“We can’t touch him yet. His time will come. I’m a very patient woman. If there hadn’t been a tip-off that day, we wouldn’t have a problem.” Nikki was trying to carefully choose her words so Isy wouldn’t catch on to what they were talking about.

“Aye, he will.”

“Like I said, I don’t want you getting your hands dirty. Leave it to me,” Nikki said.

“We’ll see.” When Mack left prison, she’d had every intention to take a step back from the business, but when people like Kevin Drury were on the street, she knew she would always be the Sharkey enforcer.

“Have a good night, okay? Bye, Mack.”

“Bye.” Mack turned off her phone and said, “Hey, sleepyhead.”

“You stayed?” Flora said with excitement. “I’m sorry for falling asleep on you.”

“I wouldn’t just walk out when you fell asleep. You had a really hard day, and besides, I’m your guardian angel, remember?”

Flora moved a few inches closer to Mack and said, “Yes, you are, aren’t you.”

She took Mack’s hand. Usually, Flora wasn’t so bold. Mack moved a loose piece of hair behind Flora’s ear. “Nobody’s ever accused me of being an angel—a criminal gangland enforcer, maybe. Do I need to go on?”

“Well, you’re the kindest person that I’ve ever met. I hope—” Flora shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“No, tell me what?”

“You don’t just feel sorry for me, do you?”

“Flo, that is the last thing I feel for you. What I do feel is that I admire you for being so brave and coping with everything you’ve had to deal with, alone, for most of your life. I feel bad that you have had to be alone, but never sorry for you. You’re beautiful, brave, and strong.”

“I don’t feel strong and I’m definitely not beautiful.” Flora let her head fall.

Mack put her fingers under Flora’s chin and held it up. “I’m sorry that nobody has ever told you that, but it’s true, and if you don’t believe your guardian angel, who can you trust?”

Mack got a sweet smile in return and had a desperate need to kiss Flora but was unsure how it would be received, so she asked, “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” Flora whispered.

Mack’s heart was pounding as she inched forward, and she groaned when she met Flora’s lips. They were so soft and yielding that Mack thought she could melt into them. She let the tip of her tongue run along Flora’s lips, and she got Flora to moan in return and felt her hands grasp lightly around her neck.

The next second Flora pulled back, her breathing heavy. “You need to know something. Something that might make you feel differently about me.”