Gio had just climbed into the driver seat after shutting the car door for her, when their cellphones rang simultaneously.
They exchanged a glance and Maddie released her grip on the seatbelt.
The airport trip had sucked, especially since she’d been the only one with tears. She hated being the emotional freak of the family.
Jake had hugged them both, and kissed her cheek, but his concern wasn’t about when he’d see his weepy mother again.
He was worried Gio would disappear.
Of course, the man had been a champ in reassuring their son, just like his term of endearment for the little boy.
Jake loved that, and loved Gio. The little guy had been all smiles and waves after he was sure his father would be there when they came back.
Jamie had rolled her eyes a lot. She’d whispered in Maddie’s ear that she could be as loud as she wanted in the bedroom while they were gone, but she needed to get it together before they moved in permanently. Or get some sound absorbers, if there was such a thing. She’d even suggested padding the walls.
It wasn’t like her sister to wait to give her shit about any given subject, but it did figure she’d do so when she could maximize Maddie’s embarrassment.
No doubt her face was ripe tomato-red.
Jamie had made sure her whisper was more of the stage variety, and Gio had sported a shit-eating grin.
They’re both brats.
For once she wasn’t referring to her seven-year-old.
“Giovanni.” Gio’s deep voice was like a caress, as he put his cell to his ear.
She had to clear her throat to concentrate. “Granger,” she said into her own.
“Granger.” Her name, a gruff male bark in her ear.
Her new boss, Doug Randall, the head Marshal for Nevada’s territory. Maddie hadn’t talked to him much, as she’d been working out of LMVPD’s conference room, but she recognized him.
“Morning, boss,” she said.
“Report to Deputy Chief Patton’s office at Metro, immediately.”
She’d only met him a few times before her transfer, and he’d been friendly then, as well as when she’d checked into the office that day before heading to LMVPD for the first time. Randall hadn’t seemed like the stoic stiff man his current tone implied.
Was he upset or irritated with her?
“I was headed in. I had to put my son on a plane back to Chicago; sorry about the delay. Is there something wrong?”
“Just head into Metro, and I’ll meet you in Chief Patton’s office.”
Wait.
He’d meet her?
Something was wrong.
Her boss wasn’t overseeing the case. Of course, he was her supervisor, but the technical authority rested with her, and the lead FBI agent who’d first looped them in.
She hadn’t spoken with Nash Grey since before she’d officially changed posts. He checked in when necessary, and vice versa, via phone or email.
“What’s this concerning?”
“I’ll see you when you get to Chief Patton’s office. Step on it.”
The line went dead and Maddie frowned. She looked at her phone’s screen, which had gone dark.
“I understand, Captain. See you there.” Gio ended his call too, which could’ve only been with Olinsky, if the title meant anything. He also wore a frown.
They exchanged another look.
“Chief Patton’s office, ASAP?” she asked.
He gave a curt nod.
“Did he say what it was about?”
“Nope. Who called you?”
“My new boss.”
“Shit,” he spat. “Lemme guess, he didn’t enlighten you, either?”
“Nope.”
Gio cursed long and hard.
Trepidation twisted Maddie’s stomach, and her heart tripped over the next few beats. “What d’you think it’s about?” she managed.
“I dunno, but it can’t be good.” His kissable lips set in a hard line.
Her sense of dread spread up to her chest.
She, Jamie, Jake and Gio had eaten breakfast together before heading to the airport, and Maddie suddenly wished she hadn’t downed eggs, bacon, and two pancakes.
The food was churning like a cyclone, and the ejection seemed eminent.
Gio’s white knuckles gripped the steering wheel of his beloved classic GTO.
Yeah, this wasn’t good.
Maddie gnawed her plump bottom lip in his periphery for the whole too-fucking-short three-mile-drive into work.
Gio tried to convince his shoulders to loosen, and his gut to climb up his legs and settle where it belonged. It’d taken a dive for his toes the moment Olinsky had ordered him to come in.
Maybe if her boss hadn’t called her at the same time, it wouldn’t have freaked him out, but instinct told him the double call wasn’t a coincidence.
He wasn’t that lucky.
He knew what it was about.
There was only one reason his boss, and Maddie’s would call them in at the same time.
They’d discovered his tie to the casino.
Fuck. Me.
Gio wouldn’t let her go down for what he’d kept from his supervisors for years. It wasn’t Maddie’s fault Olinsky never knew.
She might have to answer for keeping him on the taskforce, but even that, he could deny she knew.
Would she let him lie for her?
Madison Granger might be too good for that shit, but he wasn’t.
Son of a bitch.
He wanted to slam his hand on the steering wheel. He gritted his teeth instead. It’d taken him more than four years to restore this car, and he barely drove it, because he had the Ducati. This vehicle was his pride and joy, besides Maddie and Jake.
The 1967 GTO had been his dream car as a kid, and he’d bought one that was barely a bucket of bolts when he’d turned twenty-five, as a birthday present to himself. Both his brothers had helped him with the restoration, so it’d been a brotherly bonding project, too. He could say what he wanted to about Dom, but the guy was a hell of a mechanic. He’d helped Gio with all the hard stuff he couldn’t figure out on his own.
If only his brother would apply himself, he could have his own shop. Dom was equally good at suping them up, as getting them back on the road. But he was still too far up Big Tony’s ass to want to branch out and be a real success.
He also needed to get off the constant pussy carousel and out of the bottle before he could do anything meaningful.
Gio had kept to the original equipment as much as possible, except for seatbelts and the stereo system—even he needed USBs to charge his cell—but the body had been a bronze color, and he’d had it repainted a baby blue. He’d done research and made sure it was the same shade available in 1967, too.
Maddie had gushed when he’d pulled up to pick them up for the airport.
Jamie must not be into cars, because she hadn’t said much, but his son had been excited.
His lover had always had a thing for classic muscle cars, and it was nice to see that Jake wasn’t much different. He’d seemed genuinely impressed; well, enough for a seven-year-old.
Gio pulled into the same parking spot he always left the Ducati, and didn’t want to even see the damn building. People came and went, both uniform cops checking out marked cruisers, and a few detectives running late like them.
“What’re you thinking?” Maddie asked. Her voice was low and shaky, and he immediately wanted to comfort her.
Should he tell her what he thought this little meeting was about?
If he didn’t, perhaps any shock she’d display would be genuine instead of rehearsed, so he held his tongue.
Why should they both feel like they were on the hot-seat?
Then again, she wasn’t stupid. She’d probably done the math, too.
“No clue, Mads.” The lie came out smooth, and for that he was grateful. He reached for her thigh and squeezed. “It’ll be okay.”
God, he hoped he wasn’t lying.
She stared hard; he felt like he was under an X-ray.
“I don’t believe you.”
His heart thumped from the area his gut was residing, but swallowing didn’t fix either sensation.
“We both know what this is about,” she whispered seriously. “What do you want to do about it?”
“Fuck.” He shoved his hand through his hair. It was getting long, and he needed a cut. “What can we do?”
“I don’t want to lose my job,” Maddie admitted, her cheeks tinged pink, as if she was embarrassed about being honest.
“It won’t come to that,” Gio said. There was a hardness to his statement that made her eyes come back up.
“You can’t know that.”
Yes he could. He did. Because he’d take the fall for her.
Every. Damn. Time.
Because he fucking loved her.
Not that he could tell her that.
She maintained his gaze. “Gio—”
Maddie reached for his arm, but he pulled away, turned the car off and practically ripped his key from the ignition.
“Look, no use sitting here losing your shit. Let’s go inside.”
She glanced at the building then back at him. “To the firing squad.”