Hector moved across the room as I put on my camisole then fought the sheets and comforter as I put on my panties while in bed. Semi-decent, I got out of bed and pulled on my bottoms.

All of this effort was for nothing. Hector was rooting around in his closet and I’d rounded the bed by the time he found what he wanted.

He joined me at the foot of the bed and offered me a shadowy piece of clothing.

“Put that on,” he ordered.

I took it, saw it was a flannel shirt and shrugged it on. It was soft and it was warm and I hoped it wasn’t Hector’s favorite because I instantly decided it was going to find its way into my overnight bag.

We walked down the stairs. The lights were on and Ren was standing in the living room with his uncle, Vito Zano, and his cousin Dom.

What in the heck was going on?

I hesitated, not knowing what to do. Even my father’s incessant training in social niceties hadn’t prepared me for a middle of the night visit from the Zano Family. In fact, I was certain sure that kind of visit could not be found in any etiquette book.

Then as I had loads of practice at dealing with whatever weird situation came my way, I made a decision and walked to Vito.

“Mr. Zano,” I greeted, putting out my hand.

He took my hand and used it to pull me into his arms for a warm hug.

“None of that ‘Mr. Zano’ business now that Seth’s out of the way, little one. I’m your Uncle Vito now,” he told the top of my head.

Well, that was just great. Now I had an “Uncle Vito” to add to my growing list of friends I never knew I had.

Did no one remember my Ice Princess? Was everyone determined to make it harder for me to cut ties and disappear?

Darn it all to heck!

He let me go, I pushed aside my mental tantrum and I looked to Ren and Dom.

Ren looked good (as usual), wearing jeans and dark brown turtleneck.

Dom Vincetti, his cousin, was wearing a long-sleeved, thermal henley and jeans, looking rough in a way that was a lot like Hector (but Hector did it better, in my opinion).

Dom had always been the wild one. He was good-looking too and usually an outrageous flirt, sometimes not in a good way, in a way my father said was crass. Now, he wasn’t looking at me like he usually did (as if he was mentally undressing me) but in a different way, intense, and bizarrely at the same time, soft.

Just like Ren was looking at me.

This time, I let Blanca’s lesson take hold and instead of moving toward either of them (which might involve some form of touching which might make Hector mad, something I wished to avoid at all costs), I moved to Hector.

Hector’s arm slid along my shoulders as I said to Ren and Dom, “Hi guys.”

Dom blinked. Ren’s eyes flicked to Hector then back to me and he grinned.

Hector tucked me in his side.

No one spoke.

I waited.

Still, no one spoke.

Finally, when I could take it no more, I asked, “What’s up?”

Hector answered, “The Zanos got Ricky.”

My body went solid. Then relief dripped through me and I sagged into Hector.

Thank you, God.

“Thank God,” I whispered.

“No Sadie,” Hector said softly and I looked up at him and saw his face was carefully blank but his eyes were glittery hard. He kept talking. “You don’t get it, mamita, they’ve got him but now you need to decide what they’re gonna do with him.”

My relaxed body went solid again.

“What?” I asked Hector.

Uncle Vito spoke. “You got two choices, little one,” he told me and my eyes turned to him. “The first, we take Balducci to the police.” He stopped talking, I nodded then he went on, “The second, Balducci disappears.”

My body jerked.

“Disappears?” I repeated, my voice breathy and disbelieving.

“Disappears,” Dom affirmed and my gaze moved to him. “Gone. No one ever sees him again, not you, not his brothers, no one.”

I just stared at Dom not comprehending what he was saying or, more accurately, trying not to comprehend what he was saying.

Dom continued talking, “He fights the charges, you have to testify, you have to go through it again. Or you can choose for him to disappear and we take care of it. No trial, no testifying, it’s over, he’s certain to pay and you move on.”

Were they telling me they were going to whack Ricky Balducci for me?

Blooming heck!

“I can’t ask you to –” I started.

“We wouldn’t do it,” Uncle Vito interrupted quickly, eyes on Hector then his gaze came back to me. “You ain’t the only one who hates Ricky. We put the word out he’s available, they’ll come out of the woodwork. We chose the one who’ll do the job right, we hand him over, we walk away. We don’t know what happens from there, you don’t, Chavez doesn’t neither does his brother or Nightingale. No one’s the wiser and it’ll be done.”

I realized my body was shaking.

“Sadie,” Hector called and I looked up at him. For some reason, he changed the subject and informed me. “That blood and the hairs they found on your furniture, some of it was Ricky’s.”

I didn’t know why he was telling me that but I nodded anyway.

He kept talking. “Harvey went before the judge yesterday, bail was set. Donny and Marty left him in jail. They didn’t post bond.”

I just kept staring at Hector, still not understanding why he was telling me all this.

Hector’s fingers squeezed my shoulder and he curled me closer to him. “Mamita, I’m givin’ you the information you need to make a decision. What I’m sayin’ is, the remaining free Balduccis aren’t feelin’ any brotherly love. They aren’t takin’ care of Harvey and if Ricky gets locked up, it’s likely they won’t bond him out either. That means, neither of those two’ll hit the streets anytime soon. That also means the other two are happy to jockey for position with Ricky and Harvey out of their way. And you got enough to get a guilty verdict if Ricky’s stupid enough to fight the rape charge.”

Finally I got it and I also had a good idea of which decision Hector wanted me to make.

So I said, “Okay.”

He curled me closer, his other hand went to my hip and his face dipped low. “No Sadie,” he said softly, reading my thoughts. “It’s your choice to make. I’m just givin’ you the full picture. It isn’t me who’ll have to sit on the witness stand and tell a room full of people what happened that night. It also isn’t me who’ll have to listen to whatever f**ked up version of events Ricky’ll produce as his defense. You got the opportunity to avoid that; I’m not gonna take that away and no one in this room, or out of it, will judge. The Zanos are givin’ you a chance to decide what form your retribution will take. Only you can make it but you gotta make it now.”