Lawson led the way into an office and Banks held the door for Rome who glared at the man as he stepped inside. Banks closed the door after them and Rome put Dante, who still hadn’t said a word, down on his feet.
“Hey, Dante? Do you like to color?” Lawson asked as he crouched down in front of Dante.
Dante glanced up at Rome who smiled and nodded at him. Dante turned back to Lawson and nodded. Lawson set him up at one of the desks with plenty of paper and a mountain of crayons before crossing the room to stand next to Banks, facing Rome.
“Alright,” Lawson said. “What’s all this about?”
“I need you to take Dante. Make sure he gets somewhere safe,” Rome said.
“Whoa, hold up,” Banks said. “You want us to what?”
Rome growled. “Take the kid. He’s not safe.”
“Why? What’s Marco gotten himself into?” Lawson asked.
Rome didn’t say a word.
Banks sighed, then said, “If you don’t talk, we can’t help.”
“Then get me Neil’s number.”
Both cops looked surprised. He wasn’t sure if he liked that or not.
Lawson cleared his throat. “Uh, I kinda very intentionally lost Neil’s number. Sorry.”
Rome squeezed his eyes closed for a second and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The fuck was he supposed to do then?
Lawson opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Banks put a hand on his shoulder.
“We can take the kid, but he’ll go to social services. I don’t know if Marco would get him back and I do not want to even imagine what a man like him would do to get him back,” Banks said.
“Babe,” Lawson said and crossed his arms while glaring at Banks. “There’s no way in hell I’d ever hand him over to social services.”
Rome blinked at Lawson. Had he heard that right? They were together? Well, stranger things had happened, he supposed. The past week was a testament to that.
“Correction, there’s no way in hell we’d take home a Serrano,” Banks said, determination set on his face.
“But—”
“No,” Banks growled. “I’m not risking everything for someone like Serrano.”
“He’s just a kid.”
“Who’ll grow up to be just like his uncle.”
Lawson opened his mouth, but Banks cut him off, saying, “One mobster in the family is more than enough.”
They both went quiet for a while so Rome cleared his throat and asked, “I take it you won’t help, then?”
“I probably shouldn’t even be saying this but…” Lawson trailed off and glanced at Banks for a moment before looking back at Rome. “If you need someone to take Dante somewhere safe, I’d wager your best bet would be the Salvation Kings.”
“What?” Rome croaked out.
Lawson was biting his lip, his gaze shooting to Dante who was completely lost in his drawing.
“You show up with him and I can almost guarantee they’ll help you.”
“How do you know?”
“Look, it’s not… I can’t really explain. Just know that I owe Marco and I would never let anything happen to a kid. Please, just trust me?”
Rome looked into Lawson’s eyes and all he found there was sincerity and compassion. Marco trusted the man enough to make him a part of Dante’s emergency exit plan, so Rome would trust him as well.
He gave Lawson a nod, then walked over to the desk to get Dante. He gave the kid a minute to paint the part he claimed was vital to get done before they could leave and then he picked him up. Once in the elevator, he looked up the number to the tattoo shop and pressed the call button. He let out a relieved sigh when he heard the one voice he wanted to hear the most.
“Juno? I need a favor.”
Chapter Eight
Juno
HE PULLED up in front of the police station with a frown covering his forehead. If Rome had been arrested, Juno would think he’d be the last person the man would call. It was weird. Rome hadn’t given him any details, just asked him to get in a car and go to the police station and like an idiot, he hadn’t questioned it, he’d just done it. He had no idea what to expect, but to see Rome come out of the door to the police station with a kid in his arms, certainly hadn’t been at the top of his list.
Rome glanced around before jogging across the street. He opened the door to the backseat and buckled in the kid. Then Rome got into the passenger seat.
“Uh, hi?” Juno shook his head at himself, then glanced at the kid on the backseat. “Is he your…?”
“Dante.”
“Dan—oh.” Juno’s eyes went wide. Dante. Marco Serrano’s nephew. “Why were you—”
“I just need you to take us to King,” Rome said.
Juno blinked at him. “Uh, sure.”
The drive was awkward as fuck. Dante was as quiet as Rome, and Juno didn’t seem to be able to make his thoughts go silent. He had no idea what was going on and his brain trying to fill in the blanks only made it worse.
He drove into the courtyard and almost let out a sigh of relief as he turned off the car. He watched as Rome helped the kid out, still not sure what the hell was going on. Just as he was going to tell Rome to follow him into the clubhouse, King and Joker came walking out. King was frowning the whole way up to them.
“D’Alessio?”
“King. I was told you could help,” Rome said. “That you could make sure Dante was safe.”
“Who told you
