"Garrett make sure she's not around Jenna, I'll deal with her when I'm done here."
The other man left the room to do his boss's bidding, while the rest of the men in the room waited with bated breath for Andros's decision.
"She stays."
"Stefan, be reasonable."
"She fucking stays, tell them I will kill every motherfucker who tries."
The old man hung his head in defeat. He knew his grandson better than anyone, the boy wasn't going to budge, and short of threatening him, which the old man had no intentions on doing to his favorite grandson, who had so much of him in him, there was nothing left.
"So be it; boys, looks like we're going to war with the Bonatas. Fuck the fucks anyway, its time someone stood up to their murdering asses. What do you say boyo, you think you can win in this dog fight?"
"Don't I always?"
"Angel, no fight."
She came into the room where the men were gathered. Andros smiled and opened his arms to her; she ran to him with her innocent smile spread across her face.
"What have you been up to little Jenna huh?"
She had flour on her nose and her hair was a mess, but to him, she was the most beautiful thing in his world.
"Cook." She held out the cookie she'd been hiding behind her back, trembling with excitement in anticipation of his approval.
He took a bite of the chewy goodness, his eyes holding hers.
"Umm hmm good baby." He licked his lips and pecked her on hers so she knew he meant it. He'd learned in the short time since he'd taken her that actions computed better with his Jenna than words. She liked to be touched, her hands held, a brush of his fingers through her hair.
She got settled more comfortably on his lap while he turned to the room again. Some of them had looks of surprise on their faces, but his gramps had a softening around the eyes, he understood, he got it. With a silent nod shared with his grandson, he set his mind to the task at hand.
Chapter 5
"Gentlemen, I believe our business is at an end." He didn't even look up as he made that statement, his eyes only for the young girl who sat on his lap, legs swinging, as she took little nibbles of her cookie, before offering him some of the same. The scraping back of chairs signaled the men's departure, all except for his two shadows who were busy hiding grins at the sight of the big tough guy nibbling on a cookie.
"Angel, guess what."
"What little Jenna?" He smiled at her exuberance before he even knew what she was about to say. Her sweet innocence resonated inside of him in a way that nothing else had in a very long time, and he couldn't resist kissing the skin of her neck.
She giggled and scrunched up her shoulders.
"Tickles."
"Sorry, what were you going to tell me? You two need something to do?" He turned to glare at the two fucks across the room. He hadn't missed the secret smiles on the men's faces and well understood where they were coming from. Even when he visited his special place, as friendly as he usually was with the children and men and women who lived there, he was never this relaxed and carefree. He'd learned not to open himself up like that ever again; but he had no shield against this one, there was no way to keep her out of his heart; in fact he was afraid it might already be too late to even try.
She went on eating her cookie and he figured she'd already moved on in her head from whatever it was she had wanted to say, so he didn't push. She seemed to be having a calming effect on him, something he hadn't felt in ages. Not since he was a young boy with another innocent trailing behind him and hanging onto his every word, as he tried to teach her everything he'd learned that day.
Life sure knew how to throw you curve balls. He had no idea yesterday when he left his house, that his life would be changed so drastically in a matter of hours. And how was it that he felt so right with her there in his arms when he hadn't let anyone that close in forever?
It wasn't that he hadn't had encounters; he'd had plenty. He just never let himself get involved. It took her less than a night to worm her way into his heart. Something he would've sworn until today was an impossibility. He wasn't overly worried about the Bonatas and their retaliation. As long as he kept her safe he could take care of the rest. The fact that old man Bonata was rumored to be her godfather didn't mean shit to him either. If the people in her life had cared so much about her, she wouldn't have been subjected to what had happened to her last night in that room.
One way or another, he was going to make the bastard pay, him and anyone else he found had ever mistreated her. The mother seemed to be off the hook, because Jenna didn't give off any vibes when they'd been on the phone. But everyone else was pretty much fucked.
He'd got lost in thought as he watched her take tiny nibbles of the cookie, forgetting for a moment that the others were in the room? There was so much that needed doing; he would have to make a lot of changes in the house. His place was more of a showplace than a home. With her here, he'd have to see about smoothing out the rough edges.
Fuck if he knew where to begin. Maybe he'd just take her to the store and let her pick out whatever she liked. Her mom had given him a list of must haves that he meant to pick up sometime today, but he wanted to make things as comfortable for her as possible.
"Where's Minnelli?"
"We sequestered her in the small library on the first floor, told her you wanted her to find your original copy of Sun Tzu." Jameson was still grinning as he said it.
"Good, when I'm done here I need to ask her a few questions. Did we know that her sister is married to the...the one who..." He rolled his eyes at himself. He didn't want to say Alec's name for fear that it would set her off, and he didn't want to call him an asshole in front of her because for certain, if she was anything like Alice had been, she'd latch onto the new word and use it at every opportunity.
Which come to think of it had had its moments when he was younger. He smiled at the bittersweet memory of his little sister and her antics. Drawing Jenna closer to him, he smelled his shampoo that he'd used to wash her hair earlier, somehow her own scent was in there as well, making for a heady combination.
"She's sisters with the sister in law from last night."
"Nope didn't know, I mean the name's not popular, but the other has had a different last name for so long it would've been hard to find out, unless you were looking specifically."
"That might be true Jameson but I'm not sure I'm comfortable having her around." Here he inclined his head in Jenna's direction. She held up the last piece of cookie to his mouth and he opened and accepted it, pretending to nip her fingers in the process, which only made her giggle harder than before.
"Angel guess what."
"What baby?"
"I'm a pretty idi...idi..." She closed her eyes in concentration before they flew open in glee.
"I'm a pretty idiot." She clapped her hands in joy at her achievement, while Andros turned furious eyes on the two men in the room, who both shook their heads and held their hands out in surrender. He felt his blood heat up as he tried to figure out who the fuck he was gonna have to kill. He hadn't believed for a second that it had been either of his men. He knew Willy would never say that to her, neither would Sue and Simon didn't know those words as far as he knew; and she hadn't been alone with any of gramps' men, so that left only one culprit.
While his little Jenna played with the collar of his sweater he was thinking of the best way to teach the bitch who'd called her that, a lesson.
It broke his heart just a little that someone had said that shit to her, that she thought it was a good thing. But all he could do was try to replace the words in her head without bringing too much attention to what he was doing.
"You know what my little Jenna, I think you're pretty amazing."
"Say it again Angel." She placed her fingers against his lips as he repeated the words slower this time, and though some might say she didn't have any knowledge of what the words meant, the softening of her voice as she repeated them back to him in a near whisper, coupled with the sheen in her eyes said different.
"Dig a hole in the backyard boys." I'll just bury the bitch alive.
"Andros." That was Garrett, always the voice of reason.
"Fine, I'll just think of something else; get the car ready Jameson. Garrett where are the packages that that..." Again he censored himself for her sake. He couldn't very well call Eileen Minnelli a cunt in front of her now could he?
"Yeah, gather the packages, we'll drop those off first and then we're going shopping. Come little one I have to find you a better shirt, this one has flour all over it."