Angelo (The Marchesi Family 2)

Cameron scrubbed his hands over his face. “He sat right there at our dinner table and speculated that you’d killed him. He’d sounded absolutely normal, well except for the fact that he was sober. How could he do that? How could he kill a man like that?”

He was asking the wrong person. I was thankful when he interrupted me before I could voice whatever platitude was about to come out of my mouth.

“Do you think Damian’s son killed him?”

I squeezed his hand. “Yeah, I do.”

I debated how much to say about the connection between his father’s death and the attacks against businesses under my family’s protection. Lucien wouldn’t want me to share anything, but I trusted Cameron. He might resent me for both right and wrong reasons, but I didn’t think he’d betray me. I also had every intention of keeping him close, especially now that I knew he could be in danger. The bakery had been under our protection, and Damian’s son might think Cameron’s father had passed on whatever information he was supposed to have. “He went after Damian’s widow.”

Cameron turned to me, eyes wide. “What? How do you know?”

“The first night we were together, I got a phone call after you bandaged my hand.”

Cameron nodded.

“Devil called because Elena needed our help.”

“Why would you help your enemy’s wife?”

“Damian was abusing her. We helped her escape from him, and she helped us bring him down.”

Cameron frowned as he studied me for a moment. “I didn’t know… You really aren’t all bad.”

I smiled. “Lucien might disagree with you.”

“Your brother loves you.”

That wasn’t something I’d expected Cameron to notice. “He does.”

“I envied that, you know? Your family connections. As you can see, my family is fucked up.”

“I’m sorry you had to learn all this, but your father’s information might help us track this man down. He told Elena his name is Sergio, and now that we know who his mother is, he’ll be easier to trace.”

“You’d do that just for Elena?”

“We would, but it’s also for you. He killed your father.”

Cameron frowned. “My father probably deserved it.”

“Maybe, but we also believe Sergio is behind attacks on some of the businesses under our protection.”

“That’s why you insisted on a guard at the bakery.”

“Yes.” Partly at least. I wouldn’t take any risks with Cameron, even if we weren’t under threat.

Cameron pushed a hand through his hair. “I can’t fucking believe all this. My dad is both worse and better than I ever thought.”

I put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking spot. “If you want to talk about him, I’ll listen.”

“No. It’s… it’s going to take me a while to process all this. Can we just pretend none of this happened?”

“We can. In fact, I like that idea.”

A few hours later we were lying on our backs looking up at the sky. Cameron had waited in the car while I’d picked up the picnic from Lola and quickly shown Lucien the letter from Cameron’s father. Lucien promised to call me if he learned anything new. When we’d gotten to Fort Revere, Cameron was eager to explore. He’d never been out there before. Few, if any, tourists went there, and not even many locals took advantage of the quiet and great view of the city. We wound our way through the cool concrete tunnels and then found a sunny spot where we could enjoy the sandwiches, fruit, and brownies Lola had packed for us.

We hadn’t talked much except about the fort and the food. I tried to steer the conversation away from anything likely to make one of us angry. Seeing Cameron so devastated had made me feel guilty for being such an asshole the past week. I’d hardly talked to him other than to make sexual demands, even though I’d wanted to crawl into bed with him again, wrap my arms around him, and hold him. Even before he’d found the letter today, I’d known he needed comfort. But anything other than raw, hot sex felt too personal, too risky. I didn’t want to feel more for him than lust.

Normally, I thoroughly enjoyed fucking just for the sake of getting off, but with Cameron I’d learned having history and desire we’d repressed for too long made it better than ever. But since that first night, I’d been punishing him for, once again, treating me like I wasn’t good enough for him. At least that’s what I’d told myself. Really, I’d been punishing myself as well because my feelings for him unnerved me.

I rolled over on my side and watched him. He looked so relaxed now. He was smiling as he looked up at the clouds. I knew this old fort well. Lucien and his friends used to come here a lot during high school, and Lucien still used it when he needed to get away and think something through. He’d brought me here after our mother died because I needed a place where no one would bother me. I’d lain on the ground and looked up at the sky then, just like I was doing now. I’d talked to my mom and told her about all the things she was missing. Sometimes I still came here to do just that.