“I just can’t imagine Thomas would do this. It’s so out of character for him.”
“Men do crazy things for the women they love. And he messed up and lost the best thing to ever happen to him. Hell, he lost his mind when he saw me at your place,” I explained as calmly as possible, needing to dial down my pulse before we faced my parents.
“That doesn’t mean he loves me.” Her shoulders slumped, and the honking behind me had me pulling through the green light.
“And if he does? Does it matter?” I had no clue why I asked that. Jealousy again? What the fuck? My heart and brain were rarely in sync, but they were on the same page when it came to her.
“You of all people know the answer to that already.”
I didn’t look her way, but I knew she was rolling her eyes at my stupid question, and I deserved it.
“But by checking on me, he just made himself look guilty. Why would he do that?”
Fair point. But I had my theories. “He hoped you wouldn’t be at my place at seven in the morning when they attacked. And when he heard you were, he was more than likely worried he nearly got you killed. That’s probably why he really came home early. He wants you back, Maria. He never wanted the divorce.”
“Even if he didn’t cheat, our marriage wouldn’t have survived, not with . . .”
With me in your life?
“I don’t know. I guess it’s all possible,” she said in a flat tone that time. “Shady clients. Cheating. I guess you never really know a person.”
Why’d that last part sting so much?
Before I could smother her with more reasons why I believed Thomas was a world-class dick, she continued. “If Thomas is responsible, it’s obviously bad, but it also means we’re not in danger.”
We were potentially still in danger with the cleaner on the loose, but I didn’t want to scare her about that right now. One issue at a time.
“There’s no ‘if’ it was Thomas. I know you don’t want to think that about him because he’s still the father of your child, and you’re worried what this means I’ll do to him, but—”
“Or Ryan,” she whispered, concerned how her brother-in-law would react to the news as well, and I knew he’d be out for blood.
“Listen,” I said on a sigh, trying to be gentle with her when my every instinct wanted to unleash the monster inside me and torture Thomas for what he was putting her through with such a stupid move as to come after me. “This was my mother’s cousin’s way of smoking out the name. He made sure the message was sent out that the job went sideways. And now Giovanni can follow that text trail. It’ll probably lead to a middleman, Thomas’s client, and then it’ll lead to Thomas.”
She unlocked her arms and went for her phone. “Then I should tell Natalia she’s safe,” she said, finally accepting the truth. “I don’t want her unnecessarily worrying.”
“Call them. Speakerphone, though. I need to talk to Ryan to prevent him from going to jail.”
“And leaving Chiara with only one parent.”
I bit back my desire to say, I’ll be her father, and remained quiet as she phoned Natalia.
“Hey, I assume Ryan’s attached to your hip since this morning. Can you put me on speaker?” Maria asked once Natalia answered. “You’re on speaker as well,” she added, and I knew that was to ensure Natalia didn’t say anything she wouldn’t want me to hear.
“What’s going on?” Natalia asked, and Maria looked to me, a silent plea to share the ugly truth for her.
“You may not need to call for backup, Ryan,” I shared as I turned down my parents’ street, catching sight of their waterfront property at the edge of the dead-end road.
“Because this morning was probably about me,” Maria decided to finish for me, guilt in her tone. “We think Thomas was jealous and hired those guys to go after Enzo.”
“What?” both Natalia and Ryan snapped at the same time.
I shot a quick look at Maria, slowing my speed, since we were driving by houses now. At least the rain had finally let up.
“Thomas knew what happened this morning. There’s no way he could’ve known, since we didn’t tell anyone,” I explained. “My guess is he asked one of his less-than-reputable clients for a contact outside the state he thought would never connect to him.”
“And he wound up the unluckiest son of a bitch on the planet anyway,” Ryan hissed. “Where is he right now?”