The bedroom door opened and before anyone could react, Julio roared, storming between them like a maniac. Back in the day Julio was known for his cool and style. No one messed with him, partly because he came from one of the most prestigious families in town with three equally badass brothers, but because he had a way of intimidating most people with just one look.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Julio pulled Harley from Dante’s grip and pushed her behind his tall frame, protecting her. Barstools fell over crashing to the feathered sprinkled floor as Dante’s team scrambled to get between them. The room felt more like a bar scene than the suite of a five-star hotel. Her mind screamed but nothing escaped her throat. A pounding echoed in the room and for a moment Harley swore someone was at the door before she realized it was her heart slamming against her ribs.
“Her husband, who in the hell do you think you are?”
“I’m Hannah’s father, and this is her mother. I’ll be damned if I let you handle her like this.”
The worst way to let the truth out just happened. Harley felt guiltier now than she did when Tito walked in on the curious position. This was not how she ever wanted her secret to get out.
Dante looked over Julio’s shoulders. His eyes pierced into hers searching for the truth. She couldn’t do anything but look away.
“Ah, fuck me!” he growled before storming out the door.
Chapter 14
For the first time since they met and married, Dante walked out on Harley. She stared at the closed door. TJ, taking Dante’s advice, kept a watchful eye on her, even while she sponged off the blood from her body in the hallway bathroom with the door open. Harley turned her head slightly to get a good look at him—size him up a bit. He looked young to be an agent but she was recruited at a young age also. With his broad chest, height and muscles, she’d need to outwit him instead of overpower him.
“Relax,” TJ said taking a seat on a barstool, submachine gun still pointed at her while a well-paid maid busied herself cleaning the bedroom. Harley could hear the woman praying to God in Spanish and didn’t blame her. The boys trashed the place.
Dante and his team went downtown with Julio to get Hannah out of jail. The judges arrived around seven and the prisoners were brought out around seven-thirty for arraignment. Harley twisted her hands nervously together. She wouldn’t be able to sit still until she had Hannah in her arms.
She loved Hannah like a daughter, but even though she gave birth to her, she did not have the right to claim her. Hannah belonged to Anthony and Felicia. He raised her. He stood in and took care of things when Harley had been a stupid naïve fifteen year old, too big for her own britches. How foolish she’d been to believe Julio’s feelings for her were genuine. They planned to get married; he told her he’d marry her and then his family stepped in, proving how foolish she’d been.
The Torres family wanted nothing to do with the Tomasello’s. They blamed Harley for seducing their prized son and trying to trap him. What kid wanted to be trapped at fifteen? And now Julio waltzed back into her life? This was exactly why she hated coming to this city. It was filled with nothing but sorrow and heartbreak.
She read the betrayal in Dante’s dark eyes. The look of utter disappointment resonated in her brain. How many times had she seen that same disenchantment in her family’s eyes? What must Dante think?
Harley dug her nails into the palms of her hand as she stared at the door. Why bother thinking about him? So what if Julio’s bombshell news hit harder than if he’d been kicked in the teeth. He was the reason she was being called off her case. She needed to talk to Mak, but Dante’s men frisked her, confiscated her weapons and took her phone, trapping her here with the baby face agent. Not having her weapons did not make her powerless. She still had twenty-five other ways to hurt a man. Right now, what she needed to do was figure out how and pray Tai got her beacon.
“Harley, relax,” TJ said again, this time motioning with the gun for her to sit on the couch.
Feathers scattered as she dragged her feet. The empty thigh holster stretched and accommodated her flesh as she sat. Fatigue tried to settle in but Harley stifled the threatening yawn. She focused on the sound of the vacuum in the next room as it filled the suite with static noise. Her body begged for more sleep but she refused on account Dante demanded her to do so. Fuck him. He acted like an overgrown child, mad because he found out someone else played with his toy.
Dante stirred up holy hell around here. The glass table bore cracked dents in the shape of his meaty fists. Holes poked through the walls. She’d swear the men used the floor as a wrestling mat. All the furniture was pushed back against the wall. One of the men mentioned having to subdue Dante. Why though? Did he care that much about her? The agent named Elliott told her Dante did not take the news too well when he learned she’d been killed. Oh, ye of little faith, she thought with a sly smile.
“Lucky you for getting to babysit me.”
“I wouldn’t call this babysitting,” said TJ stretching to his six-foot plus height. Was it a recruitment requirement for these guys or something? TJ wore a black vest similar to the one she’d seen Dante in. With his arms exposed, she saw the eagle tattoo on his bicep as he pointed his weapon at her. “You’re a grown ass woman.”
“So I can leave?”
“Hell no,” TJ gave her a charming grin. “I’m not saying I am totally scared of Dante, but he’d have my ass served on a platter if I let you leave. We’re all here for the same purpose.”
“What do you think the reason is?” Harley asked slowly.
“First, we all want to make sure your daughter’s safe.”
Damn it! This was why she never wanted this to come out. It was ancient history. Damn Julio Torres. She hated more than anything having to confess to him what happened to her but with his connections to the city, she’d been desperate last night.
“Niece,” she channeled Sister Cordelia’s harsh tone when speaking to him. The Nun had to have reconsidered her career choice after teaching First Communion Classes to Harley and her other seven-year-old friends. Every time Harley thought of the penguins her knuckles ached from being rapped with a ruler. Half the time the blame lay with Chet Rossi and his brothers. Bitterness rolled off her tongue. Trouble seemed to follow the Rossi family line. “Hannah is my niece. Try not to make the same mistake when she gets here.”
Now she was more annoyed than ever. She really needed to get Hannah out of there as soon as possible before anyone let out the family secret.
“I get it,” TJ nodded. The room grew awkwardly silent for a moment. The fading in and out sound of the vacuum once again filled the room. Harley winced and sat back in the couch where she’d slept. Slept? More like passed out. She could sleep later, once Hannah was safe.
“I have a daughter out there,” TJ confessed.
“Just, ‘out there’?” Harley mocked.
TJ gave his shoulders a casual shrug. Did he even shave? His youthfulness deceived her but his story about disappointing his teenage mom by not breaking the cycle aged him. “Me and my high school girlfriend got pregnant at seventeen. We thought about keeping her but decided to put her up for adoption.”
“How old is she now?”
“She should be ten. We picked out the parents for her, an older couple who got together and married after they had their careers and all. You know, too late for them to have kids.”
A mental kinship developed between Harley and the unknown baby-TJ. She did receive a lot of attention from her older parents. They did not have to worry about bills like they did when her siblings were born. Jenny always taunted her, calling her spoiled. Maybe a little bit, Harley thought to herself. She always felt a certain type of entitlement, at least until she got pregnant.
She understood the pain of giving a child up for adoption but unlike TJ’s situation, Harley chose Hannah’s parents. Julio wanted Harley to have an abortion, which she refused. He decided they’d marry until his mother and father stepped in. His
parents offered to send her away to a group home to take care of her and find a good home for her child. Her parents actually considered the banishment until Harley learned the adoption would be closed and she’d have no chance of ever seeing her baby turn eighteen.
Harley offered a friendly smile to her new friend. The icy hatred she had, had not lessened and a twinge of anticipated guilt crept down her spine. She was going to have to disappear on him. Last night she was desperate and delirious.
“Do you get to see her?”
“No,” TJ inhaled deeply. “We decided on a closed adoption. No point of letting my crazy family involved.”
Crazy family? Harley gave him the once-over. “You seem normal.”
“Are any of us really normal who join STB?” TJ said with air quotes over normal.
He was right. Who gave away their child to her brother to raise while she stands in the shadows and watches? Who took jobs and put their lives on the line for an absurd amount of money but no recognition?
TJ continued. “The ‘T’ in TJ stands for Tack, well, Tackle to be more exact,” TJ winked. “My pops married my mom and then my aunt.”
“Ouch,” Harley winced, “Your poor mom.”
“Don’t worry about her. My Godfather who is now my step-father challenged paternity—twice for me and for my sister, what’s that say?”
Harley pictured an episode of The Maury Povich Show and him saying, ‘You are the father!’
“My Aunt Jasmine, who is more like my sister, married her best friend’s groom while she was the bridesmaid at their wedding.”
Harley nodded slowly. “Okay, so my sister, who doesn’t speak to me because I gave my child to my brother instead of her, is not so off.”
“Family is family and you my dear, are now a part of our family.” He inclined his head toward the ring on her left hand.
Damn she needed to take the thing off but right now she still found the band to be her savior. Had it not been for the ring, she might not have been able to crack the window. Subconsciously she rolled it around her finger with her thumb.
“We’re getting an annulment.”
“Florida doesn’t recognize them. And the couple filing for divorce has to have not had sex for a year in order for a judge to grant dissolution.”
With their marriage barely a week old, she and Dante surpassed the amount of sex an average couple participated in. She couldn’t deny it. Except for last night, they’d spent every day satisfying the craving they had for one another. Right now, despite her growing anger for Dante, her body shook with withdrawals. She cradled her arms together and resisted the crack-head mentality to start to itch. Maybe a side effect from the jump and the bruised ribs or the concussion.
“Well, aren’t you just full of information,” Harley frowned. Did Dante know? Of course he did. The big question was for how long.
“I do what I do,” TJ grinned. A cell phone on the counter rang; Guns and Roses’ Welcome to the Jungle filled the air. Harley rolled her eyes. Well, they were brothers. If the same ring tone played every time Dante’s phone rang, there was no reason not to believe they all shared it. TJ excused himself to answer the phone.
Harley tried to think of all the excuses she needed to get out of here. She’d overheard enough of Leonardo’s conversation with Alfaro to know his father was in town and he was scared shitless of not getting whatever job done they had going before his father found out.
“Fuck, are you serious?” TJ said in a harsh hushed tone, speaking behind his hand.
Harley motioned for the bathroom over emphasizing her pain as she rose from the couch. TJ waved her off, she was sure because he did not want her to hear his end of the conversation. Harley didn’t need bionic hearing to know something went wrong with bailing Hannah out of jail. Julio probably ran in there like he owned the place. There was probably a woman there he slept with and pissed off and now because of him, Hannah was in deeper trouble.
One of the reasons TJ seemed confident with Harley using the bathroom alone was because it was an eye glance of where he sat on the phone and the guest bathroom had no secret door to the hallway or windows. But it did have a tiled ceiling, something Harley used to her advantage.
****
Three men and a baby—at least three men and a jailbird, it’s what Dante thought as he, Cole and Julio stood at the help desk crowding the work-station of Gertie. Once again they’d interrupted Gertie’s meal—breakfast this time. The whole waiting area smelled like pancakes. Dante’s stomach rumbled while Julio tried to throw his weight around.
“How in the hell can she be bailed out?” Julio growled.
“I am sorry, Mr. Mayor,” Gerti said with a shaky voice.
Dante hated for his new friend to be brought to tears, but his initial reaction mirrored Julio’s. How in the hell could someone have bailed Hannah out before being arraigned by a judge? Bobby Marchette had something to do with this. A lot could get done with the head of the mafia in town.
Gertie’s fingers shook as she glanced over the paperwork. “Well, let me check, the inmate was transferred, not bailed out.”
“By whom?” the three men demanded.
Wide eyed, Gertie shook her head, “I don’t question anything,” she said, “I just do as I’m told. He often takes the girls, saves them before they get anything put on their records.”
“You’ve got two seconds to explain,” Julio’s fingers gripped the wood framing the window, “before I have you hauled off to jail myself.”
Dante hadn’t had time to process this morning’s revelation. Julio was Hannah’s father. Hannah, the miniature reflection of Harley… his new niece. Harley’s daughter. Though his rationale may be off, Dante believed Julio, who just discovered Hannah was his daughter, had no right getting as upset as he was. If anyone should be throwing furniture around, he should. Julio and Hannah never had a conversation. Julio wouldn’t have been able to pick Hannah out of a line-up.
Cole, the man of calm and reason, placed a hand on Dante’s shoulder. “Let me talk to you for a second.”
They stepped a few feet away while Julio badgered Gertie. Outside where the palm trees blew in the morning wind, the sun made its appearance. Tito sat in the car waiting. Roman went to scout out Javier while Jerraud went to put eyes on the older Marchette. Unlike his son, Bobby did not hide in the shadows. Knowing him, he’d be somewhere on the beach under an umbrella and sipping on a fruity drink.
Getting close to Bobby Marchette would be harder than finding Leonardo. No matter where the man was, a guaranteed sniper was somewhere nearby. If you didn’t have an appointment with the man you risked getting shot. After almost losing Harley, Dante’s options became slimmer. This case needed to end one way or another and he needed to ride off into the sunset with his wife.
“We’ve got a problem,” said Cole.
The words came out of his friend’s mouth so calmly Dante wasn’t sure what the problem was other than the fact Hannah was now missing. “Yeah, I know it.”
“Not just this,” he inclined his reddish head toward the doors leading to the visitor’s area. “but I want you to promise me not to kill anyone.”
Dante glared at Julio, “I’m not sure I can promise that, I haven’t had to kill anyone in a few days and my trigger finger is getting itchy.”
“Yeah, well you killing this person will change the dynamics of our group.”
“How so?”
“TJ sent a text, Harley disappeared on him,” Cole took a dragged sigh, “My guess is she overheard him talking to Tito.”
The only thing Dante could do at first was laugh with relief. So he wasn’t the only person she always gave the slip. The corners of his eyes crinkled trying to contain a laugh. “What’d she do? Wait for him to go to the bathroom?”
“No, he wouldn’t have been so stupid to leave her alone in the room,” Cole chuckled and Dante felt the dig, however when he left Harley alone in the room he had no idea she was an agent. “He was on the phone with me an
d she went to the bathroom in the hallway and got out through the roof.”
“At this point, nothing surprises me.”
“You talking about the surprise father?”
“Surprise everything,” Dante admitted. “She never told me about him or being an agent.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong but you two did meet like yesterday, right?”
“Funny,” Dante focused outside at the string of people being released from the drunk tank. He’d been in those holding cells a few times. The cops did it to keep intoxicated idiots from hurting themselves more. “We’re going on four days.”
“A whole eternity, you’ve almost caught up with me and Rosalind.”
“Don’t forget you guys divorced what was it, three months after marrying?”
Cole elbowed Dante in the ribs, “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about your messed up situation. The father’s back in her life, what are you going to do about it?”
“Not a damn thing,” Dante folded his arms across his chest, “she married me, not him. Through thick and thin, at least I think that’s what Chet said.”
“Your cousin?” Cole rolled his eyes the same way others did with his mentioned name. “Yeah okay. Well, it’s good to know you want to work things out. I like Harley.”
“Me too,” Dante responded, watching the next batch of hung over kids. “Look, this asshole can be back in Hannah’s life. He has every right to be.”
“Good to know.”
He probably said that because when Cole left Rosalind, she’d just found out she was pregnant. Ten years out of their lives and Rosalind still made sure Jane knew about her father. Now-a-days you’d never know there was a time lapse. Of course, Cole and Rosalind worked things out between them. Dante did not believe for one instant Julio and Harley would want to work things out. But hell, he’d been wrong before.
Mr. and Mrs. Rossi Page 18
