"Good afternoon, Mr. Utzieli."

"Paulie, Mikey," the elderly gentleman called as Paul Messer and Michael Sassone entered his living room. "Have a seat."

The two men shook hands with the head of the family and sat nervously on the edge of the couch.

"You wanted to see us?" Danny's father asked.

"I did," Mr. Utzieli nodded. "I have some disturbing news to share with you."

"What news is that?" Michael asked as calmly as he could. News delivered by the boss was never good.

The old man shifted in his chair. "It seems that young Danny has felt compelled recently to share details regarding a little incident from several years ago."

Both men knew without being told that he was referring to the murder cover up they had involved Danny in, and glanced at each other anxiously.

"He told that girl, didn't he?" Paul asked, his voice tinged with anger.

Mr. Utzieli nodded again. "Yes, and he's told that boss of his, too…Detective Taylor." Paul turned pale and Michael frowned, but the elderly man ignored them and continued sternly, "You know why he did that, don't you?"

Neither of the younger men spoke.

"He did it because you forced him to," Mr. Utzieli told them pointedly. "I've known Danny his entire life, and even after he joined the police force I knew he would never tell a soul about his dealings with this family. He's too smart to bring any of that up now—that was the deal when he left, and Danny was always a man of his word. But the two of you," he stabbed a finger in the direction of his two captains, "went and threatened him, backed him into a corner."

"We only wanted him to come back," Michael replied quietly. "He could have taken over for O'Reilly after he got pinched…"

"I agree," the older man said. "But you know as well as I do, Mikey, that if Danny comes back to the family it will be because he wants to. You can't force him."

"We just…" Paul began.

Mr. Utzieli held up a hand, cutting him off. "If you continue to threaten Danny, he's going to turn on you and he's going to bring the NYPD with him. If that happens," the head of the family lowered his voice and leaned forward in his chair, "I don't know you."

Michael and Paul dared not look at each other, so both dropped their gazes to their feet.

"Are we clear gentlemen?"

Eyes were lifted to meet the stare of the boss. "Yes sir," both men answered simultaneously.

"That's all."

Paul and Michael rose from the couch and said their polite good-byes, shuffling out of the house quietly.

Once outside, Paul turned to Michael. "The old man's getting senile, Mikey. He thinks Danny's gonna keep his mouth shut."

"He might have anyway, Paulie," Michael returned, "if we had just left him alone."

"But now that Parrish girl knows, and Taylor…he could be a problem."

Michael stopped walking and turned to Paul. "You're not saying we should take care of Taylor…"

Paul shook his head. "No, not an NYPD detective unless we have to. But my boy Danny needs to be taught a lesson. Loyalty lies with your family."

"Hey Mac," Don called, flipping his note pad shut as he walked into Mac's office. When he glanced up he saw Stella sitting beside Mac at his desk. "Oh, uh, sorry. I can come back later…"

Stella grinned. "Nothing's happening, Flack," she promised, rising from her chair and walking around the desk. "What's up?"

"I was looking for Danny," he explained. "But he's obviously not in here…"

"Is there something I can do for you?" Mac asked.

Don blushed a little. "It was personal, Mac. Don't worry about it."

"Personal?" Stella asked.

"Well, I wanted to ask him a few questions about the bachelor party…"

She rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

Mac chuckled. "Come on Stella, don't tell me you ladies aren't throwing a bachelorette party for Maddie."

She pressed her lips together. "That's beside the point…"

Mac laughed. "Did you need anything else, Don?"

"Nope, that was it…oh, wait, yeah. Aiden said to tell you both hi," he responded, the color creeping back into his cheeks.

"How are things going between the two of you?" Stella asked.

"After the 'conversation' we had at the engagement party and the long talk we had before she went back to Virginia, things settled down a bit."

"And e-mailing her doesn't seem strange to you now, after the relationship you used to have?" Mac wondered.

"It was awkward at first," Don admitted. "We just didn't know what to say to each other, so we ended up asking about the weather and mutual friends and things like that."

"Safe subjects," Stella agreed.

Don nodded. "Right. But now we're getting a little more comfortable with each other again. In fact," he glanced down at his watch and smiled, "I have a date with her in a few hours."

Stella wrinkled her forehead in thought. "How do you have a date with Aiden if she's in Virginia and you're in New York?"

"It's a phone date," Don grinned. "It'll be the first time I've heard her voice since she went back."

Stella and Mac exchanged smothered smiles. "That's great news," he told the younger detective. "I hope things work out for the two of you."

"Right back at ya," Don winked. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Danny walking past the office and ducked out the door. "Hey Danny…do we want to go to the Pussycat Lounge or Barely There…"

Maddie walked out through the parking lot at school after another long day and sighed.

"You okay, Miss Parrish?" Shayla asked, walking beside her.

Maddie smiled at the girl. "Just tired."

"Me too," Shayla agreed. "Mr. Adams is working us to death in Algebra II."

Maddie laughed. "He does like to pile it on, doesn't he?"

They were halfway to the car when a voice stopped them. "Madeline Messer?"

"Not yet," she grinned as she turned. When she saw the man who had called her name, the smiled died on her lips. The family resemblance was clear, and she immediately knew who she was dealing with even though she had never met him. "Paul Messer."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he replied.

Maddie noticed the holster-shaped bulge under his coat and patted Shayla on the arm. "I left my lesson plan book on my desk, Shayla. Could you run back inside and get it for me?"

"But Miss Parrish, you finished your lesson plans…"

Maddie shook her head faintly and shot the girl a do-as-I-say look. "Go on and grab it for me."

Shayla nodded and ran back to the school building and the safety of the armed security guards that protected it.

"Cute girl," Paul said without taking his eyes off Maddie. "Too bad her step-father is a mobster."

"What do you want?" she asked, ignoring the comment.

Paul smiled. "You're not even gonna ask about the mob remark?"

"I know all I need to know about that," she informed him. "There isn't anything you can tell me about Danny's past that's going to scare me away."

"Oh really?" Paul asked, his smile growing. "What if I told you that what you thought was in the past is still very much in the present?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He nodded. "Danny told you about how he used to be connected right? Well, he sort of fibbed a little."

She shook her head. "That's not true."

"Of course it is!" he exclaimed happily. "My Danny's as smart as they come, and he's climbed up ladder quite nicely. He'll deny it if you ask him, sure, because he doesn't want you to know what kind of man he really is. He knows that you'd leave him if you ever found out he was still involved."

Maddie stood still, unable to speak.

"You accepted it when he told you what he'd done in the past right? Because he swore to you that he was out, he was done with us. And he won't testify against us in court, either. Ask him. He'll tell you it's for his safety—for your safety—but really it's because he's still one of us."

One of the security guards came into view, tipped off by Shayla's reappearance in the school building. "Everything okay here?" he asked in a stern voice.

Paul decided he had shaken Maddie up enough for now. "Everything's fine, sir," he told the security guard. "I was just talking to my future daughter-in-law here."

"That true?" the guard asked Maddie.

She pressed her lips together and frowned, not wanting to involve any of the school personnel in a Mafia-related affair. "It doesn't matter. He was just leaving."

"I was, yes," Paul agreed. "It was good to see you, sweetheart."

He smiled pleasantly and turned on his heel, walking quickly back to his car. Maddie stood with the guard and watched Paul go, waiting until he had cleared the perimeter of campus.

"We're going to start walking you out to your car again, Maddie," the security guard told her. "I can tell by the look on your face that guy's trouble."

She sighed. "I'm not going to fight you this time, either," she replied. "But Shayla's going to need an escort, too, when she's not with me."

He nodded. "We'll take care of it."

Another guard brought Shayla out to the car, where she climbed into the passenger seat beside Maddie. They said their thank-yous and good-byes to the guards and headed home, speeding quickly though traffic as Maddie tried to forget Paul's words.

…he's still one of us…