Mabe's Burden (19 page)

His uncle took a sip of bourbon and
then a puff of the cigar. He never looked away. The way to deal
with a snake was to keep his eye on it at all times.

“
Your little Irish girl
wants to meet with me. I have to admit it takes balls. I kind of
like her. But she’s wasting her time. She wants to whine, ‘Oh, Mr.
Toreni, if you’d just wait until the life insurance money comes in,
I’ll pay you then, I promise.’ But there ain’t gonna be no life
insurance money. I already checked. Oh my, whatever will we
do?”

“
Give her some more
time.”

“
What?”

“
When you meet with her,
give her some more time.”

“
Why should I? Just because
you asked me to? What’s in it for me?”

“
You’ll get your
money.”

“
You’re right. I
will
get it. One way or
another.”

“
Rocko, look. You’re rich.
You can wait another few weeks. Think of the interest you’ll earn.
I’ll personally guarantee you’ll get your money. You know I’m good
for it. Just don’t be a dick to these ladies. They don’t deserve
it.”

Rocko stared at sister’s son,
continuing to puff on his cigar. He blew a few smoke rings into the
air. He started to speak, but his cell phone rang. “Yo,” he
answered.

Aaron paced over to the window,
glancing down upon the pool where families played with small
children.

“
What the hell do you mean
he’s skipped town?” Rocko shouted. “He owes me over three hundred
grand. Where did he go?”

He jerked around to face his uncle.
What would Mabe say if she knew he was kin to the man who
threatened her family? He didn’t want to think about it. Hopefully,
Rocko would see reason, just let him pay off her debt and leave
town. But from the sound of the phone conversation, along with the
redness of his uncle’s face, he didn’t hold out much
hope.

“
You tell that sorry son of
bitch I’m coming for him. He’s gonna wish he’d never been born. If
you find him before I get there, take him to the warehouse. I’ll
deal with him there.” Rocko paused. He stood, clenched his fist,
turning an even deeper shade of red. “Greedy bastard,” he shouted.
He heaved the cell phone across the room where it smashed against
the wall, scattering into multiple pieces.

“
What’s wrong, Rocko?” he
asked.

“
Tony!” Rocko yelled to his
bodyguard. “Get your ass in here.”

The big man who had led Aaron up to the
suite entered the room. “Yeah, Boss?”

“
Pack our shit. Call Vinnie.
Have him fire up the plane.”

“
What’s up?”

“
I’ll explain on the way.”
Rocko turned and jerked at the sight of his nephew standing a few
feet away.

“
What’s the problem?” Aaron
asked again.

“
Your little girlfriend just
got fucking lucky,” Rocko spat. “I’ve got to go back to Vegas to
take care of some business. You’ve got one month from today. If I
don’t have my money by then, I’ll burn the place to the ground. You
got that?”

“
Got it,” he
agreed.

“
Good. Now get the hell
outta here.”

Aaron grabbed his jacket and gun,
exiting swiftly before Rocko changed his mind. When he reached the
lobby, he called Gavin. “Hey, I got us a reprieve.”

“
What are you blatherin’ on
about?”

“
Where are you?”

“
I’m in my
office.”

“
I’m on my way.”

He drove to Gavin’s office and parked
in the small lot. He entered the building, waving at the
receptionist as he strode through the door, straight up to the
lawyer’s desk

“
What the hell?” The man
looked up from a brief he was studying.

“
I just met with Toreni.
We’ve got thirty days to get the money.”

“
He just called me. He
sounded like he was at an airport.”

“
Something came up, so he’s
got to leave town. I can’t believe how lucky we got.”

Gavin stared at him, slack-jawed. “And
just how is it you’ve come to know Toreni better than the rest of
us?”

He sighed. He spotted a small portable
bar next to the desk. “May I?” When the guy nodded, he poured
himself two fingers of Scotch whiskey. He sank into the closest
chair. “It’s a very long story, my friend.”

“
Tell me.”

Aaron wondered what had possessed him
to go running to Gavin. He’d not shared his relationship to Toreni
with anyone. The old lawyer might have suspected at one point, but
from the way he was staring at him, he had his doubts. Aaron had
always stayed in the background, working his magic from afar with
assisting people who’d gotten in trouble with his uncle.

He had used his vast inheritance to
gain quite a few properties by buying them up when people were
forced to sell to pay back his uncle. He’d always over paid, never
regretting it for a minute. For the most part, it was a win-win for
him. He got decent property and the victim got extra money to live
on after they’d paid off Toreni. Until Mabe. First, she’d refused
to sell, second, he was falling in love with her.

He took a deep breath and plunged in.
“Gavin, there’s a piece of information you don’t know about me that
I need to share.”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed. His face grew
slightly pale, but he remained silent.

“
My mother’s maiden name was
Toreni. Rocko Toreni is my uncle.”

The man’s lower jaw dropped open like a
drawbridge over a moat. For a few moments, he couldn’t speak, but
Aaron imagined the range of emotions that must be coursing through
his mind. Some of them showed on his face. First there was a hint
of confusion followed by shock, then, as his cheeks flushed dark
pink…anger.

“
What the fuck? Have you
been playing me all this time?”

Aaron placed his highball glass on the
desk, held up his hands. “Wait. I can explain. Calm down. It’s not
what you think.”

“
It bloody well is what I
think, you bastard. Mabe was right. I should have listened to her
from the beginning. All you mobsters are alike. Just after what you
can get from someone no matter how much you hurt them. Get the hell
out of my office.”

“
Please settle down and
listen to me. I’m not part of the mob. This is my way of helping
out.”

“
Oh, I bet you help out all
right,” Gavin shouted, rising from his desk.

Aaron remained seated, drew in a few
deep breaths. He understood the man’s reaction and was prepared for
it. If the man let him stay, he’d let him rant it out. Hopefully he
could make him see reason.

“
Why didn’t you tell me all
this from the first time I met you? Why let me go on believin’
you’re some commercial real estate broker instead of one of
Toreni’s hatchet men?”

“
Hey,” Aaron barked. Gavin’s
gaze snapped toward him. “I told you I’m not one of Toreni’s goons
or a part of the crime family at all. It’s an unfortunate
birthright. Believe me, I’ve fought since my father’s death to be
free of it. It’s a fucking curse. Dad died trying to get my mother
and me out of the Toreni nest of vipers. My own uncle had him
killed. I saw it. Witnessed the whole thing. My father’s dying wish
was for me to do all in my power to save people from that
bastard.

“
For years, I’ve done
exactly that. I told you the truth. I am a real estate broker, and
buying up properties from people in trouble is what I do. You know
the offer I made for Shenanigans was more than fair.”

Gavin stared. He’d clenched his fists
at his sides, placed them on his desk, leaned forward on his
knuckles. “Look at me,” he ordered.

Aaron met his gaze without
flinching.

“
I’ve always been able to
tell if a man’s lying by starin’ straight into his
eyes.”

He stared Gavin down without moving for
several seconds. Finally, the old lawyer relaxed and sat down. He
sighed deeply. “Pour me a drink, would ya?”

Aaron let out a breath. He rose to fix
them both a drink. An Irishman wouldn’t share his whiskey with
someone he didn’t trust. He’d gotten through to the guy. Now all he
had to do was tell Mabe.

“
Listen, I haven’t told Mabe
any of this yet.” He shuddered at the thought. She’d come to mean a
lot to him in a short period of time. This news could ruin it. He
needed a little more time to work out in his head exactly what he
would say. “Can you keep my secret until I’m ready to tell
her?”

“
When do you plan to do
that? You can’t keep something like this a secret for long. She’ll
find out. Our Mabe is sharp. All the girls are.”

“
I know,” he agreed. “I’m
not sure how I’m going to pull this off without her hating me down
to my very bones.”

“
Hate you? You’ll be lucky
if she doesn’t pull out Shane’s hunting rifle and blow your damn
balls off.”

He shuddered again. “Shit.”

“
Yeah, you’re in it deep.
Why didn’t you just come clean in the beginning?”

“
I usually don’t have to. I
swoop in make an offer. No one has ever refused before.” He paused.
“And I think I’m falling in love with her.”

Gavin’s jaw dropped for the second
time. He held Aaron’s gaze for several seconds, saying
nothing.

“
What?”

The man narrowed his eyes, leaned
forward. “You’re serious aren’t you?”

“
I’m afraid I
am.”

“
You barely know the girl,”
Gavin reminded him.

“
Sometimes it doesn’t take
very long.” He downed the amber liquid in his glass then sucked in
a breath through his teeth as the whiskey burned its way
down.

“
Aye, I know what you mean.
You’d better tell her before she finds out from someone else. I’ll
call her, give her the good news. We’ve got another, what, thirty
days?”

He nodded.

“
Hopefully, she can come up
with the money by then.”

“
She’d better, or Rocko will
burn the place to the ground.”

Gavin’s head snapped up. “He said
that?”

Aaron nodded somberly. “He will, too.
Without hesitation.”

The lawyer sighed. “Okay, you get on
outta here while I call her. You’d best be thinkin’ about how
you’re going to tell her your secret, because Lord and all his
angels help you if she finds out on her own.”

He stood, shook the man’s hand. “Yeah,
I know. Thanks.”

“
I guess I should thank you
for all you’ve done, what with trying to get her to sell, and then
buying us some more time.”

“
Just got lucky, Gavin. It
won’t happen a second time.”

“
You’re right there, boyo.
You’re right there.”

Chapter
Sixteen

She watched him sleep, his normally
sharp features relaxed in slumber. Mabe couldn’t remember a time in
her life when she’d been this happy or relaxed. In spite of the
weird behavior of her sisters the past two weeks, she really
believed, at that moment, she was exactly where the Fates meant her
to be. Aaron was everything she’d ever sought in a man. He was
sexy, true, but her number one priority was someone she could
depend on, tell her troubles to. Someone she could
trust.

She’d not grown up with a great deal of
reliance in her life due to her father’s alcoholism and gambling
addiction—both her sisters had cut and run on her when she’d needed
them most. She didn’t resent what they’d done because she above all
knew how difficult their father had been, but the fact she’d been
left alone to deal with life, hadn’t encouraged a great deal of
confidence in others.

Over the past few weeks, the man beside
her had inspired a feeling of home. Like a warm, soft blanket on a
cool night, he wrapped her with a confidence she hadn’t known in a
long time, if ever. She rolled over on her side to face him,
tracing a finger down his muscular bicep. He was tall, something
she really loved. When he held her in his arms, his large hands
stirred a sense of safety. The brief time they’d spent together had
brought out happiness she never wanted to go away.

Even the fact the bank hadn’t given her
an answer yet on her loan didn’t overly concern her. The sudden and
unexpected reprieve she’d been granted by Toreni had given her
hope. The day she’d entered the bank, she knew in her heart the
tide was turning. The pub was worth a great deal of money. Surely
it was good enough to grant an improvement loan for at least what
she owed Toreni. With Jake’s help, she could perform some of the
updates over time just to keep that wolf of a loan officer, off her
scent.

Mabe smiled watching his chest rise and
fall in sleep. He’d taken her to new heights in the sex department
the night before, causing her to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Her stomach growled, but it bothered her to eat in the dining room
where Hope would know what she’d been up to. It was better if she
snuck out the back. She could grab something at the pub
later.