Roman had short blond hair and a thin face. He lay on a blood-spattered leather couch, his hands tied behind his back, and his ankles duct-taped taped together. He moaned, barely conscious.
Nerina ran forward. “Roman! Roman? It’s me . . . Neri?” She wrapped her arms around his body. He groaned.
A slender African American woman stood beside the couch where Roman was bound, a long dagger in her hand. Blood dripped from the blade. She smiled. “I’m Cecile.”
“Where’s Luisa?” Georgeanne crossed her arms.
“She’s upstairs. She’s fine.” Eileen crossed her arms too.
Rachel stumbled through an open doorway, hitching up her jeans. “That’s better—hey, stop looking at my ass!” A stout man behind her held a stun gun—and he was looking too hard at her butt. She scampered over to me. “Okay, what did I miss?”
Nerina lurched up, one hand on Roman’s trembling shoulder. “What did you do to him?”
“He’s fine.” Eileen walked to a liquor cart and opened a bottle of wine. “Anyone else? Killing him wouldn’t be the point. Now that you’re here, we can all talk.”
“About what?” Nerina swung around. “I want him out of here!” She jabbed a finger at Cecile. “You bitch! What did you do to him?”
Cecile smirked. “Nothing fatal.”
“That’s fine.” Eileen sipped her wine. “He can go. And Luisa, too. But you have to stay.”
“No way.” Georgeanne’s eyes flicked between Eileen, Cecile, and the other guy—Cameron Ryan. I recognized him from the profile pic Rachel had showed me. “Come on, Nerina. Tom and Rachel, you help Roman. I’m going up for Luisa.” She pulled her handgun. “Anyone want to stop me?”
Eileen smirked. “I can bring all those monsters inside, and your weapons can’t stop them. But they can stop you.”
Georgeanne pointed the barrel of her weapon. “I can start with you.”
Oh hell. I looked at Rachel. She rolled her eyes.
“Wait a minute!” Who was that? Oh, yeah. It was me. “I thought the idea was to stop a war, not start one.”
“Nerina needs to come home. Along with the rest of our people.” Georgeanne held her gun steady, but I could see she was keeping her eyes on Cameron and Cecile.
“This is her home as much as yours.” Somehow Eileen seemed calmer than me, even with a handgun pointed at her chest. ”You don’t own her.”
“You just want to use her.” Georgeanne flicked a glance at Nerina. “Come on, honey, Let’s get out of here.”
“You want to use her too.” That came from Cecile, who looked a little more nervous at the prospect of gunshots. “You and your people—”
“Shut up! Stop!” Nerina jumped to her feet. “I hate all of you! I just want my boyfriend! I just want to—go home.”
She was trying not to cry. Roman struggled on the sofa.
I took a step forward. What the hell was I doing? I had no idea what I was going to say—but I said it anyway. “Look, the best way to ratchet this down is for both of you to let Nerina go and stop fighting over her. No more training—” I looked at Georgeanne—“and no more kidnapping.” I shot a glare at Eileen. “She’s just a kid.”
“I’m not a kid!” Nerina stomped a foot. “You’ve seen what I am! I am more powerful than—”
“Nerina, be quiet.” Rachel walked forward and put an arm on her shoulder. “You deserve to be safe with your boyfriend, and not be in the middle of some tug-of-war between these two.” She shot a glance between Georgeanne and Eileen. “You can stay with us. Both of you.” She looked down at Roman. “Don’t worry, the couch pulls out. It’ll be a little cramped, but—”
“For I while.” I glanced between the two leaders too. “Both sides have to contribute funds to finding a place of her own—their own.” Our apartment had only one bathroom. It was already a problem when Nerina stayed with us, so one more person would create bathroom chaos. “Georgeanne, you said Russo was already negotiating for Roman and Luisa. Get back on the phone and talk. Just talk!”
Nerina stared, as if frightened of me. Georgeanne lowered her handgun—just a bit. Rachel punched my shoulder. “I love it when you talk tough.”
I was about to faint. “Are we doing this? Or just having a massacre that won’t solve anything?”
Eileen sighed. But she actually looked relieved. She picked up a phone from the table next to her. “Stand down, everyone. Have some wine. Let me—they won’t be happy, but Jurgen’s right. Cut Roman loose.” She started tapping her keypad. “This is no way to start a war. Yeah, Andy? Your pal Jurgen has a proposition. You won’t like it, but I don’t either, so . . .”
I didn’t believe it. Someone actually listened to me?
Georgeanne slid up next to me. “You stud.” She kissed me on the cheek.
Rachel frowned. “We have to seriously talk about you kissing my boyfriend.”
She grinned. “Anytime.”
Back home in Chicago, after a late flight, Rachel and I dumped our suitcases in the bedroom while Nerina and Roman collapsed on the couch. I opened beers for Rachel and me.
And for Georgeanne. She’d flown back with us. Without her guns and knives, of course.
Nerina and Roman were already asleep, their arms around each other. After midnight. We sat in the kitchen, talking quietly.
“So now what?” I gulped my beer.
“Are you staying here tonight?” Rachel looked nervous. “It’s going to get awfully crowded.”
Georgeanne yawned. “I’ll call an Uber.”
“I meant about Nerina. And now her boyfriend.” I peeked through the door to make sure they were still asleep.
Georgeanne shrugged. “You stopped the war, for now. Good on you. But you know it’s never going to be over for her.”
Rachel nodded. “She’s stuck with this.”
“We can put them up in a Rossini apartment for now, and help them find their own place. Maybe Nerina can go back to college.” She’d been studying photography at DePaul. “Roman? I don’t know. Young love.”
“I give it six months.” Rachel shrugged. “First crushes aren’t always easy. It took me a long time to find the right guy.”
“I hope you’re talking about me.”She grinned and patted my hand. I restrained the urge to pull her into a romantic kiss. Too cliché.
Georgeanne smiled. “You’re lucky. Both of you, actually.” She stood up. “We should go out for drinks sometime.”
“Sure.” Rachel agreed before I could even process the question.
She left. We had to wake the kids up to pull out the bed. We found sheets and spare clothes. “We’ll leave the door open so you can get to the bathroom,” I told them. “Georgeanne said they’d move you into another apartment tomorrow.”
“Thank you, sir.” Roman shook my hand, and then Rachel’s. “I appreciate everything. Especially for Nerina.”
“Thank you, Tom!” Nerina hugged me. “I don’t know what I’d have done. And you too, Rachel!”
After a moment we extricated ourselves from what threatened to turn into an awkward four-way hug. We took turns in the bathroom, and finally I managed to give Rachel a kiss after we quickly got into T-shirts and underwear for bed.
“Damn.” Rachel snuggled next to me. “After you stopped a war single-handled, I’m kind of hot for you right now.”
“Sure you’re not just thinking about Georgeanne kissing me?” We kissed again.
“Hmm.” She cocked her face. “Maybe.”
# # #
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