Page 59 of Bulletproof Baby

"If the judge thinks the cause is reasonable. Pretty much, yeah." Cecilia replies.

"Can I give one to Con Ed about my electric bill? I don't like the way they've been talking to me about my late payments," Frankie jokes, which gets us laughing and talking about the stranglehold of adulthood.

This feels normal, so right. When Lia joins us, she grabs a pancake and eats before taking Ava from me so I can have breakfast. We're all moving like a well-oiled machine. I don't want to picture my life any other way. How did I get this fucking lucky?

We disperse after breakfast with Frankie taking Ava and Lia out for a walk. Cecilia has her court documents with my signatures all over them and heads to the courthouse. Me and Armande head to some pretty neighborhood in Brooklyn where Saul Caputo's girlfriend works at a hair salon.

"I want him punished, Armande, not his chick," I tell him as we sit in the car far enough away to remain out of sight but still keeping the shop in view.

"This isn't about her, I swear, Valley. This is about Saul. Look. He brings her breakfast every morning by ten. We can grab him right now, chop his hand off and be on our merry fucking way. It's all good right? No fallout if we do it that way?" he asks.

"Alessandro said that's what La Familia agreed on. That means there won't be any fallout from the other dons. They can't speak for Saul and I know that piece of shit is going to do something stupid. He's not going to get away with everything that he's done to Lia, her family, and who knows how many other businesses like them."

"We're going to need a street sweeper for the goons that will come after us if we take his hand aren't we?" Armande levels, his eyes fixated on the door of the salon.

I tip my head up and down. "Yeah. This has got to be done with a level of precision that either Saul won't know it came from me, or no one else will care that it happened to him."

"Fuck. I thought that's what the kidnapping shit with Jimmy was supposed to do."

"It was, but I fucked that up. My timing was off. I didn't count on Lia taking off and the idea of never seeing her again?—"

"I know. It broke you, and that broke me. I hated seeing you like that, but seeing you like this? In dad mode, considering the weight of your choices before making them, it's smartened you up."

"Yeah, well Lia has a strong right hook. Ava? Not so much. I'd rather they not have to look over their shoulder every time they leave the house. Do we have a team on them?" I ask him. "Or just the house?"

"We have two guys that keep their distance so Lia doesn't get spooked like you asked and also so they don't draw attention to her. The last thing we need is for Saul Caputo to learn that she's alive, well, and has your baby."

The sound of my phone ringing has my heart in my throat. I check the time and haven't seen Saul at all.

"It's after ten, Armande. Saul still hasn't shown up yet," I tell him as I answer the phone.

It's Frankie. His words are clipped as he runs, panting, and breathing heavily into the phone. "They're coming, Val. They're coming after us. We're on our way back to the house."

"Fuck." Armande slams his fist against the wheel as he starts the car and pulls out into the street. We're barely at the stop light when a car slams into us from behind, sending us spinning into the intersection. Another car rams into the driver's side, sending Armande's body toward me before the seatbelt snaps him back into place.

The familiar taste of blood in my mouth doesn't bode well as my head spins and my eyelids grow heavy. The last thing I hear is the sound of someone's horn before our car gets hit again.

27

LIA

Ihate running.

I hate running for my life even more because that means fucking danger.

My chest hurts. My tits hurt. I'm not wearing the right kind of bra for this. I don't have a gun. I don't know how to use a gun. The men that Val thinks are small enough to be inconspicuous are not. They are fighting for their lives behind us as Frankie runs at my side while I cradle Ava against my body in her snuggler and wrap.

She doesn't seem to mind the exercise at all as she sleeps peacefully. I just wanted to go for a walk around the damn neighborhood with Frankie. It's his way of getting me out of the house and away from my thoughts because I'm so fucking scared that shit like this is going to happen!

We run as fast as we can until we get inside the house. I hit the panic button on the alarm control box that's supposed to send up flares to Batman or something, but I don't hear anything. Frankie's moving through the house with a level of skilled efficiency I didn't know he had. He moves to the front door and kicks a piece of the baseboard that swings a wooden beam in front of the door.

"Where the hell did that come from?" I ask him.

"Upgrades to the security," he answers, and grabs me, pulling me toward the kitchen. He spews instructions. "Go into the pantry and close the door. The thermostat dial turns and will deadbolt that shit shut like a panic room."

"You know that only works if the intruders are not inside the home yet," Saul says from the kitchen table. My heart plummets and my body shakes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask him, moving Frankie behind me. Frankie eyes me crazily and switches positions to put himself between me and Saul.