“I was offering Luis a job,” Nero stated without missing a beat.
It took all my willpower not to facepalm. At this rate, Nero was going to employee the entirety of the whole city. He still hadn’t worked out what he was going to do with Puke and the other misfits he’d hired earlier that morning. I had no idea what job he could possibly have for Luis, yet his confidence gave me mild confidence that he knew what he was doing.
Luis lifted his head and peered up at Nero with the same confusion as his wife.
“A job?” Marie prompted, taking a step closer, her attention fully on her husband now.
“I need a caretaker for a building I’m buying,” Nero said. “I already have a small crew of helpers to help you keep and maintain the property. Once it’s been renovated and cleaned up, you’re both welcome to live there, rent free, or stay here. I will pay you double what you’re making maintaining the office build.”
I didn’t have to ask which building he was talking about. I also knew getting renovated and cleaned up would be a job in itself. The Projects Puke and Mike, and the others called home was one step above condemnable and nothing short of a bulldozer was going to fix that problem. But Nero seemed to have a plan.
“Caretakers of a building?” Marie let her hands drop down to her sides.
“I would pay you both,” Nero pressed on. “You wouldn’t have to travel for work anymore. There would be very little work once everything is rebuilt new. You’d be close to your wife after her surgery, and the people who live there are good people.”
I knew he was thinking. No more abandoned babies in piles of garbage. No more shit handprints on the wall. No more discarded needles. A full overhaul.
“Think about it,” Nero finished, taking a step back. “There’s still time.”
Luis glanced at his wife and the two exchanged several silent minutes of communication. It ended with Marie’s wide eyes and small shrug. That must have been the end of it because Luis rose and faced Nero with a palm out.
“We still need to talk about it, but I appreciate your offer.”
Nero accepted the offering with a firm shake.
I thought that was the end of it until the same palm was offered to me. I wanted to point out that I’d had nothing to do with the decision of becoming property owners, but I realized this was more than that. The man was metaphorically offering a peace offering. I still didn’t like it, but, for Mia, I stepped forward and accepted it.
Chapter Twenty-One — Nero
Families were an odd thing.
Watching Mia with hers, watching the easy flow of conversation and the simple interaction, I realized something significant had been missing in my life, something that couldn’t be bought or stolen. I wasn’t wholly certain my life was less without it, but it certainly made me reevaluate what I wanted going forward.
A dinner table.
A big one with dozens of chairs.
The number of people I allowed into my circle could be counted on one hand, yet that was the image in my head when I thought of future dinners, rows of smiling and happy faces.
It was something to consider later. I made a mental note to look into it when I didn’t already have a million other things on my plate — like buying an apartment complex. I didn’t know the first thing about owning property, never mind anything that enormous. But the idea had come to me in that moment. Maybe it was seeing Luis look so beaten and broken, devastated by a mistake many in his position were forced into. Loan sharks existed for the very purpose of destroying lives. Only the truly desperate sought them out and only because there was nowhere else. Did I condone what Luis had done? Hardly. His actions were prideful and unnecessary, but Luis was a proud man who cared deeply for his family, who worked himself sick to provide. How could I fault him one careless mistake?
But then there were children like Puke and the others. Even Mike’s little girls. They were born into a cruel and uncaring world where you were forced to your knees by angry boots — submit or die. Children born in our world learned quickly to find their place. Usually, it was taking sides in a gang, or worse, and it was all because of people like Eduardo, brutal and evil men who preyed on the weak to make themselves more powerful. That was the wrong here. Not Luis’s decisions. Not the children wallowing in filth. It was the men who could help but chose not to.
That was going to change.
I was going to make sure of it.
“Nero?”
I blinked from my thoughts to the flash and rush of lights sweeping past the car windows. I had no memory of dinner ending or leaving the Martinez’s, but Mia was resting against my side, her tilted face obscured by shadows. I forced myself to focus.
“Yeah?”
She lifted her head from my shoulder and peered up into my face. “You okay? You’ve been quiet all night.”
I wanted to point out it had been a very long day, but who was I to complain when she wasn’t? Any lesser person would be in tears given what she’d faced, yet she’d sat at her parent’s table, laughing and chatting as if her fingers weren’t bandaged up and her face wasn’t raw and sore. How could I complain when she was so strong?
“I’m excited to get you home,” I said instead, skimming the side of her injured face with the pad of my thumb.
I stroked back a strand of freshly washed hair. She’d swapped the borrowed t-shirt for long sleeved sweater and jeans. Her feet were stuffed in worn sneakers, but even fully dressed, I could still see the blood that had been there when we’d found her.
Yet, she smiled up at me. “Me too. I’ve missed you both so much.”
It dawned on me then that she had no idea what I’d become. She didn’t know we’d moved. She didn’t know that I was the leader of our small community. She didn’t know I wasn’t the same man she’d known her whole life and I had no idea how to tell her.
I decided I would just let her see it. I would let her decide for herself if this was the life she wanted. It terrified me that this could be the thing that scared her off. Being in a relationship with someone in my position opened new dangers, new enemies. There was a good chance that she would want no part of it.
Davien pulled into our usual parking spot beneath the apartment. He cut the engine and seemed to be holding his breath as Mia straightened to survey our surroundings.
“Are we lost?” she asked with a slight laugh in her voice.
I met Dav’s gaze in the rearview.
“Not exactly.”
I shoved my door open and climbed out. Mia took the hand I offered and gingerly pulled herself out to stand before me. Her dark eyes watched me, so trusting and open it hurt.
“Do you trust us?” I asked her quietly.
A slight crease appeared between her eyebrows, but she didn’t hesitate in her answer, “Of course.”
With that, I took her hand lightly in mine and led her in the direction of the elevators. Davien fell into step on her other side and eased an arm around her waist. Mia peered up at him but said nothing.
The ride up to the fiftieth floor went in silence. The mirrored walls of the metal box reflected our faces watching the floors blink past. Mia asked no questions the whole way.
At the top, at our door, Davien fished out the keys and unlocked the latch. We let Mia go in first.