“I’m sorry. That was insensitive.”
He shook his head. “No, it was the truth. And I’m beginning to find that the truth is all I ever want to hear from you. Don’t try and hide behind things or tell me half-truths. I like you and your honesty exactly the way you are.”
“He’s a keeper, Simone. Lock him down and throw away the key. Marry the man and have his babies.” Sonia tossed back the rest of her drink in one go.
Quinn entered the front door where the screaming media kept going even after he’d given my sister’s statement. I could see two armed bodyguards standing by the front door on the outside before he closed it, so I knew we were safe. Not to mention as long as Jonah was around, I didn’t feel fear. Even though I knew I needed to be paying attention to my surroundings at all times. Jonah just made me feel safe.
“Those guys are vultures, praying on the wounded and hoping to get fed. Sweet baby Jesus. You’d think they’d learn by now.” Quinn scowled.
Sonia clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “I’m assuming we need to discuss how we’re going to keep my sister safe. Sonia sat down on the couch and focused her attention on Jonah.
The three of us followed suit. Me sitting right next to Jonah, our thighs touching. Quinn perched himself on the arm of the couch Sonia was sitting on, his focus on the electronic device in his hands, though I knew he was paying attention. Very few things happened around Sonia that Quinn didn’t know about. He took his job and my sister very seriously. She was not only his best friend but the sister he never had. Like us, he’d been a foster child and went to our same high school when they met. Though his experience in the system was nothing like ours. One horrible foster home after another. Mistreated, beaten, bullied for being openly gay. You name it, the guy suffered it. His and Sonia’s bond was deep. The two didn’t do much without the other. Which had been nice for me growing up because it gave me a break from my overbearing sister half the time.
“Actually, SoSo, Jonah believes that none of us are safe. He went after Helen, making things personal. If he doesn’t get what he wants, which I’m guessing is me dead so he can move on, he’ll go after our families. That means you and the girls are not safe. Neither is Mom nor any member of Jonah’s family.”
“Is that true?” She squinted at Jonah.
“Yeah. He’s escalated and gone off his normal routine by killing Katrina. He killed Helen to prove he could and to get my attention. Well, he has it all right. Except my boss took me off the case indefinitely. Way too much conflict of interest with my connection to Helen and he isn’t even aware of my growing relationship with Simone, since Ryan and I have kept that under wraps the past few days.”
“You guys could move in with Sonia and of course Niko and I will gladly welcome any of the Kerrighan sisters. We could host four of them in our home if they shared a bed. We have two spare rooms. Our building is completely safe and protected. Under tight security at all times,” Quinn offered. And yes, they lived in the same building, with apartments that were across the hall from one another like that TV show, Will and Grace. Completely codependent.
“We’ll be okay here. Security system and two FBI agents. I still need to call my parents and discuss what happened see about having them take an unplanned vacation or visit to some family out of state. Check in on Helen’s folks. It’s a good idea for the two of you to have the sisters hole up in your building if possible.”
“There’s actually a fully furnished apartment in the building as well. One of my major campaign donors owns it. I haven’t met the benefactor or owner but I’m sure if we contacted them, we could either secure it free of charge or for a small fee.”
“I’ll look into it now.” Quinn tapped on his device.
Jonah nodded. “Good. Having your family safe during all of this will help a great deal.”
“Done,” Sonia said. “What else?”
As he was about to answer, we were disturbed by a pounding on the front door. Quinn pressed on his ear where he had a listening device connected to the guards outside. He looked at Jonah. “Someone claiming to be your brother, Luca Fontaine, is demanding access to you.”
“Fuck.” Jonah growled low under his breath. “Let him in. And that’s only because I don’t want a bigger media shit storm if they find out his connection to Helen, outside of being her brother-in-law for seven years.”
Sonia’s eyebrow rose in question, but I shook my head and whispered, “Don’t ask.”
A tall, well-built man in a pair of dark wash jeans that fitted his thick thighs perfectly and a polo that said “A+ Construction” embroidered over the heart entered. He had black hair like Loretta’s, and light blue eyes like Marco. His facial features were a mix of his parents, just like Jonah. He was absolutely gorgeous but at least one notch down from Jonah in my opinion. I notched him lower on the hotness scale for his personality sucking rocks due to betraying his brother’s trust.
“Jonah, I can’t believe it…” He swiftly crossed the entryway and headed for my guy. Jonah stood up and held his hand out in a stop gesture. Luca stopped in his tracks, tears filling his eyes. “Brother, we need to be together through this.”
“No, we don’t.”
“It was over a year ago, man. Hell, it was over before it began. A drunken, foolish mistake. How long are you going to punish me…punish Mom and Dad, forcing them to see their sons separately? We’re family. Brothers,” he rasped.
“Brothers don’t fuck each other’s wives,” Jonah barked with such malice his body quaked. I stood up and gripped his biceps from behind and pressed my body close to his.
“Breathe, baby,” I reminded him, concerned at his level of anger. His body and mind were taking on far too much and soon he was going to crash, hard.
He inhaled, his nostrils flaring, and clenched his jaw.
Luca looked at me then at Sonia and Quinn. “Uh, why is the Senator in your house?”
I nodded my head toward Sonia. “My sister.”
“And you are?” Luca asked.
“None of your fucking business. You’ve come, you saw I was alive, now go.”
“Jonah, I came for you. To be here for you. Family is everything to me.”
He huffed. “You should have thought of that over a year ago when you fucked my wife and ended my marriage.”
“Your marriage was toast long before I ever made the worst mistake of my life lying with her. She seduced me. I went there to see you. To confide in my brother over my breakup with Tiffany. You were gone. Again. Like always. We drank too much. Way too much. That’s my cross to bear. My disease. I’m an alcoholic. That was my rock fucking bottom. I’d never have done that if I was in my right mind, Jonah, you have to know that. I’m in a program now. I haven’t even had a sip of liquor since. Over a year now. I take full responsibility for my part in losing my mind in feeding my disease.” He pointed to his chest as his face turned red. “I want my brother back. I want my family back.”
Tears hit my eyes at the level of sincerity poured in every single word and the disgust he so obviously had in himself over what he did.
Jonah didn’t speak but Luca kept on sharing. He looked at me, then at Sonia and Quinn. “I’m an alcoholic. I screwed up my life. Almost lost my business with my father, I did lose the woman I loved for three years and planned to marry over it, and I fucked my brother’s wife, losing him too.” He laid it all out in the open for all of us to hear.