The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (77 page)

Gio heard the loss in Lisa’s voice, and the tears she held back were glimmering in her eyes. She swiped at her eyes once more and rested her hands on the table in front of her and they were slightly shaking. Gio reached over to clasp her hand, his big strong one covering both of hers. She flipped it around and clasped his hand, squeezing. “I’m so sorry. So sorry, Gio. I never . . .”

This moment of weakness had gutted him. Hearing her plea and feeling her hands on his own stirred something inside him. He panicked and pulled out of her grasp. He didn’t know what she was going to say next, but his heart was hammering in his chest. He interrupted her before she could finish her thought. “We’ll get that restraining order dropped. First thing. Why don’t you get a shower and get dressed, and I’ll clean up here.”

Gio’s dismissal of her was sudden and caught her off guard. But again, Lisa understood. It was all so much to take in such a short period of time. His back was already to her and she saw the tension there in his shoulders and his stance, and even though she wanted nothing more than to soothe him, she silently walked out of the room picking up the one unopened bag he had left on the chair. The clothes he had picked out for her.

Digging into the Past

T
he meeting at
Lisa’s attorney’s office went well. The lawyer she hired greeted Gio amicably. His name was Alex Rodriguez and he carried himself very professionally. From the look of his offices, he was doing very well. Gio was still wary of him. The way he looked at Lisa bothered him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he sensed there was something there beyond professional. It didn’t help that he was around their age as well. But his manners were impeccable. Gio appreciated that he got right down to business. One of the first things he did was give Gio the name of a family attorney who worked in the firm who would ensure Gio’s rights were protected. He was already working on having the restraining order lifted for Lisa to see Johnny, and just needed the birth certificate as well as any other paperwork Lisa had that listed Gio as the father.

Alex called his assistant in to make arrangements to have Gio take a paternity test the next day. He wanted to start the process for the family attorney to prove his paternity beyond a shadow of a doubt. He must have picked up on Gio’s mood because he warned Gio not to do anything rash and to be cautious when visiting with Johnny that night.

“You don’t want to risk alerting your hand to Albert until we have all our ducks in a row. My colleague, Jamison Burbank, should be able to get a hearing next week some time to arrange for you to get access, if not partial custody of Johnny, sooner. Just tread lightly,” he warned when he saw Gio’s dour expression.

Lisa watched the exchange between the two men. Her lawyer, Alex Rodriguez was sharp, and she trusted him implicitly. Years ago when she met him, she always kept his card, and somehow had known she would be in need of his services someday. Not for attempted murder, but for a divorce. She was grateful when she reached out to him that he handled criminal law as well.

Gio finally nodded in Mr. Rodriguez’s direction. “So what’s next with proving Lisa’s innocence? Where do we go from here?”

Alex’s eye quirked up at the word we. He had a feeling yesterday that Gio would want to be involved in pursuing the truth. Alex was all for him helping too. But he would have to work with him on the case. “Well, we got a lot of digging to do, so we start there. I have private investigators on it already. We are combing through Albert’s accounts, his purchases, and phone records.”

“You tailing him too?” Gio asked.

“No why?” Alex had thought about this angle, but having round the clock surveillance could be expensive. His plan had been to dig into the leads they already had and discredit the evidence the prosecution had. They just needed reasonable doubt.

“I am a bail bondsman, but my brothers and I do PI work down in Tampa.”

“So, that’s what Blaze has been up to since he left the city. Was wondering about that.”

Gio continued. “Yeah, well, I plan on doing a little digging myself, maybe help speed things along. I’ve got Nikko, my youngest brother coming up in two days. I want to have him tail Albert. See what he is up to.”

The lawyer shook his head. “We don’t want him to be spooked.”

“Don’t worry. Nikko’s good. But, I was thinking we can share Intel. I have some connections here as well with PD, and I can help.”

Alex glanced at Lisa to see what she thought. “You okay with this Lisa?”

“Yes, of course. I trust you. And I trust Gio.” Lisa sat forward uncrossing her legs. The slacks Gio purchased fit her perfectly, and showed off her shapely legs to perfection. Gio noticed Alex looking a bit too long, and felt the old jealousy rising. Lisa put her arm out to Gio. Again a move she had done many times before by instinct. “I don’t want this to drag out. The sooner we clear my name, the sooner I can be with my son, and start our lives over without Albert looming over us like a black cloud.”

Alex Rodriguez lowered his lashes and gave Lisa one more perusal before shifting his gaze over to the massive man who sat beside her. He recognized the possessive look, and the warning. He nodded at Gio to show him he understood, then went on, “Okay, we can share all information. You keep me in the loop, and I’ll do the same. No sense in all of us acting independently. It’s always good to conserve our resources.”

“About that?” Lisa interjected.

“The retainer you gave me is good, and should last awhile. Your accounts are frozen for all expenses other than mine, but if you need anything just let me know.”

Lisa nodded and leaned back into her chair.

“Okay, how about we meet again in two days and share what we have so far. I’ll have my team get all the necessary paperwork together. You’ll both sign some things. That way if you are on our payroll we are able to use the information. If you need court orders, let me know. I have some connections downtown and can get what we need. Sound good?”

Lisa nodded, smiled and stood, and reached across the desk to shake Alex’s hand. He grasped it and came around before releasing it, holding it a little longer than Gio would have liked. Only then did he hold out his hand to Gio. “Give my regards to Blaze.”

Gio nodded and turned without saying another word. The man said all the right things, but the way he had looked at Lisa bothered him much more than he cared to admit. What man wouldn’t look at her that way though? The blouse he had chosen was far too revealing. What possessed him to purchase the dusty rose silk blouse that fit her to perfection, other than the fact he had wanted to see her in it. It also showed way too much cleavage. He’d let her pick out her own clothes from now on. He wouldn’t have even purchased the stupid clothes, if he hadn’t had to wait at the car rental place for them to finish the paperwork, and was told he had twenty minutes to kill. He noticed the boutique across the street and had run inside to pick Lisa up a change of clothes since she had mentioned it twice. Her sister hadn’t been able to drive to Rosedale until the evening and she needed something for that day. He grabbed two pair of palazzos, one white, and the other black, knowing she liked that style, and they fit her well. Then he purchased the pink blouse, and another in baby blue. Lisa had chosen the pink and white combo for their meeting. He even purchased underwear and a couple of bras knowing her size from memory and seeing for himself that she had not changed in all these years. Why he noticed that also bothered him. He had so many other things to think about, but her body had been on his mind ever since he saw her come down the stairs in the outfit he purchased for her, shocked that he’d wanted to see what lie underneath again.

*     *     *

Lisa followed Gio
out of the suite of offices where her lawyer’s firm ran their business in Manhattan. She could tell by the way he was stomping out that something was bothering him, but for the life of her she couldn’t tell what it was. His mood from earlier had most assuredly changed. When they reached the doors of the outer office, only then did he pause as he swung open the door, and allowed her to pass through before him. This time he followed her to the bank of elevators and she could hear him huffing and puffing the whole way.

The whole time he followed her, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her ass. He felt a growl escape his lips as his cock immediately hardened. When Lisa turned to look at him, her expression showed her confusion. “What’s wrong?” she asked, but Gio remained mute.

How could he tell her the directions of his wayward thoughts at so inopportune a time? Instead of revealing the truth, even though food was the last thing on his mind, he came up with an excuse on the fly. “Hungry?”

Lisa contemplated the word Gio muttered, but his expression told her another tale. One she recognized all too well. It was mid-afternoon, and they hadn’t eaten yet. She was hungry too, but not for food. But she also knew Gio, and when he was like this, she shouldn’t press. “Sure, I’m hungry too,” she whispered. She meant to say it in a teasing manner, but it had come out much more seductively than she intended.

Gio’s eyes flashed to her face, and her tone told him she sensed it too. They both weren’t talking about food, but goddam it all to hell if he was going to slip right back into her bed. It was bad enough he was already deep in her world.

*     *     *

Gio drove out
of the city and back to the island, and stopped at a little diner along the way. Because it was midafternoon the place was not crowded. He found a nice parking spot at the back of the restaurant. There were only two other cars in the lot, but he knew the place was good. They missed both the lunch and dinner crowds and if they had arrived during those times the place would have been jam-packed.

They were brought to one of the four rooms in the diner and found themselves seated in a secluded alcove. They ordered right away since they had not eaten since breakfast. Lisa had the Cobb salad, and Gio ordered a club sandwich with slaw.

While they waited for their orders to arrive, Gio asked Lisa about the explosion. “So, what happened that night, Lisa? I haven’t asked and other than what I have read in the papers and seen on the news, I haven’t got a real clear picture of the timeline yet. Tell me how it went down.”

Lisa took a sip of her water and then gave him the details leading up to the explosion. “I told Albert a few weeks before that I wanted a divorce. I had moved out years earlier, but still travelled twice a week to attend the required functions. One night, a week earlier, he had a bit too much to drink. I told you about this. He tried to seduce me, and I, of course, turned him down. He got rough and I blew up at him. Told him everything I had. It was stupid of me, but he scared me that night. We hadn’t been together intimately in years, as I said, it was strictly a business arrangement. I guess I wanted to warn him off, and so I blurted it all out, even sending him a text of one of the pictures. It was stupid, but I knew his name and reputation were still too important to him. I knew his dad was dying and he would find out soon anyhow. I just didn’t think, but I knew my parents were safe, and with his parents gone, all my ties to him would be cut. But I wasn’t going to let him me paw at me, or worse.” He saw Lisa shudder at the memory. “Then, I just jumped out of the car. He yelled for me to come back, but I told him he didn’t own me anymore and hailed a cab, and went to my sister’s house. I thought it was over. I had no idea he would go to these lengths to keep me bound to him.”

“You were wrong, though?”

“Yes, apparently,” she sighed. “He came to my apartment the next day. Johnny was asleep. I wanted to slam the door in his face, but Albert begged me to hear him out. I should never have let him in, but didn’t want the disturbance to wake Johnny.” She couldn’t meet Gio’s eyes. She felt guilty enough over her own actions. She didn’t want to see disappointment there. “He began by saying he loved me. I laughed at him. I told him I could never love him, and that he was sick. He cried. I was flabbergasted, and shocked really. There was nothing to explain, nothing he could have said that would have swayed me. But he went on and on. I really had no idea that he actually cared one way or the other. I mean we were kind of friends, companions, sort of, in the beginning, but after I gave birth to Johnny it changed. I told him I didn’t want to hear anymore, but he kept begging me to hear him out. He told me he loved me all along, and that he had other partners only because I had never loved him, and he had always loved me. I just shook my head, and started to show him to the door. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him.” Lisa shuddered at the remembrance, and holding herself, she began to pace the floor by their table. “He kissed me, and told me he could have been gentle with me, would have been, if I hadn’t betrayed him by fucking you, and getting pregnant with your child. I slapped him hard. That was a mistake. It turned him on. He slapped me back, and tore my blouse off. I fell. And scrambled backwards, and he grabbed my leg, and yanked me towards him. He grabbed my wrists and straddled me; I was still trying to fight, and then he slammed my head onto the marble floor and I was dazed. I saw stars. I was semi-conscious. I think he was going to rape me, I don’t know. But then Johnny called out from his room. I think it scared him, but I wasn’t sure he would have left. It startled him enough that I was able to scramble away, and get up. I grabbed a knife from the counter, and told him to leave or I would scream. He left. Thank God.” Lisa was rubbing her arms during the telling of her story and continued after she sat down.