whirlwind of blonde flew out of the cabin and down the steps. “You’re here,” Alessia shrieked, launching herself into my arms. I hugged her back, laughing softly.
“I’ve been so worried,” she whispered.
“One rule, Sia,” a deep voice said. My gaze lifted to find Enzo in the door, cold glare right on me. “Stay in the damn cabin.”
“Lighten up, E, we’re safe out here.” Alessia poked her tongue out at him but Enzo was no longer looking at her. He was staring right at Nora.
“You didn’t say she was bringing her.”
“I have a name, douchebag.” She marched right up to him, shouldered past him and slipped into the cabin.
“What?” Matteo chuckled, clearly amused. “You didn’t have to come.”
“Yeah,” Enzo growled. “I did.” He spun around and disappeared inside.
“This should be fun.” Laughter rumbled in Matteo’s chest. “Come on, we’ll give you the tour.”
Alessia pressed herself into my side. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
It should have felt weird or overfamiliar, but it didn’t. It felt nice.
It felt right.
It felt like something was shifting, like I had finally found my place.
“We’ll be right outside.” Luis gave me a reassuring nod. “This place is off the grid, but we’ve got it covered. You’re safe here.”
“He’s not wrong,” Matteo added. “We won’t let anything happen to you, Arianne, I promise.”
“Yeah, you’re one of us now.” Alessia smiled. “And we protect our own.”
Chapter 9
Nicco
“How do you do this day in, day out?” I asked Tommy, drumming my fingers against my thigh.
We’d been at it all day. Staking out the address he’d found. It was tedious fucking work, but Tommy seemed to like it.
“I like the solitude... and I like people-watching.”
Yeah, that wasn’t creepy at all.
“I don’t see why we can’t just go knock on the door and talk to her.”
Elizabeth Monroe.
Seventy-five-year-old widow. Born and raised in Montpelier, Vermont. But she hadn’t always been a Monroe. She had, in fact, been born Elizabeth Ricci, and was Mike Fascini’s auntie. The only remaining Ricci in Vermont according to Tommy’s findings.
“Hey, who’s that?” I flicked my head to the young girl entering the house. She looked to be my age, maybe a couple years younger.
Tommy ran his hand down the notebook, flipped a page and jabbed his finger at the thing. “She has a granddaughter. Charlotte Monroe. It could be her.”
“A granddaughter? You didn’t say anything about family.”
“It’s just her and Charlotte. She’s a freshman at the college in Burlington.” He shrugged, lighting up a smoke.
“Do you mind?” I raised a brow. “Those things will kill ya.”
“I already got a one-way ticket to hell, kid. Might as well enjoy the ride.” He took a long drag, cracked the window and exhaled the smoke outside.
I cracked my own window, breathing in some fresh air. It was a little after six. Arianne would have finished her shift at the VCTI which meant Luis was driving her and Nora out to the cabin to meet Alessia.
God, I wanted to be there. I wanted to see her so fucking badly. But instead, I was stuck here with Tommy, breathing in his secondhand smoke and staking out an old woman’s house.
“She hasn’t left the house all day. She isn’t a threat,” I said, growing impatient.
“She isn’t a threat, but we don’t know that Fascini hasn’t got eyes on her.”
“You said Michael Fascini left Vermont before Mike was born.”
“According to records, they arrived in Verona County in the seventies. But we still can’t take any chances.”
Letting out a frustrated breath, I raked a hand through my hair. “So what? We’re going to just sit here all night?” It had already been hours.
“We wait for the girl to leave, then you go in.”
“Me?”
“It’s gotta be you, Nicco. Look at me, I’m not exactly grandma friendly.”
Tommy had a point. The ugly jagged scar that ran from his left eye down to his jaw gave him a permanently angry expression. Which was ironic given that he was one of the best people I knew. But if Elizabeth Monroe saw Tommy standing on her doorstep, chances were, he wasn’t going to get an invitation inside.
“Everything I dug up suggests Elizabeth and her brother were estranged. But the paper trail doesn’t always paint the whole picture.”
The door opened and the girl appeared. Elizabeth hovered in the door. She looked frail for seventy-five. They hugged and the girl kissed her grandma’s cheeks before taking off down the sidewalk.
“Okay, you’re up. You ready for this?”
“Talking to an old lady?” It was a piece of cake compared to some of the stuff we