat. He looked at her like that was the craziest thing he’d ever heard.
“Its very sweet, but what’s done is done. My office is gone. It’s done.”
“Hm…” Leo thought on it. “Nope.”
Angie had to laugh. “Nope?”
“Hell no. And best believe, when we find out who did it, he’s going to learn to never fuck with Angie Colt, ever again.” Leo’s eyes went past Angie, and over to Roman. “You hear me?”
Roman closed his alarmed eyes and nodded. “I hear you. Thanks, Leo.”
“Don’t thank us. Just call us if you hear anything.” Leo waited for Roman’s nod before he pulled open the door. “Goodnight.”
Claiming Roman Page 23
