It was good Lucky didn’t get involved because that could have been bad.

But even though he was currently angry, I thought it was going to be okay that I did not share this with Ren. Evidence was suggesting that if I kept calm and explained things, this was taken positively.

I also had an explanation, so I hoped once I gave it to him, he would take it positively. Or, at least, with a minimal amount of yelling.

“I texted and phoned,” I reminded him carefully.

“Yeah,” he returned immediately. “After you got a .38 shoved in your ribs.”

Oh man.

“Ren, honey, I’m so sorry,” I said, taking a step to him. “I didn’t think. I’ve been on my own awhile, doing this gig awhile, and I’ve never had to report in to anybody but Darius or Brody. In fact, even when I was with Carl, I never really reported in to anybody about anything. But what happened this afternoon went down as a surprise and I had to stay focused. But I should have called and next time I will.”

He hadn’t moved in the entire time I spoke, but when I was done, he asked, “Next time you will?”

Okay, it was time to get down to this.

That was to say, it wasn’t an optimal time seeing as he was pissed. But it was time.

I took another step toward him. “Yeah, babe,” I said softly. “Next time I will.”

He said nothing and kept staring at me.

I took a further step toward him.

“I should have explained my decision earlier, but things between us had changed in a really good way. A way I liked. We weren’t fighting. We were working things out, getting to know each other better, understanding what was in our future. I didn’t want to mess it up because I knew you wouldn’t be happy with the decision, but the decision I made was important to me.”

“And that decision would be?” he prompted, brows up, when I stopped talking.

I took in a deep breath, and on the exhale, I announced. “I’m officially going into the family business.”

Again he was silent.

I took yet another step toward him and explained, “I decided it when I got fired from Brother’s. I don’t have it all planned out, but things are falling into place. After Luke and Ava’s wedding, I’m going to get down to doing that.”

“Two days ago, we had a discussion about you making decisions about your life and how those decisions affected me,” Ren reminded me.

“And we’re having that discussion now,” I told him quietly.

“It’s not a discussion, Ally, when you’re telling me it’s a decision already made and that you’re making plans to carry it forward.”

This was true.

Time to take this in another direction.

“This is important to me,” I whispered.

“And it’s important to me to be with the woman I love, the woman with whom I intend to have a family, and do that without the possibility of her getting riddled with bullets or comin’ back from getting ice cream with the kids and finding our home has been leveled.”

“Those things aren’t going to happen, Ren. It’s not—”

Ren cut me off.

“Jules was shot twice, stickin’ her nose into shit that was not her business. You’re all livin’ the relief that she’s breathing so you don’t let your minds go there. But the truth is, she got it in the gut and chest, and the fact she still exists on this earth is a fuckin’ miracle. And both Stark and Crowe have taken bullets during jobs your brother contracted to do. And both those men have years of experience and training. It’s not going to happen?”

“I’ll be careful with the cases I chose to take on,” I assured him.

“In that line of business, you can’t be that careful,” he shot back. “It’s an impossibility. Your brother knows every risk he and his men face when he takes a case. They plan every move they make and every operation they undertake considering all the variables. And they’ve got enough time in on the job, they know every fuckin’ variable they gotta consider. And the one they always plan for, the most important, is they always know it’s a possibility in every job they take that there’s one variable they won’t have covered.”

“I’ve been doing this for a while, Ren. I’ve been watching my brothers, both of them, and Lee’s guys. You learn from doing and seeing, and I have. And I’m good at it. But the bottom line is, I love doing it. It’s in my blood. It’s me.”

“You’ve said that before, but I see you aren’t takin’ into consideration that it’s important to me that you do not do this shit. You do not put yourself out there. You do not get into a situation—or situations, repeatedly—that might take you away from me or, later, our family.”

Okay, maybe another tactic was in order.

“So what do you propose I do?” I asked.

“Find something you like, or enjoy your time at Fortnum’s then turn your focus to raising our kids.”

I studied him closely, hoping he was joking.

It appeared he wasn’t joking.

Nevertheless, I thought it important to seek clarification.

“You want me to be a barista and then a stay-at-home mom?” I asked.

“Honestly?” he asked back, and I nodded. “Yeah. I got my wish, that’s what you’d be. But if that isn’t what you want, we can discuss it and you can find something to do that doesn’t include maybe pissing off husbands you caught cheating or putting you on radar with pimps and dealers.”

I stared at him and said nothing. Not that I didn’t have things to say. Lots of them.

Just that he was sitting there, unmoving except for upending his phone, eyes on me, totally calm and saying this shit to me, which for all intents and purposes was ripping my heart out and tearing it to shreds.

So my voice was strange in a way I’d never heard it be, not even in all the emotional ups and downs with Ren Zano I’d experienced for over a year, when I asked, “In all the time we’ve been together, have you paid even the slightest attention to me?”

I knew it was my tone that made his face turn guarded as he straightened out of the couch, keeping his eyes locked on me and starting, “Ally—”

I interrupted him. “This is me.”

“Honey—”

“This has always been me and you are one of a very select few who have always known it.”

“Yes, I have,” he agreed. “Not that you shared that with me openly. Just that I found that shit out.”

This was true, but at this juncture, it also didn’t matter.

“What I’m sayin’ is,” he continued. “For us and our future, it’s important to me to know you’re safe, but more, to know me and our future plans are important enough to you that you yourself do what you can to stay safe.”

I shook my head. “No, Ren, what you’re saying is, to be with you, I have to prove you’re important enough to me to change everything about me.”

He took a step toward me.

I took a step back and he stopped.

“Ally—” he started again.

I cut him off again. “You don’t want me.”

He shook his head and I saw his eyes flash with irritation when he clipped, “Baby, that’s just not true.”

“Really? Am I having a conversation in a different dimension than the one you’re in?” I asked sarcastically. “Because the Ren in my dimension is telling me I can’t be me and instead, to be with him, I have to be someone who is so, so, so, so, so not me.”

I knew it would happen. It was actually a shock he’d kept his shit tight for as long as he had. And me switching to sarcasm didn’t help.

But at my words, the Italian hothead badass broke through and he lost it.

And this made his voice loud and his eyes cold when he chose a tone like he was talking to a small child, and one who was not all that bright to boot.

“What I’m trying to impress on you, Ally, is that I understand this is important to you, very important. But we’re talkin’ about you showing me that our future is important enough for you to do something as simple as havin’ a job where you’re safe and stay healthy and don’t bring shit into our lives that’s uncontrolled.”

“I’m not some maverick with a death wish, Ren. I always do everything I can to stay safe and healthy, and it’s part of my job to keep shit controlled. I’ve been doing this for two years and none of this has leaked back into my life.”

That was when he really lost it.

“For fuck’s sake, Ally!” he shouted, “Your apartment exploded!”

Fuck.

I had to give that to him, and unfortunately it was a biggie.

“Rosie was a one-off. He was never a client, but I’ll admit he’s a wildcard.”

“Babe, the people you will connect with day to day in that business are all gonna be wildcards,” he returned.

He was right about that, too.

But it also wasn’t the point.

“Okay, Ren. You’re correct. That’s true. That said, what I’d ask from you is to trust me to know what I’m doing.”

“Since I don’t, that’s a problem,” he bit out, and I felt each word like he’d landed a blow.

So it came out breathless, and not the good kind, when I whispered, “Right.”

“Ally—”

“No.”

His chin jerked on that one word and I knew why.

Because it was quiet and filled with so much pain, it permeated the air, threatening to choke me.

I powered through that because I was Ally. That’s what I did.

And I had no choice.

I took in another deep breath and told him, “The reason our date was off was that Mom and Dad called a family meeting. I was going to talk to you to see how you felt about coming. Obviously, that isn’t an issue anymore.”

“Baby—” he took a step toward me, but I again stepped back.

He stopped moving and I kept talking.

“Still, they want to talk and I need to listen, so I have to go. I’ll be back later to get my stuff.”

“Honey—”

“I’ll text you when I’m on my way and it would be really cool if you weren’t here when I got back. I’ll leave the key in the kitchen.”

“Ally, don’t—”

“There’s nowhere to go with this,” I hissed, and he shut his mouth. “We’ve been around this and around it and it leads nowhere. I have no fucking clue why you worked so hard to get in there with me when you didn’t want me. But you did. Now, you need to move on. Because I’m me. And if you can’t accept me as I am, then we’re done.”

After that, I moved slowly to the door, through it and to my car.

Ren didn’t follow me.

* * *

I walked up to my childhood home in Bonnie Brae and walked right through the front door without knocking (seeing as it was my childhood home, this wasn’t rude; and anyway, they were expecting me).

Lee’s Crossfire and Hank’s 4Runner were at the curb, so I knew the gang was all there.

When I got inside, I found they were all hanging in the living room.

Dad, Hank and Lee had beers. Mom had, what looked to my practiced eye, a margarita in a regular glass.

I could use a margarita, sans the margarita mix, of course.

But I didn’t have time to ask. I wanted this done. I wanted to get back to Ren’s. I wanted to get my shit. Then I wanted to get somewhere no one could see me and have a complete mental collapse.

It didn’t escape me when I walked in that no one with two eyes in their heads would not click that we were a family. We all had the same hair, even Mom and Dad. Hank and I had whisky-colored eyes while Lee had chocolate brown, but other than that we were all tall and lean. The men had more bulk, but we all had the same frames.

I’d always liked this. Even as a kid. Belonging to this family. Belonging to these people. And knowing no one could mistake that they were a part of me.

And also knowing what I knew was in them when their eyes turned to me.

Whatever this was going to be changed the instant every single one of them got a look at me.

They knew.

They knew inside I was bleeding.

“Honey, are you—?” Mom started, and I straightened my shoulders.

“I suspect,” I cut her off to start, “that part of the reason I’m here is because you’re not happy I’m with Ren Zano. So, in order not to waste anybody’s time, I’ll let you know that doesn’t factor anymore because before I came over here, I ended things with him.”

“Jesus,” Hank muttered, studying me closely.

“Ally—” Lee started.

Dad and Mom just stared at me.

As for me, I kept talking.

“The rest, so you can target your comments, I got fired from Brother’s two days ago and decided to start a private investigations agency. This is why Ren and I are no longer together. He’s violently opposed to that idea and wants me to consider a career as a barista before I move into my tenure as a stay-at-home mom.”