“She looks thin, like she’s not taking care of herself,” Atlanta said.
“What the fuck are we doing?” Jessup said. “We’re sitting here still denying what the real fucking problem is. She’s in danger. Someone just tried to run her over with a fucking car. I want to keep her safe and be involved in stopping anyone who may be out to hurt her or kill her. I don’t care if you guys think I’m fucking nuts. I know I still fucking lose my shit every so often at night.
Nina helped me with all of that. She made me feel like I could get through this shit. I love her. Seeing her just nearly get killed, and looking at her withdrawn, defeated expression, killed me inside. Fuck our professions, fuck the next job, fuck it all. I want her in our lives. I’m done with this shit. I’m done being a fucking soldier, a grunt, a body to get abused and used, for what? For a fucking medal? Let the young guys do this shit.”
Atlanta shook his head. “That petite little bombshell turned us into a bunch of pansies.”
Corona and Freeman chuckled.
“It’s not being a pansy. It’s called being a man in love with a beautiful woman that you want to spend the rest of your life with, to care for, to protect, and to love,” Freeman said.
“Don’t forget to share with your team, as a team,” Jessup said.
“As a family,” Corona added.
They nodded in agreement and then looked at Corona.
“Well, we were told to stand down, but that never stopped us before. Let’s go see the bosses. We’re taking care of our baby love, whether she likes it or not.”
“Oohra!” Atlanta said.
Freeman smiled and slapped Corona on the back as they headed to their SUV. “Don’t forget about all the kissing up we’ll have to do.”
“I think I’ll be doing the most kissing up,” Corona said, and they all chuckled as they headed to make things right with Nina.
* * * *
“What are you doing here? How did you find out so fast?” Nina asked Viktor as Dusty got out the first aid kit and began to clean up the wounds she had sustained.
Viktor exhaled.
“My uncle got a call a short time ago from someone of importance. Someone who knew what was going on and figured things out. Before I get into it, I don’t know what the hell you were thinking going to see Polo the way you did. You were out of your mind, and things could have gone a hell of a lot differently.”
“I know that, but I followed my gut and the old ways I learned living and surviving on the city streets of Chicago. Men like Polo need to be addressed head-on when you haven’t done anything wrong.”
He shook his head. “There are some dead people who would disagree with that.” She understood his reprimand and way of thinking. Polo had a special spot in his heart for her, and she kind of felt bad, not to mention relieved, that he knew she would never accept him as a husband, never mind a lover.
“A lot came out of your little meeting with him. I don’t need to know what went down, or how the hell you pulled it off, but whatever you told him made him figure out who was ripping him off and why.”
“It did?”
Dusty leaned back and sighed. “Mirella is the one responsible for setting up Zinc and Cobra and making it look like they stole money and drugs from Malfetto and the gang.”
“Mirella?”
“She apparently wanted Polo to marry her,” Dusty said. “She was part of the South Liberty gang, Nina. Polo said that she apparently was jealous of you for many reasons and her obsession over being Polo’s woman, his wife, led her to come after you and destroy your reputation. She wanted to make it look like you backstabbed Polo so he would issue a hit on you. By you going to him, talking to him about whatever you did, he figured out it was Mirella all along.”
“Plus, it seems you’ve had someone else looking out for your best interests. Someone my uncle didn’t reveal to me, but who was watching over you and reported what they learned about Mirella and a team of individuals who were backstabbing Polo. We were on our way here to protect you, because we heard Mirella was a no-show and we got this call. We were almost too late.”
“Who was watching over me? Who are they?”
Viktor shook his head. “I don’t know, and it doesn’t look like they want you to know. The point is that you’re going to need protection until Mirella can be stopped. Now that we know it’s her, Polo can gather the other ones involved and end this all.”
She thought about things and about this mess of a situation. Leaving Chicago was her only choice. She didn’t want to live her life like this, fearing that, at any time, Mirella or someone loyal to her would come after her and kill her and the baby. She covered her belly and felt the tears in her eyes.
“We’ll protect you,” Viktor told her.
“We’ll find Mirella. We have men working on it, and I’m certain Corona and their team will help out, too,” Dusty said to her.