Let Me Love You (93)

His shoulders fell. “Don’t open the door for anyone but me. I don’t care if it’s a neighbor. No one. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” That was supposed to come across as sexy and teasing, to help ease his nerves and produce a smile, but he was clearly on edge, because his lips remained in a harsh line.

“The walls are thin,” he went on. “You shout, call, scream at the top of your lungs if you have to if something is wrong. I’ll try and be quick, but come over with Chiara if she wakes before I’m back.”

“Okay,” I responded in a softer tone despite now feeling on edge.

He leaned in and kissed me one more time. “Lock the door. Dead bolt,” he ordered before leaving, and I did as he asked and went straight for Chiara’s room once he was gone, needing to put eyes on my daughter.

I sat in the rocking chair by the crib, mindlessly rocking, doing my best not to think about the last few days, but memories kept popping up.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at my front door, followed by a ring. Chiara remained asleep. That must be Enzo. His key was probably in his luggage in my living room.

I carefully shut her bedroom door and went to let Enzo in.

But shit, it wasn’t him.

Thomas stood outside my door in the hall, and he had Chiara’s favorite stuffed animal tucked under his arm. Great, you couldn’t call first?

I went for the knob, then remembered Enzo’s directive not to let anyone in. But if I called Enzo to come over, with how edgy he was, there’d probably be another showdown between the men.

Thomas knocked again, so I reluctantly unlocked and opened the door.

“You’re back.” I frowned. “Thank you for bringing Stuffy. You could’ve called first.” He handed me the bear and walked around me without an invite. “You don’t live here,” I reminded him as the door swung shut, and I turned to find him heading for Chiara’s room.

“Yeah, well, I want to see my daughter. I’ve been away from her.”

I set her bear on the chair in the living room as I followed him toward her bedroom. “So have I. And she’s asleep. Let her rest. Come back when you’re invited.”

He stopped outside her room and faced me. “Where’s Enzo?”

“He’s next door. He’ll be here any second.” I folded my arms. “So don’t do anything that might piss him off.”

“What, like breathe the same air as you?”

“Funny that you mention that. Not funny ha-ha but like . . .” What am I saying? “You should go. Please.”

“Fine.” He leaned against the hall wall with no plans to budge from the looks of it. “You were with him in New York.”

“He’s the head chef of the restaurant, and we’re considering a second location. Of course he went.”

“You’re a horrible liar.” He pushed away from the wall, and I stumbled back a nervous step.

There was something in his eyes that triggered me to hold my hands up defensively, like I’d never once done during our marriage. “Someone had to let me in today. I lost my key fob, can you get me a new one?”

I stared at him for a moment as a memory from the attack last week resurfaced. “Key fob,” I said under my breath. And then another thought crossed my mind. “Who told you about the attack? I never did ask you.”

I knew it was Alice’s handiwork to set Thomas up, but in all the chaos, I never stopped to wonder how she’d managed to let Thomas know. I doubted she played an old-school game of telephone, leaking the attack to someone at the restaurant, hoping it’d get back to Thomas.

Now he was the one taking a defensive step back. “I don’t remember.”

You’re even worse of a liar. But then it hit me, and I realized Enzo’s loose-end feeling was about Thomas, and he hadn’t wanted to say anything to me without proof. “What’d you do?” I rasped.

“No clue what you’re talking about.” His voice was dead. Flat. A sharp contrast to the worried look in his eyes.

“I defended you. Told him you’d never do it. It was out of character,” I went on, knowing I was right. No doubt in my mind now. “Why? You don’t love me, that’s not it.”

He tore his hands through his hair, shot a look toward my bedroom, and then started that way.

“What are you doing?” I went after him, trying to yank his arm to stop him, but he didn’t face me until he was inside.

“He doesn’t know. Not yet,” he muttered, jerking his arm free from my touch. “I wouldn’t be alone with you if he did.”

“Thomas.” I shook my head as he paced alongside my bed, tears in my eyes at the fact my daughter’s father would betray us by being involved. Cheating was one thing; this was something else altogether.

When I’d only thought he’d been pissed and hired the wrong people to beat up Enzo, even that had been hard for me to believe. But knowingly help the mafia? No.

“Talk to me. If you’re thinking about doing something rash, remember you have a daughter down the hall. You’re still her father,” I calmly said, trying to maintain control of the situation. Talk him off any type of cliff of crazy. And hope I could do it before Enzo did show up and tear the man apart.

Thomas stopped walking and faced me, and he was barely recognizable to me right now.