Mr. and Mrs. Rossi

“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.”