Sweet Sin, page 10
He was on his own.
“I think we’ve got a lot to talk about, Falcon,” Leif says.
Falcon frowns. “I can’t talk about all of it.”
“You’re going to have to. I’ve told you that if you want my help, I need to know what I’m getting into. In Afghanistan—”
“Don’t throw Afghanistan in my face,” Falcon says, anger lacing his tone. “You know damned well I wanted to be there, Leif.”
“But you weren’t.” Leif holds up a hand. “I’m not saying that to be rude or mean or to throw it in your face. I’m saying it because it’s a simple fact. I imagine I’ve been through quite a few of the same things that you’ve been through. Or I’ve watched my companions go through them. It’s far from pretty.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Maybe I don’t. Maybe our experiences are completely different. I’m willing to level with you. Will you level with me?”
“About prison? Sure. But what I did to get in there?” Falcon’s expression goes dark. “Never in a million years.”
Leif rubs his forehead. “All right. I can handle that. But if it comes back to bite you in the ass, and you ask for my help? You’re going to have to level with me, or I can’t help you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t, Falcon. That’s another thing I learned in the Navy. Without all relevant information, you don’t stand a fucking chance.”
“Yeah? We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. What we’re dealing with now has nothing to do with me.”
I nod. “It has to do with me and my family. Which is why I think I can help.”
“And I’m telling you no,” Falcon says in a demanding tone.
“You’ve got to stop that, Fal,” Leif says. “I’m married to a woman who’s just as strong as I am in a completely different way. If I needed her help, she’d be there. And she’d use everything at her disposal. It seems you’ve got a good woman here—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” I hold up my hand. “I’m not his woman.”
“Oh?”
“She’s right,” Falcon says. “We don’t have any understanding between us. Only the day. The moment.”
And a pseudo-marriage proposal that he seems to have forgotten.
“Fine. Have it your way.” Leif looks at Falcon, and then at me.
I haven’t known Falcon long, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling something amazing. I’m probably falling in love with him—with my ex-parolee—who’s in trouble now because of me.
If I had any sense in my head I’d let him go.
I’d go home to Austin, fix this, and never set foot in Summer Creek, Texas again.
And if that’s what I must do to help Falcon? I will.
19
FALCON
“You’re clear,” Leif says.
“You’re fucking sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fucking sure. I just spent the last hour and a half going over every inch of this place with a fine-tooth comb. There isn’t any surveillance equipment here. Not anywhere. No microphones, no cameras, no bugs in your landline. You’re good, Falcon. Trust me. I’m trained to do this. I’ve done it for the Wolfe family the last couple of years.”
“All right. Thanks, man.”
Leif’s wife, Kelly—a gorgeous woman with auburn hair and blue eyes—is having a drink with Savannah before dinner in the family room area.
It’s a gorgeous Texas day, but we can’t go outside. Crime scene.
We join the ladies in the family room where they’re sitting together on my leather couch, Sydney at Savannah’s feet and Sammy cuddling in Kelly’s lap.
“We’re good,” I say to Savannah.
Savannah’s rigid composure visibly softens. “Good. That’s a relief.”
“So how did you two meet?” I ask.
“She just got done telling me the story,” Savannah says. “It’s intense.”
“Yeah,” Kelly says. “Not sure I’m up for repeating it, but Leif, you can tell him.”
“Kelly here…” Leif pauses and frowns. “Well, you were in prison, but you know the billionaire Derek Wolfe who was murdered last year?”
“Yeah. You hear things on the inside.” I take a sip of my bourbon—to hell with parole rules. “But some of the things about Wolfe can’t possibly be true.”
“Oh… they’re true,” Kelly says.
“Fuck,” I say.
“No need to mince words,” Kelly says. “I’m one of the women from the island.”
Savannah says nothing. Who can blame her? We all heard the stories of what happened to those women on that island.
“You can ask whatever questions you want,” Kelly says. “I’m an open book at this point.”
“We won’t put you through that,” Savannah says, “but we’re happy that you’re here now.”
Kelly smiles. “I owe Leif everything.”
“I wasn’t there when you really needed me,” Leif says.
“But you were,” Kelly says. “If you could’ve rescued me from that horrific place, that would’ve been great. But I have to look at things as a whole, you know? It all led me to you.”
A look passes between Leif and Kelly.
Yeah, they’ve been through some shit too.
All this time, I’ve had so much resentment toward Leif. He didn’t visit me in prison. Didn’t even write me.
But he was over in Afghanistan, serving our country. Watching his friends go down. And Kelly… Let’s just say I was able to save a lot of my fellow prisoners from what happened to her.
“So…” I say. “Right now, Savannah’s the issue. You’ve heard the story of what went down here at my house. Why we can’t go into the backyard.” I scratch reach down and scratch Sydney behind her soft ears. “Why we have to take these two mutts here out on leashes in the front yard to do their business.”
“Crime scene,” Leif says.
“Yeah. I was more worried about the guy Savannah stabbed. I didn’t think he had a chance in hell of making it. You got him right in the carotid, sweetheart.”
Savannah simply nods.
“All I did was clock my guy in the head with his pistol. And he ended up dying.”
“I’m no lawyer,” Leif says, “but it seems like it’s an open-and-shut case. These guys trespassed on your property, held you at gunpoint. What else were you supposed to do?”
“Yeah, I get that. You get that. The ladies here get that.” I sigh. “But I’m an ex-con, man. I pleaded guilty to manslaughter once, even though I didn’t do it.”
Leif tilts his head. “Right. And you won’t tell us why.”
I shoot a fiery glance at Leif. “No, I won’t. But I served my time for that crime. Guilty or innocent, it’s all irrelevant at this point. I did my time, and they can’t get me again for that one.”
“No,” Savannah says. “But because you’re an ex-con, they’re going to look very closely at Abel’s death.”
“I know.”
“You’ve got your father’s money, your own money,” Leif says. “You’ve got an eyewitness in Savannah here.”
“Yeah, and my father and grandfather are on the case as well,” Savannah says. “Those guys came for me. Not you, Falcon.”
“So what’s the next move?” I ask.
“From an investigative standpoint,” Savannah says, “they’re going to look into this. You’re probably going to have to answer more questions, and you may want to have an attorney present when you do.”
“Fine. My old man knows lots of attorneys. Though they couldn’t help me last time.”
“They might’ve been able to help you, Falcon,” Savanah says. “You chose to plead guilty. Only you know the reasons for that.”
I don’t reply. I don’t even nod. They’re right. I didn’t pull the trigger that killed that cop who was out hunting near our property. But someone did. It was an accident for sure. That’s why it was manslaughter and not murder.
I won’t give up the guy who did it. Why should I at this point? I’ve already done the time.
“So they investigate,” Leif says. “You’ve got nothing to hide.”
“No, I don’t,” I say. “Like Kelly here said. I’m an open book. They know everything.”
“Except the stuff you won’t tell us,” Savannah says.
“Except that stuff. Absolutely right.”
“So you have to understand, Falcon,” Savannah says. “From the standpoint of the investigation team, you’re already a killer. You pleaded guilty to a homicide. So in their eyes, you were guilty.”
“She’s right, Fal,” Leif says. “You could make this a lot easier on yourself if you came clean about this whole damned thing.”
“I won’t,” I say. “I made a promise eight years ago, and I won’t break it for anyone. Not even myself.”
“Yeah, I know you won’t.” Leif nods. “Like I said, you’re still the guy I’d want in a foxhole with me.”
“Brother, you don’t know how many times, while I was locked in a cell, that I wished I were in a foxhole with you.”
“I missed you out there. I really did. I made some great friends. There was a group of six of us on my last tour.” Leif pauses, his eyes shadowed. “Only two of us came back.”
“I’m sorry, man.”
“Yeah. It sucks. When you join up to serve your country, you know there are no guarantees. You and I had that discussion many times.”
I nod. “Yes, we did.”
“Why did you both want to join?” Kelly asks.
It’s a valid question, and I’m surprised Savannah hasn’t asked it yet. Then again, she has a lot more on her mind.
“We’re ranchers,” Leif says. “We grew up with love for the land and for our freedom. My parents drummed it into my head from the day I could understand words.”
“He speaks the truth,” I say. “My father’s not a veteran, and neither of my grandfathers served either. But Leif and I were talking serving since we were in our early teens.”
“You both had good childhoods,” Kelly says.
“We did,” Leif says. “In fact, I consider Falcon’s dad a second father, and vice versa. The two of us were inseparable. And they both instilled in us values, taught us how to defend ourselves. Taught us nothing’s free in this world.”
“And they taught us to value family,” I say, regarding my knuckle tats.
R R H E
My siblings I’d die for.
There are a lot of unsaid words in that sentence about family, words I’ll never say to any of them.
Prison was hell. I’ve been so damned mad at Eagle lately that I swore to God I would never take the fall again. Never go back to prison to save anyone’s hide.
But I know I would.
I’d do for Eagle or for Hawk. For Robin or Raven. For Leif or Savannah.
Because that’s what I was taught.
And that’s who I am.
20
SAVANNAH
Falcon and I stopped at the grocery store after we left the hospital and picked up something simple for dinner. Steaks, potatoes, and a couple heads of broccoli. Gourmet vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Kelly and I head to the kitchen to cook.
“I’m not much of a cook,” Kelly says, “but I think the two of them need to talk.”
I nod. “Yeah, they do. But the problem is that this is all on me.”
“I know it seems that way,” she says. “Believe me, I’ve been there.”
Kelly’s life has been so much harder than mine ever was. I have no idea what her childhood was like, but spending a few years on that awful island where women were hunted and abused and raped… I can’t even imagine it. All my family ever asked me to do—other than marry Miles McAllister, which they let me out of—was fudge some parole records.
They even let me go when I asked them. They let me move here to Summer Creek.
But I’m still a member of the Bianchi family. And a rival family wants me.
That’s my theory, at least.
Why they think marrying their women off as if we were still living in Victorian times helps the families is beyond me. The women aren’t happy. The men aren’t happy. The children aren’t happy.
Though my parents did learn to be happy. My mom, Caroline, was married to my father when she was only eighteen. They hadn’t even met before the wedding day. It’s crazy that things like that happened in the United States of America in the twentieth century, but they did.
“I can’t even imagine what your life is like,” Kelly says.
I grab a cutting board and chop the stems off the broccoli. “I can’t imagine what yours is like either. I’m sure it was much worse.”
“Meeting Leif changed a lot of things for me. I sure fought it at first though.”
“Why?”
Kelly shrugs. “Just my lack of self-worth. I grew up without my father—he turned out to be a psychopath anyway—and my mother is a big mess as well. I won’t go into any details, but suffice it to say that I didn’t think I was worth anything. I didn’t think anyone like Leif could possibly fall in love with me. But he did. Flaws and all.”
“I don’t know anyone of us who doesn’t have flaws. Look at me, for instance. My family.”
“But you’re not your family, Savannah.”
I shake my head. “But don’t you see? In this kind of organization, you are your family. It’s a different set of rules. It’s a set of rules where they can take an eighteen-year-old girl and just give her to someone. Force her into marriage.”
“How can they do that? We have freedom here.”
“I know it doesn’t make any sense to you.” I chop the head of broccoli into florets. “It’s kind of like our own little monarchy. It’s ridiculous, I know. But when you’re in that unit, and you’re born into it, it’s all you know. Until you go to college, and you see how other people live. And you realize you’d do anything to get out. But you can’t. Your blood binds you. So I’m always going to be a target for a rival family. That’s what I think happened here.”
“It’s good for me to hear things like this,” Kelly says.
I look up as I’m placing the florets on a baking sheet. “What?”
Kelly covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh God, no. I don’t mean it like that. Forgive me. Ask Leif about how I was when he met me. Sometimes I speak before I think. All I mean is it helps me to remember that very few people in this world have it easy. Their circumstances may be completely different from mine, like yours are, but you have your own demons.”
I grab some olive oil and drizzle it over the broccoli. “I do. They’re pretty evil.”
“I hear that.”
I grind pepper over the vegetables. “I shouldn’t compare myself to your situation. You had it much worse than I ever did.”
“But that’s my point.” She sighs. “I don’t think you can assign value to it. Whether I had it worse or you had it easier. I think all we can say is that my life was what it was, and yours was what it was. And neither of them are without difficulties.” She frowns. “Oh, hell. I don’t know what I mean.”
I force a smile as I take the steaks out of the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and set them on a paper towel to drain.
“What can I do to help?”
“Get the potatoes out. You want mashed? Baked? French fried?”
“I say we just throw them in the microwave.”
“That works for me.
Kelly pulls four potatoes out of the five-pound bag, washes them in the sink, scrubs them, and then searches the drawers. When she finds a knife, she cuts a few tiny slits in each one for steam to escape.
Then she looks at me. “That was presumptuous of me. I should’ve asked you where the knives were.”
I shrug. “I wouldn’t have known. I don’t live here. Well, I guess I do, since my apartment is trashed and the whole place is a crime scene.” I sigh. “I don’t know which end is up anymore, Kelly. But I don’t live here. Falcon and I… I don’t really know what we are.”
“It can be frustrating,” Kelly says. “I fought Leif for the longest time. I wish I could give you some advice. The truth is, I don’t know Falcon, and although Leif used to, he’s the first to admit that he doesn’t anymore.”
“Eight years can change people. Especially eight years either behind bars or in the trenches of Afghanistan.”
“Sure enough,” Kelly agrees. She pops the potatoes in the microwave.
I set the broccoli to roast in the oven, and because we can’t grill the steaks since we can’t go outside where the grill is, I decide to cook them the old fashioned way—in a cast iron skillet I find in one of the cupboards. That’s how my grandmother still cooks steaks to this day.
I put the skillet on the stove, turn the heat on.
“How long will the potatoes take?” I ask Kelly.
“No more than five to ten minutes. It’s hard to gauge when you have four in there at once. But I’ll check them periodically. Keep going till they’re all squeezable.”
“Sounds good.” I search the refrigerator. “No sour cream but we’ve got butter.”
“Butter’s good. I eat butter as often as I can. I never had it when I was a kid.”
“You never had butter?”
“It’s a long fucking story, Savannah, and I don’t want to bring the evening down any more than it already has been.”
“I hear you. Maybe one day you and I can have a girls’ night.” Then I sigh. “Except my life… It’s so screwed up. It may never be the same.”
“It will be.” Kelly smiles. “I’ve seen Leif work miracles.”
“Maybe you have, and I’m sure he worked more than one for you. But my family has way more resources than Leif does.”
“Leif is backed by the Wolfe family of Manhattan. They’re billionaires.”
“My family isn’t worth billions. We’re probably close. But it’s dirty money. I have a trust fund, but I’m determined not to touch it.”
“I hear you. I inherited a shit ton of money from my father. My natural father, who I never knew until recently. I ended up giving most of it away to charity, to help abused women who needed it. Of course I socked away enough so that Leif and I can have a good start in life.”
