Making Angel (Mariani Crime Family Book 1) (31 page)

After the introductions were made, Angel took my hand and put it in the crook of his arm, rescuing me. I’d never been so happy to feel someone’s arm before. “Are you okay?” he whispered as we walked toward the house.

“Yeah. I just need a minute. Where’s the bathroom?”

He pointed toward a door and told me he’d wait for me in the kitchen.

The new shoes were already killing my feet, making me want to strangle Ariana for talking me into them. I kicked them off the second the bathroom door closed and gave my feet some time to breathe while I dug through my purse, searching for my pills. They weren’t there. I’d checked for them before we’d left the house, so they had to have fallen out in the Hummer or on the way into the house.

Hoping it was the former and not the latter—because boy wouldn’t that be embarrassing?—I tiptoed out of the bathroom and out the front door. I could feel the guards watching me, but I didn’t pay them any mind and retraced our steps to Angel’s vehicle. The pill bottle hadn’t rolled under the vehicle, so I cupped my eyes and tried to peer in through the darkened glass.

The second my hands made contact with the vehicle, its alarm blared.

Suddenly my body was airborne, and then I was half-sprawled across the hood of the Hummer with my hands in the air. Two guys were yelling, and someone was patting me down. I tried to search for Angel or Bones, but every time I moved the guards would slam me harder into the vehicle. My head hurt and tears stung the back of my eyes.

The Hummer’s alarm beeped off, and Angel and Bones stood on either side of me, helping me up. The relief of seeing them freed my tears. I tried to blink them away, feeling like an idiot.

“I’m sorry,” I told them. “I didn’t think it would be locked here, with the security gate and all. I… I got a headache, but my pills aren’t in my purse. I thought they might have fallen out in your car.”

Everyone had poured out of the house to witness the spectacle. I’d never been so embarrassed in my life.

“It’s okay,” Angel reassured me. “I’ll find your pills.”

He opened the passenger’s door and started looking. He emerged empty-handed, and I started to panic. What if he didn’t find them? Would the guards think I was lying? Did they think I was trying to steal his ride? And how the heck did they think I could stash a weapon in this dress? I’m all for being vigilant, but the slamming up against the vehicle and the pat-down had gone a little too far.

Why would they do that to me?

“Found them,” Angel announced, shutting the back door and holding up my pill bottle. When he handed them to me, I couldn’t help but notice that his hands were shaking, too. He pulled me into an embrace and squeezed me tight.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“No big deal. Just a misunderstanding.” He patted my back.

The crowd disbursed leaving only me, Angel, Bones, and the guards behind. Angel continued to hold me. After a while, he released me and tilted my chin up to look at him.

“I’m sorry. My family… There’s been kidnapping attempts and money makes people crazy. Paranoid. If you want to leave, I understand. In fact, that’s probably a good idea. Come on, I’ll take you home.”

He grabbed my hand and started walking toward the passenger’s door. I looked from him to the house. Angel had dealt with this his entire life. He’d been raised among these people and yet he’d turned out to be a well-adjusted, caring human being. If he could do it his whole life, then I could sure as heck last a dinner. Especially if it made things easier on him.

Resigned, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, willing my nerves to calm and my hands to stop shaking. My head still pounded away, but that would get better after I took a pill. I’d be much more relaxed then, too.

“No. Every family has issues. I can handle this, Angel,” I said.

“You sure?” he asked. “You don’t have to.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but you do. It’s just dinner. It won’t kill me.”

The look on his and Bones’s face told me they were worried that it might.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Angel

T
HEY SAY SITUATIONS are only awkward if you let them be, but after my entire family had watched Father’s guards detain Markie for trying to get her headache medicine out of my vehicle, awkwardness was inevitable. Thankfully none of my siblings had seen the spectacle, so they had no problem talking to Markie. In fact, the twins clung to her like a couple of blue-hairs at a hot slot machine, talking her ear off about their birthday last weekend.

“She’s good with them,” Nonna observed after dinner while I helped her carry desserts to the table.

I followed Nonna’s gaze to find Markie sitting at a small poolside table playing Go Fish with the twins. Sonia and Sofia, clearly believing they were too old for silly card games, sat beside Markie, talking to her. After Markie played a card, she turned and ran her fingers through Sonia’s dark curls, saying something that made my sister smile.

“She volunteers with orphans,” I explained. “Kids seem to understand she’s a kid-person and they flock to her.”

Nonna inclined her head. “Children are more intuitive than adults give them credit for. They know a good person when they see one. Are they right? Is she a good person?”

Markie laughed at something Georgio said, and my little brother grinned.

I nodded, and then wondered if Feds were usually good people. “I think she’s the best person I’ve ever met.”

By the time I tore my gaze away from Markie and my siblings, Nonna was walking away.

Moments later, my cousin, Renzo, took her place. “Looks like someone’s big-ass ring took a chunk out of your cheek,” he said, sidling up to me as he eyed my wound. “Did the golden child finally manage to piss off his daddy?”

If Renzo thought he could goad me into responding, he had another think coming. I shrugged off his question, my gaze never faltering from Markie. She laughed at something Cousin Alberto said.

Out of the corner of my eye I watched Renzo as he leered at her, his hand rubbing the stubble on his chin. “Pretty face, hot body. She looked pretty good sprawled across the hood of your ride. Looks like she’d be fun for a tumble or two. Think you can set that up for me?”

If he knew how much I wanted to strangle him, he’d never let up, so I shrugged off his question like I didn’t care. “Sorry, but she’s smarter than the pole dancers you usually hook up with. You’ll need an IQ above eighty-four, and since you can’t seem to tell the difference between your ass and a truckload of checker terminals… it’s probably not gonna work out.”

His jaw tensed. He forced a smile. I wanted him to move along, but he leaned closer. “I hear they’re opening the books up soon. You ready to become a real man, golden child?” he asked.

No.

As a Mariani, my fate was pretty much sealed from birth. But I wasn’t made yet, so there was still a smidgen of hope something could change. The minute the family opened the books and made me, that hope would be extinguished. There was no going back once a man was made. I’d be in the family business until death. Father would elevate me to capo, and build an army beneath me.

“Didn’t think so,” Renzo said. He chuckled as he walked away.

After dessert was cleaned up, Father ordered the kids to head inside so the adults could talk. With the children gone, Markie sat beside me playing with her coffee cup while Uncle Mario questioned me about a new 3D tablet he’d seen commercials for. Markie seemed so lost and uncomfortable, and none of the women tried to engage her. It was past time for us to leave, and I started looking for a tactful way to excuse us from the rest of the evening. Uncle Mario wouldn’t shut up about the tablet, though.

A hand fell on my shoulder. “Angel, honey,” Nonna said, “would you mind taking me home? I think I forgot to take my blood pressure medicine this afternoon and I need to check.” She sighed. “Growing old is the pits. The memory goes, and it’s all downhill from there.”

Whether Nonna really had forgotten her medicine or saw the situation and decided to intervene, I will never know. She might have been just an old woman trying to get into heaven, but she became a saint in my book.

My father started to object and I saw my window of opportunity shrinking. I jumped out of my seat before it could disappear. “Of course, Nonna.” I turned to offer Markie my hand.

She was already standing, a relieved smile spreading across her face. “Thank you all for dinner. It was really nice of you to invite me.”

Everyone stood. We said a hasty good-bye before heading out the door. Bones was out front, talking with a few of Father’s guards. He joined us on the way. We helped Nonna into the passenger’s seat and climbed into the Hummer. Then, I took my first deep breath of the night and pulled out of the driveway.

“Well, that was interesting,” Nonna said, settling herself in her seat. “Markie, dear, I apologize for my family. They’re wary of strangers. That’s the problem with having money, you know? There’s always someone trying to take it away.”

“They say some people are so poor, all they have is money,” Markie replied. Then she must have realized how judgmental that sounded, because she was quick to add, “I mean… I’m not saying that about your family. It’s just something I heard once, and I thought it was profound.”

Nonna laughed so hard she buried her face in her hands. When she came up for air, she turned to smile at Markie.

“I can see why my grandson likes you. You’re about as politic as a sidewalk preacher.”

Markie arched eyebrow. “Thanks, I think?”

“Oh, it’s a compliment, girl. We have enough politicians and thieves around. We could use someone brave enough to speak their mind. I just hope you live long enough to do that.” Nonna tugged on her sleeve. “Oh, shoot, would you look at that? A hole in my favorite dress, and what am I going to do about it? My eyes have gotten so bad I can’t even thread a needle anymore.”

I stopped for a light and glanced over. Sure enough, a large hole ran down the inside seam.

“Looks like it’s time to go shopping, Nonna.”

Her eyes squinted at me. “That’s exactly what’s wrong with your generation, Angel. Every time something gets damaged, you throw it out. Whatever happened to fixing things?”

“Nonna, it’s just a dress,” I insisted, wondering what the big deal was. “Clothes aren’t supposed to last forever.”

“But I like this dress. It’s comfortable and a good fit.”

“I could sew it for you?” Markie offered.

Nonna turned to look at her. “You can sew?”

Markie nodded. “The women in Africa taught me how. It’s how we entertained ourselves after the children went to sleep and the orphanage was cleaned.”

Something about Nonna’s sugary-sweet smile told me we’d all been played. No matter how sweet Nonna acted, she was still my father’s mother, a fact it was dangerous to forget.

“Well, isn’t that nice?” Nonna asked, Cheshire grin still firmly in place. “I’d love for you to come in and sew up my sleeve for me. Thank you for offering.”