He pushed through, saw Cher in his kitchen, Ethan on his couch, and two sets of bright, happy brown eyes turned his way.

One set smiled.

The other did as well.

But the mouth under it shouted, “Merry! Guess what?”

He grinned at his woman, then turned that grin to her son.

“What, bud?” he asked, throwing the door closed behind him and walking to the dining room table, shrugging off his suit jacket.

“One hundred percent on my geography test,” Ethan declared, turning on the couch to get on his knees in order to share this exciting news facing Garrett fully.

He threw his coat around the back of a chair but didn’t take his eyes off the boy.

“Right on, Ethan.”

“Give me a mountain range,” Ethan ordered.

“Andes,” Garrett said, moving toward Cher.

“South America!” Ethan cried. “Another one.”

“Alps.”

“Europe! Another!”

Garrett made it to Cher and slid a hand from her waist to the small of her back, but he didn’t take his attention from her kid. “Himalayas.”

“South Asia!” Ethan yelled. “Now give me a hard one.”

Fuck, he didn’t know a hard one.

“Ural,” Cher muttered under her breath.

Someone had helped her kid study.

He pressed his hand in and called to Ethan, “Ural.”

“Russia!” Ethan shouted.

“Impressive, buddy,” Garrett declared.

“One hundred percent, impressive,” Ethan decreed.

Garrett chuckled before he requested, “Mind if I say hey to your mom?”

“Sure,” Ethan allowed, twisting back to land on his ass on the couch. “Just not too gooey.”

He was still smiling when he turned to Cher.

That smell.

Her right there in his kitchen, looking pretty.

Her kid giving him the best welcome home he’d had in years, even though he hadn’t even said hello.

All that, Garrett wanted to give Cher more than gooey.

Ethan right there, he couldn’t.

But with what he did give her, he managed to touch his tongue to hers briefly before he lifted his head.

“Hey,” he murmured.

“Hey, gorgeous. Good day?”

It had been a good day.

He’d had an important conversation with his father that settled his soul and maybe, he hoped, neutralized the poison in his gut for good—or at least made it so he could manage it.

He’d discovered his woman and her kid were never in any danger, but now they were really not in any danger with Carlito and his crew picked up and being processed on RICO charges.

And it was looking good that Wendy Derian’s killer was behind bars with the RICO haul. The gun in the suspect’s possession was the caliber that did Wendy, had been recently discharged, and Robert Paxton didn’t have a firm alibi for the time of her murder. He was also in possession of her cell phone.

Jake still had to run ballistics, but during interrogation, Paxton gave Mike and Garrett indication he may roll over on a variety of things, including being ordered to carry out the hit on Wendy, doing this in order to make things tougher for Carlito but easier on him.