Top Dog

I squinted my eyes at the man as they fell to his fists which were clenched, ready to do battle. And I was itching for a fight. I couldn't place his voice, but there was something about his eyes that was familiar. It was driving me nuts that I couldn’t figure it out.

Where the hell had I seen this man before?

“And if I don’t?” I asked.

“Then I’ll kill you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” I said.

“We could give it a go right here if you want.”

He pulled his leather jacket off to the side and showcased the sidearm on his hip.

“And you think you’re the only one?” I said.

I pulled back my suit coat and showed him the two situated on mine.

“Julia and Matteo are spoken for. Protected by me. And I won’t let you lay a hand on either of them. If you come after Julia or you gun for custody of Matteo, I won’t stop until I lay you out. She doesn’t want you in that boy’s life. And neither do I.”

“It isn’t good for your health to threaten me,” I said darkly.

The man bucked up to me, and I craned my neck down to look at him.

“Julia is her own damn woman, and you do not speak for her. I’ll see her and my son whenever I damn well please,” I said.

He sneered at me, actually showing teeth like a rabid dog. “I’m warning you. You come near her again, I will put you in the ground asshole,” he spat.

Then he drew his fist back at lightning speed and crashed into my gut.

It took me by surprise so I didn't have time to brace. Holy fuck, the man was a quick mover. I gasped for air and started to wheeze as I grabbed my stomach. I fell to my knees beside my car in the fucking parking lot and watched as his boots walked away. My hand hit the pavement as my vision tunneled, my diaphragm attempting to expand long enough to draw in the oxygen it needed.

Then, I recognized him. Not by his voice or his eyes, but by the sound of his footfalls. Those heavy boots and the slightly off-kilter movement of the way he walked. The type of sound that led men like me to believe he walked with a limp. That day flashed back into my mind. The detective. The police roaming around my house. Julia with worry in her eyes for me. Matteo with a broad smile on his face.

The guard.

The guard that beckoned for Julia and Matteo to leave.

I caught my breath and stood to my feet as a car came rushing by me in the parking lot and swerved in my direction. I jumped, dodging the oncoming bumper by centimeters. I fell to the pavement, and the car skidded onto the road as my heart slammed against my chest.

Julia and Matteo were in so much more trouble than they realized. And I would do everything in my power to protect them.

Even if it meant they hated me for the rest of their lives.

CHAPTER 20

JULIA

I sat in Matteo’s room and played with him, watching his hair flutter about his face. But I couldn’t stay still. I was constantly switching positions and pacing back and forth. Running my fingers through my hair or picking at my nails. The things Romeo had said to me were unsettling, and I couldn't stop running his words over and over again in my head. Surely my uncle wasn’t capable of the things he was saying. He was accusing him of cold-blooded murder! That would make my uncle a borderline psychopath. I was a better judge of character than that. I knew when I was standing in the presence of someone who was threatening.

Didn’t I? I mean, I knew that my uncle had done plenty of unsavory things in his life, but I still didn’t –couldn’t—believe that he’d killed his own brother.

Romeo had to be wrong. Whoever his “trusted contact” was, they had to be wrong. It was beyond farfetched. My father kept me away from Romeo, whisked me away the second he found out about our love affair as teenagers. He didn’t want me interacting with the Martine family at all, and when we found out I was pregnant, he was livid. There was no way my father would’ve reached out to broker peace because of Matteo. He would have wanted to keep Matteo as far away from Romeo and his family as possible.

But Stefano did tell me my father was thinking about a truce in his later years.

“Mom?”

“Yes, sweetie?”