They arrived at Mick and Roz’s later that night.  Gloria and Joey met them at the door.  Teddy hung back, inside the foyer, but he was as anxious as his younger siblings.  But when Joey saw that not only Amelia were with their parents, but the man he’d heard so much about, and had only seen as a photograph on the internet, he was astounded.  He looked at Teddy.  “He’s with them,” he said.

Teddy frowned.  “Who’s with them?”

Joey couldn’t believe he was about to say that name.  “Hammer Reese,” he said.

Teddy didn’t believe it, either.  He hurried up to the door where his siblings stood, and moved Joey aside.  When he saw that Hammer Reese had indeed gotten out of the vehicle, too, he was as astonished as his brother.

“Who’s Hammer Reese?” Gloria asked.  Then she realized who.  “You mean Hannibal’s father?  That’s Hannibal’s father?”

Joey smiled.  “Hammer Reese is one of the most notorious sons-of-bitches around, almost as badass as Dad, and the only thing you know about him is that he’s Hannibal’s father.  Great.  Just great.”

“Forget you!” Gloria said with a smile of her own.  Then she stared at the tall man with the very buff body.  “He’s most attractive,” she said.

Joey laughed.  “Boy-oh-boy if you even thought about hooking up with that asshole, Dad will skin you alive!”

“He’ll try,” Gloria said.

Teddy, who didn’t play games with them, looked at his sister.  “He’ll more than try,” he warned.  “Stay away from that man.”

Gloria wanted to roll her eyes.  Not only was Mick her father, but Teddy sometimes thought he was, too.  But she kept her eyes on the Hammer as he, Amelia, and their parents conversed with a small group of Mick’s men.

“Besides,” Teddy added, “you forgot one important point.”

“Which is?”

“That man is Amelia’s man.  He’s already spoken for.”

“No, he’s not,” Gloria said quickly.  “I mean, not according to Amelia anyway.  That’s Amelia’s baby daddy, but she already told me she’s not together with her baby daddy.”

Teddy looked at Gloria.  “When did she tell you that?”

“When I called to ask how she and the baby were doing.  I do check on her, you know.  Joey does too.  Unlike some we know,” she added, and she and Joey gave Teddy a seriously assessing look.  Then Gloria returned her attention to Hammer.

Joey looked at his sister.  He smiled when he saw the lust in her eyes.  “But you know why they call him the Hammer?” he asked.

“Why?” Gloria asked, still staring at the subject of their conversation.

“They call him the Hammer,” Joey answered, “because of his johnny.  It’s supposed to be just that big and powerful.”

Gloria looked at Joey as if he had just unearthed the secret of the universe. “Really?”

Joey laughed.  Teddy did, too.  “Now that impresses her!” Teddy said.  Then he shook his head.  “If you’re in a room of good men and one bad man, you’re going to find a way to fall in love with the bad one.  You’ve turned into an artform, Glo.”

Gloria knew that was true.  Bad relationship after bad relationship proved that it was true.  But she couldn’t help who she liked.  And she was liking on this Hammer Reese already. 

After the group conversed with Gio Savarino and a couple of Mick’s security chiefs onsite, they made their way toward the front entrance.

“Made it back?” Teddy asked as he stepped aside and allowed them passage in.

“Barely,” Roz said, “but yes.”

A look of worry and concern appeared on Teddy’s handsome face.  “Why barely?” he asked.  “What happened?”

As usual, Mick didn’t say anything, and they all made it inside the house.  Amelia hugged and chatted with Gloria and Joey, as they dotted on the baby, while Mick and Roz escorted Hammer toward the sitting area.  But Teddy was too curious to dote on a baby, or even to speak to his aunt.  He followed them.  And when Roz sat on the sofa, and Hammer sat in the chair that flanked the sofa, he asked his question again.  “What happened, Pop?”

Mick sat down beside Roz, and didn’t answer.

“Pop?” Teddy asked.  “Will you please tell me what went down?”

“Don’t you want to know who we have with us first?” Roz asked her stepson.

“I know who we have with us,” Teddy responded, glancing at Hammer.  “But what I need to know is what happened.”

“A sneak attack,” Mick said.  “We ended up in some trouble.”  Then a wary look appeared in his eyes just thinking about it, because Roz had been in that danger with him.  “Some serious trouble,” he added, “but we survived it.”

“Thanks to Mr. Reese,” Roz pointed out.

Teddy was surprised to hear that.  He looked at Hammer.  “So you’re the hero?”

Hammer smiled.  “Not on your life,” he said.  “Not even on mine.  But I’ll take it.”

Teddy smiled, too.  He’d heard Hammer was a charmer.  He’d heard how Hammer was up there in Montreal pretending to be nothing more than some meek and mild jazz club owner charming the pants off of those Canadians.  He extended his hand.  “I’m Teddy Sinatra.”

Hammer shook his hand.  “Hello, Teddy.”

“I work with my father.”

“Yes, I know,” Hammer said and he and Mick exchanged a glance. It was once said that there was nothing Hammer Reese didn’t know when he ran the CIA.  But it was also said that he was a crooked director who became his own judge and jury too many times.  Mick didn’t trust him then, and wasn’t about to blindly trust him now, despite what his gut was telling him.

“Who launched the attack?” Teddy asked his father.

“That’s a good question,” Mick responded.  Then he looked at Hammer.  “Was it your people?” he asked.

Hammer found such a question insulting, but he smiled all the same.  “No.”

“But you were there.  Why?”

“My son was in that house.”

“A son you’re trying to separate from his mother,” Roz said.

“Right,” Amelia said in agreement as she, carrying the son in question, walked over to the sitting area.  Gloria and Joey were behind her.

“Where are the twins?” Roz asked Gloria.

“In the Nursery,” Gloria said, moving beside Amelia.

“Put them in the safe room,” Mick ordered.  “I want you and Joey to stay down there with them.  Take Hannibal down there, too.”

Amelia looked at Mick as Gloria moved over to retrieve the baby from her arms.  Hammer looked at Amelia too.  Although he nodded his approval for the move, she needed more.  She trusted her brother with her life, but when Hammer wanted to take her son away from her, her trust in him diminished.  But because Mick was giving the order, she gave little Hannibal to Gloria.

Gloria and Joey headed for the nursery to retrieve the twins.

“I want Deuce in the safe room, too,” Mick said.

“Yes, sir,” Joey responded.

“Why don’t you answer her question,” Amelia said as she sat on the opposite side of Roz.  She and Mick had Roz sandwiched in.  “Why are you trying to keep my son away from me?”

“The same reason you’re trying to keep him away from me,” Hammer responded.  “I believe you will be a bad influence on him.”

Amelia frowned.  “Me?  What about your ass?  I’m not involved in all of that deep-state shit.  You are!”

“And I’ve never sold a drug in my life.  But you have.  And still does.”

Amelia glanced at Mick.  She knew how Mick hated drugs, although, when he was a younger man, he slung drugs with the best of them.  But now he detested them and made no bones about it.  As far as he knew, Amelia was out of that game completely.

But she wasn’t.  She was deep in it still.  Among other things, she thought.  But that, to her, wasn’t her big brother’s business.  And it for hell wasn’t Hammer’s business either.  “You sweep around your own front door,” she said.  “Stop worrying about mine.”

“One thing for certain,” Mick said, leaning forward, “nobody’s taking Hannibal away from my sister.”

Mick and Hammer exchanged a hard look.  Hammer knew what Mick the Tick was capable of, and he respected that level of power and strength.  But he was capable of a lot of shit himself.  Mick, he thought, would be wise to respect that, too.

“Why did you bring Bella Caine into this?” Roz asked Hammer.

Hammer looked at her.  “Bella who?”

Mick looked at him.  “Bella Caine.  One of my children’s mother.  You claimed to be Teddy Stefani and threatened her.”

Hammer smiled.  “Teddy Stefani?  That fucker’s dead.  And you know it, Mick, since one of your men killed him.  But I sure as hell wasn’t going around pretending to be some dead thug.  That doesn’t sound like me on any day.”

Mick knew it was true.  He knew it instantly.  Roz looked at Mick.  Mick looked at Teddy.  “Go get Higgs,” he said.  “Roll that motherfucker to me if you have to.”

Teddy nodded.  “Yes, sir,” he said, and hurried to do as he was ordered.

Then Mick looked at Hammer.  “Who were the men at Amelia’s?  If they weren’t your men, do you know who they were?”

“Don’t know the gentlemen,” Hammer said.  “But whoever’s pulling this shit has some powerful beef against you, Mick.  And they’re roping in everybody close to you.”

“And you know this how?” Roz asked Hammer.

Hammer smiled.  “I make it my business to know.”

“How did you know those men had targeted Amelia’s house if you don’t know who the men are?”

Mick looked at Hammer, too.  Hammer nodded as if he was taking his hat off to Roz.  “I didn’t know who was going to hit, but I knew somebody was targeting the great Mick the Tick.  Mick, his wife, his daughter.  I figured his sister could be next.  So I kept surveillance on your husband, on Mick the Tick.  I found out he was on his way to Amelia’s.  I decided to show up, too.”

“Thank God you showed up,” Roz said.

Mick agreed with that.  But then he rose to his feet and began pacing around the room.  He ran his hands down the back of his hair and put one hand in his trousers.  Roz could feel his tension, and wanted very much to go to him.  But she knew him well enough to know that Mick was thinking.  He wasn’t just pacing around.  He was well beyond the rest of them.

“Where did it all begin?” Amelia asked.

“It all began with the death of Santo Vichy,” Roz said.

“What about that, Mick?” Amelia asked.  “When was the last time you saw Santo?  Did he say anything odd or behave differently when you last saw him?”

Mick continued to pace, but then, suddenly, he stopped.

“What is it, Mick?” Roz asked.

Everybody looked at him.

“Arianna,” Mick said.

Amelia frowned.  “Who?”

Roz was surprised.  “Arianna?  Arianna Sinatra?”

Amelia was surprised.  “Sinatra?  She’s a Sinatra?”

“Yes.  She’s Big Daddy’s ex-wife.”

“Charles’s ex-wife?”

Roz nodded.  “She’s the mother of his sons.”

“This Arianna person had to have had a powerful reason to come after Santo,” Hammer said.  “And you,” he added.

“But why, Mick?”  Roz asked.  “For what reason?  Arianna is in prison.”

“Prison?” Amelia asked.

But Mick looked at Roz.  “That’s the reason,” he said.