Theirs to Protect - Julia Sykes Page 0,18

on. “You still have a year to declare, right?”

I forced myself to respond with something equally normal; just an ordinary college student talking to his dad, not Dominic Russo’s disgraced son. “Yeah, I don’t have to decide my major yet. I’m just figuring out what I like right now. Probably not Chemistry. But that’s not what’s bothering me,” I interjected. “I’m not asking you to get involved, but I’d appreciate some information, if you know anything. Marco caught a man stalking Ashlyn yesterday.” I skipped over Marco’s name quickly and emphasized Ashlyn’s. Dad still wasn’t comfortable with our unconventional relationship, and we kept to a tacit agreement not to discuss it. However, he’d always liked Ashlyn, and the romantic love I shared with her was something that he could understand.

The fact that she’d nearly died when she drank poison that’d been meant for him also softened him toward her. He knew she was innocent and had nothing to do with our criminal underworld, and he had been devastated that she’d been harmed because of her association with him. Especially when he was supposed to be strong enough to protect everyone close to him.

I wasn’t above leveraging his softer feelings for Ashlyn in order to get the answers I needed. “This man stalked her across campus,” I continued. “When Marco caught him, he said that they wanted me dead. He said they would rape Ashlyn.” My voice roughened with residual rage, and my fingers curled to a fist.

“They?” My father repeated, his voice flat and cold, the voice of a hardened killer. “Who are they?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m calling. Do you have any idea why someone might be targeting us?”

A beat of silence passed. “What else did this man say?”

“Nothing else. He pulled a knife, and Marco dealt with him.”

My father made a low sound of approval. He might not understand my relationship with Marco, but he liked my friend’s ruthlessness, especially because he’d been protecting Ashlyn.

“There is a new player in Boston,” he said, “Ciro Amato. He recently moved from Calabria to join his family in America. He just finished a five-year prison sentence in Italy, and he’s been throwing his weight around since he arrived. Nothing extreme enough to start a war, but enough to catch our attention in New York. Even if he has gotten his hands a little bloody to earn some respect, I can’t imagine that he has any interest in you. Targeting you can’t be an attack on me, because you are no longer part of my family. Besides, Amato isn’t powerful enough to survive if he chose to insult me. Not only would I crush him, but it would be bad for everyone’s business.

“Amato is the only new development in Boston that I’m aware of, but as I said, it doesn’t make sense for him to be involved with this. You’re sure the man who was stalking Ashlyn didn’t say anything else about why they are targeting you?”

They’re targeting us because they’re bigots and they don’t understand our lifestyle. I wasn’t about to bring up that sore subject. The discovery of my relationship with Marco and Ashlyn had been my ticket to freedom. For my dad, it was the reason I’d been ripped away from him and Mom. It was a miracle that he still wanted to talk to me at all. If I hadn’t almost died right in front of him, we might not be having this conversation. I didn’t want him to stop taking my calls, so I avoided the subject altogether.

“No,” I lied. “The stalker just said that they wanted me dead, and they know I’m with Ashlyn. They threatened her because they know that will hurt me.” I omitted Marco’s name entirely.

“Listen, Joseph…” My father hesitated. “If you’re not safe in Boston, maybe I can help. I could send a few guys to ask around. There are some more…progressive men who might be willing to watch your back.”

“No.” My refusal was immediate and fierce. If my father got involved, Marco and I would get pulled right back into his world. We wouldn’t be free anymore.

I took a quick breath and softened my tone. “Thanks, Dad, but no. It’s safer for all of us if people think we hate each other. No one’s been giving you any trouble about me since I left, right? I don’t want that to change.” That was true. No matter what my father was, I still loved him. I didn’t want him to get