I glanced over at Charlotte as we pulled up to a red light, unable to contain my smirk. She was fidgeting like crazy, bouncing her foot and picking at her nail polish, not paying any attention to the rest of us in the car. We were all on our way to see Layla and to meet her new boyfriend. It should have been my job to be the nervous one, but Char was clearly anxious. I reached over and rested my hand on her thigh.
"Would you relax? You're more nervous than I am." I gave her a playful smile.
She returned it, relaxing just a little at my touch. "I'm not nervous. I just know this means a lot to Layla and I want it to go well."
"It's going to be fine. I promise to behave myself." I assured her, continuing on towards the restaurant. We'd picked a place halfway in between her university and our house so that Layla didn't have to drive back so far, so late. That's what they told me, at least. I had a sneaking suspicion it had more to do with my wife and daughter conniving against me, knowing I couldn't make a scene in public. I scoffed at the idea. Did they really not know me at all? Being in public wouldn't stop me in the slightest if the kid was a douche bag. I'd humor them though, because like Char said, this was importable to Layla and I wanted her to be happy. I wanted nothing else more in the world than for my kids to be happy.
"And you left your gun at home, correct?" She arched her eyebrow at me.
I smirked. "I left a gun at home, yes."
Her eyes widened. "Luca, I thought we talked about this."
"Would you stop it?" I chuckled. "You're wound so tight right now I think your brain might actually explode. You know I always keep a gun in the car. I'm not bringing it in, I swear."
"You better not." She narrowed her eyes at me.
A few minutes later, we were pulling up to the restaurant. I handed the keys to the valet, and we headed inside. The place they had picked out was on the river and had a large patio overlooking the water. It was busy and loud and one of those newer eclectic places, designed to draw in a younger crowd. Charlotte gave the hostess our name, and we waited in the front for a few minutes. The boys were arguing back and forth about something and Lucy was telling Charlotte about some field trip they were taking for school, but all I could focus on was the sight of my first baby girl walking into the restaurant with some guy attached to her arm, a look of pure charm and captivation on her face. It took a second for Layla to notice us, but that could have been because she was completely focused on him, a huge cheesy grin plastered on her face. The kind she usually only reserved for those she truly loved and cared about. He was equally smitten with her, hanging on her every word and reaching over to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. All the air was sucked out of my lungs as I watched them together. It was both beautiful and heartbreaking to see.
"Are you okay? You look like you're about to pass out." Char put her hand on my back, glancing up at me. She followed my gaze to the door where the kid was helping Layla take her coat off and hang it up on one of the hooks by the door. "Oh." A smile tugged at Char's face. She could see their connection, too.
Layla's attention broke away from him for a second and when she saw us, her face lit up. "Dad!" She shrieked, rushing across the waiting area and throwing her arms around my neck and nearly knocking me off my feet.
"Hi baby." I smiled, wrapping her in a tight hug. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you guys?" She grinned, pulling away. "Hi mom." She hugged Char.
"Hi sweetheart. It's so good to see you." Char beamed. "Your hair looks amazing."
"Do you like it? I lightened it a little, but I wasn't sure." Layla asked.
"I think it looks beautiful." She assured her.
"I told her the same thing." The kid came up, wrapping his arm around Layla and joining us. "I'm Hunter. It's nice to finally meet you both, Mr. and Mrs. Catalano." He held his hand out and shook mine.
"Its so nice to meet you too, Hunter. We've heard a lot about you! And lease, call me Charlotte." She grinned, holding my hand tightly. "And this is my husband Luca."
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I was fine with him calling me Mr. Catalano. "Nice to meet you."
"And this is Leo and Landon, my little brothers." Layla introduced. "And Lucy is my little sister."
Everyone made their introductions, and the hostess took us to a table on the back patio. It was a beautiful night, a little crisp but warm enough for us to sit out there by the fire. We all took our seats and made small talk for a while. Layla teased Leo about the party he threw the other night and they bantered back and forth, but I didn't hear most of it. All I was focused on was the way he looked at her. It bothered me so much because I recognized it. It was the same way I looked at her mother. He was in awe of her, thought she hung the stars in the sky, and was hopelessly in love with my daughter.
"So Hunter, are you from New York originally?" I asked, sipping on a whiskey. I was so thrown off by all of this that I didn't even want to drink to calm my nerves, which was usual for me. Char picked up on where my mind was at instantly and reached for my hand under the table.
"No, I'm actually from Michigan." He said. "Just outside of Detroit. My grandparents have a big ranch out here just outside the city and when my grandpa died, I moved up here to help my grandma with it."
"How sweet!" Charlotte smiled. "That must have been difficult."
"Actually, I've really enjoyed it. I took Layla out there a few weeks ago and taught her how to milk a cow." He grinned, squeezing her hand.
I chuckled a bit. He didn't know my daughter at all. While she had been kind of a wild child growing up, she had become such a girly girl that anything with mud or dirt was completely out of the question. She was all about ballet and art museums and sophistication.
"It was so incredible, mom." Layla beamed. "We even got to see a baby calf be born, and I got to give her her first bottle."
Charlotte looked just as surprised as I was, but she composed herself a little better. "Wow, that's amazing! Do they just have cows on the ranch?"
"Oh no, we've got all kinds of animals. Horses and chickens and even a few alpacas. In the summer, my grandmother still runs camping trips. We'd love to have you all come up."
"I think you'd really love it, dad." Layla smiled at me. "Its so beautiful. It reminds me of when we went to visit grandma Carmen in Italy."
"Well, we'd love to come see it sometime." I said, biting my tongue. I really wanted to hate this kid, but he was making it hard to do.
"Are you at NYU too?" Leo asked, hoping to stir the pot. I knew the boys were hoping for some fireworks from this dinner and everything seemed a little too smooth for them right now.
Hunter shook his head. "I graduated a few years ago. I'm a cop now."
A cop? Had I misheard him? Layla was dating a cop? Had she completely lost her mind? Forgotten what we did for a living?
"He's being modest." Layla gushed. "He's on the fast track to be a homicide detective."
Charlotte bit her lip, glancing over at me, no doubt anticipating my reaction.
"A cop, huh?" This was almost laughable. The daughter of a Mafia Don in love with a cop. "What got you into that business?"
He shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. My uncle was a cop, and it just seemed like a good opportunity. So far, it's been great. New York is such an interesting city to try to police. You have no idea what people are doing behind closed doors."
Charlotte let out a small laugh. "You're right. I can imagine you find out some pretty interesting things about people. Tell us about the rest of your family. Are you an only child?"
Charlotte was quick to change the subject and move on to something else, and it was a good thing she did. We spent the rest of the night talking about surface things and enjoying our food. All in all, Hunter seemed like a nice guy, but I couldn't shake the feeling that's something was off. The timing was just too perfect. With everything going on with Axel, Layla just happens to fall madly in love with someone on the police force? It was fishy, and I needed to do some serious digging.
"It was so nice to meet you guys," Hunter said, giving Charlotte a hug and shaking my hand as we got ready to leave. "When Layla said we were going to meet at a restaurant instead of your house, I was a little disappointed. I've been wanting to see where she grew up for so long, and I was hoping to meet the rest of her extended family. She talks about her aunts and uncles and cousins all the time."
"Well, we'll have to arrange that soon." Charlotte smiled. "I'm sure they'd all love to meet you as well."
Layla gave me a tight hug and kissed my cheek. "Bye dad."
She smiled, lingering for a second. It was almost as if she was hoping for me to say something about her boyfriend's occupation. I wasn't ready to do that yet though. I needed more information before I told her how I really felt. I didn't want to ruin this for her, but I also wasn't naïve. "Bye, baby. I love you."
"I love you too." She smiled tightly, and I could see the worry on her face.
We said the rest of our goodbyes and headed home. I stayed pretty quiet as everyone else gave their assessments of him. It seemed we were all avoiding the elephant in the car, though. It didn't matter how good of a guy he was if he was a cop who was using her to gain information on me or the Romano crime family.
The kids said goodnight and Char and I headed to our bedroom. When she got into the shower, I sent a quick text to Angelo to run a background check on Hunter. I needed to stay ahead of this. More than anything, I just thought the whole thing was ironic and comical. Layla dating a cop... of all the people and occupations in the world, that's what she chose. Maybe she was just messing with us and they weren't really together, maybe she was trying to pull a big prank. I might have considered that option if I hadn't seen the way they looked at each other. She was completely in love with him and there was a high possibility he was using her.
If I found out that was the case, I'd kill the kid with my bare hands. He wouldn't live long enough to get any dirt on me if he hurt my baby girl in the process.
Char came out and laid down next to me in bed. "Okay, tell me what's on your mind."
I chuckled, wrapping my arms around her. "Nothing's on my mind. Why do you say that?"
"Because I know you, and I know after meeting your daughter's boyfriend, you're gonna have a hell of a lot on your mind. Especially when that boyfriend just so happens to be a cop..." She arched her eyebrow at me. Char knew me better than I knew myself, and it was useless to try to keep anything from her. She'd just keep pestering me until I told her.
"Oh right, the cop..." I chuckled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "What is with you women and cops, anyway? First Grant, now this joker? Is it the uniform thing that's attractive? I really don't get it."
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "First of all, Grant was an ADA when I met him, so don't even go there with me. And second of all, we both know that the way she was looking at him, it's not about the uniform. And he really did seem like a good guy."
"What's your instinct telling you?" I asked. I valued Char's opinion, and she was right. There was a chance this was just a coincidence. It wasn't likely, but it was a chance, nonetheless.
"That we should trust our daughter. She's smart, and we raised her to be her own person, not get swept up in the first guy that's nice to her." Char glanced up at me. "What's your first instinct?"
"That he's using her for information on me." I said plainly, hating the taste of the words as they came out of my mouth.
"Come on Luca, he's a beat cop. The poor kid probably doesn't even have the slightest idea about the kind of things you're into." She said.
"Or that's the perfect cover for whatever these cops are trying to dredge up on me." I countered, letting out a heavy sigh. This was the key difference between Char and I. She looked of the good in every situation and I was the eternal pessimist. That's what a lifetime in the mafia will do to a person.
"I thought you said it wasn't that serious?" Char frowned, narrowing her eyes at me.
"It's not." I insisted, hoping to squash her fears.
"Well, if you think they're using a kid to go undercover to date your daughter, I'd say that's a pretty big deal." She pursed her lips. She certainly had me there. It was hard to argue with Charlotte when she was so damn clever herself.
"Babe, the thing with Axel is not a big deal. They're fishing for information, but they aren't going to find anything. Our hands are totally clean in this, but that doesn't mean it's going to stop them from looking."
Her gaze hardened. "You better not being lying to me, Luca."
"Charlotte, I swear to God, I am not lying to you. You want to know exactly what happened?" I offered, sitting up slightly in the bed. "Angelo and I were helping Axel out on a case and we found a body. Our names were in the investigation and that's the only reason they're looking in to it."
I had to leave some key details out, but that was the gist of it. I hadn't told Charlotte the case was after I had stepped down, or that I had gone behind her back to do it. For now, I'd keep that to myself.
"Okay. But if it turns out to be more..."
"Shhh." I pressed my lips to hers. "I don't want to talk anymore. Just lay there and let me love you."