Seductive Sin, page 11
“You can tell that to your lawyer, and they’ll figure out what to do about it. But you’ve missed your last two parole appointments.”
Fuck.
I thought about that when Vannah and I first got to the safe house, and then it simmered on the back burner where I didn’t notice it again.
“Look, I’ve got a damned good reason for all of this.”
“You can tell it to your attorney, tell it to the investigator when they take your statement. We’re just here to bring you in. Turn around please.”
I take a look at Leif.
But he shakes his head slightly at me.
These cops are both armed. So are we, but our guns are hidden, and they can sure get to theirs quicker than we can get to ours. If I’m resisting arrest, they can shoot me in cold blood and no one will pay the price.
“Fine.” I turn around.
And I wince at the click of the handcuffs in place again.
“You have the right to remain silent,” the cop says, turning me around. “Anything you say can and will be held against you. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”
“Do I fucking ever,” I say. I meet Leif’s gaze. “Take care of her. Please.”
“You got it. Who should I call?”
“Call my father. He’ll get an attorney to see me right away.”
“You got it.”
I walk out, led by the two deputies. They open the backseat of their squad car and shove me in. I resist the urge to bitch about the force that they’re using.
How did they find me?
They couldn’t have followed Leif or me. I was on high alert when Savannah and I drove here.
Doesn’t fucking matter.
They’ve got me.
And they’re right. I have violated the terms of my parole. Which means they can throw me back in the fucking slammer.
And then who will protect Savannah?
About twenty minutes later, we get to the local station. They take me in, put me through intake, take a mug shot and my prints.
Then into a holding cell I go. A couple of drunks and a meth head are in with me.
Christ.
A large bearded man sits on the steel toilet in the corner, farting and shitting. The putrid stench makes my eyes water.
Six cots altogether. I’m the sixth in the cell.
Guess they’re thinking I’ll be here all night.
They can think again.
I don’t talk to the others. I just plunk my ass on an empty bed and lie down. Stare at the ceiling.
And wonder how the hell it came back to this.
Sharp rocks are a commodity.
I have one that looks like granite that I found a year ago during our outdoor time.
A few days later, I bought a new toothbrush from the prison commissary. I claimed to have lost mine in the bathroom. Things get stolen all the time in prison.
I began to whittle the end of the toothbrush into a sharp point using the rock and alternately filing it against the spalling concrete inside my cell.
It was slow and tedious work, but by the time I was done, I had a shiv that could rip the throat out of somebody.
I kept it on me as often as I could.
When they searched our cells for contraband, I hid it and the rock in a large crack in the concrete between my wall and the floor. I hid other things there too. I’m not a smoker, but I kept cigarettes on hand as much as I could. They helped me keep the other men in line.
No drugs, though. A few men are addicts, but I don’t allow drugs on my cell block. Some of the addicts get transferred. Others go through a painful and torturous detox, but they’re better off for it in the end.
Once Zion came to my cell block, I kept that shiv on me at all times.
I learned to hide it in different places. In the waistband of my underwear was the usual place, and with a little sleight-of-hand, I could move it during a body search.
I never put it up my ass. Was too damn sharp.
Plus, that’s the first place those derelict guards would look.
I had one guard, Hoyt, for whom strip searches were a fetish. He loved doing them. In fact, he only looked up our asses. He generally didn’t look anywhere else.
Fucking sicko.
But Hoyt’s fingers were the only thing that ever got my ass during my years in the joint.
Zion wanted me, though. He was fucked up. Every time he met my gaze, he’d stick his tongue out and make a slurping sound like Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs.
Made me hate him all the more.
No way was that filthy bitch going to get anywhere near me.
And if he tried?
I had my fucking shiv.
“Bellamy?”
My eyes shoot open.
God, the cell still smells like that guy’s shit.
“Yeah?”
“Got an attorney here to see you.”
They cuff me and take me out of the holding cell and into an interrogation room.
Lola Briggs, my attorney, wearing her signature tight-ass navy blue suit, sits there, along with two cups of coffee. “Nice going, Falcon,” she says.
“I had my reasons, Lola.”
“They’re thinking of charging you in the death of that guy.”
“That was self-defense and defense of another. He was armed, and he trespassed on my property. Besides, all I did was pistol whip him. That blow to the head could not have caused his death.”
“That’s for the medical examiners to determine.”
“There’s still self-defense,” I say.
She shakes her head. “At the moment, I’m more concerned about your parole violation. You know they can revoke your parole, don’t you?”
I say nothing.
“Was it worth it to go back to prison?” she asks.
I run my hands through my hair and sigh. “You don’t know the whole story. Yeah, I missed some appointments, but I had a damned good reason. I was protecting someone.”
“Who?”
“It’s a long story, Lola.”
She takes a sip of coffee. “Then you’d better start talking, because I can’t help you if I don’t know.”
16
SAVANNAH
The basement is dark and dank. It’s not finished, and the floors are concrete, the walls bare wood, with insulation tucked in between the two-by-fours.
A water heater and furnace stand in the corner, the furnace gyrating to make the air-conditioning unit go.
But no air-conditioning is needed in this basement. I rub my arms against the chill.
My brother stands next to me, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
His full beard covers his handsome face, and it makes him look older, wiser.
And I imagine, after seventeen years in Europe on his own, he’s gained some wisdom that I don’t have.
On the other hand? Being here with my family? I’ve gained some wisdom he doesn’t have.
And it’s probably about time that we compared notes.
Besides, it’ll give me something to do to keep my mind off what’s happening with the police upstairs.
Because I already know why they’re here.
And it’s going to kill me when they take Falcon away.
It crossed my mind more than once while we were at the safe house for two weeks. Falcon is supposed to be going to parole meetings with his new parole officer.
I didn’t mention it to him, because frankly I was afraid of him leaving me.
I should’ve mentioned it to him.
I should’ve seen that he did what he needed to do. I should’ve seen that he kept himself out of prison.
That’s the reason I made the deal with that asshole Miles McAllister in the first place.
“Tell me what’s going on, Sav,” Vinnie says.
I pace the basement. “You know as much as I do. Falcon and I were in the safe house for two weeks. He and Leif rescued me from right under Miles McAllister’s clutches. I don’t know how they got into the house, but Leif seems to be able to do pretty much anything. They call him Phoenix. He always rises from the ashes. Gets out of scrapes, apparently.”
“He technically hasn’t done anything wrong,” Vinnie says. “I mean other than the breaking and entering.”
“According to Falcon, he’s not going to get caught. He disabled all of their systems, and we got the hell out of there before they figured out what was going on.”
“That’s good.” He looks at the floor. “God, Sav, I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” I shake my head. “Nothing happened to me, Vinnie. He didn’t rape me. He tried, but he didn’t. I puked all over him before he could get in.”
“You and your quick-thinking stomach.” Vinnie smiles weakly.
“Fight or flight, you know.” I shrug. “I couldn’t fly. He was stronger. So my body fought back the only way it could. By hurling at him.”
“Hey, it worked.”
The familiar feeling of nausea creeps up my throat, but now it’s for a new reason.
“I can’t believe Grandpa… And I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, Vinnie…”
He lays a hand on my upper arm. “I can talk about it. It was a long time ago. It took me a while to get over it, but I’m whole.”
“I just can’t imagine. So Grandpa likes men?”
Vinnie shakes his head. “No, this had nothing to do with his sexuality. Like I said, he didn’t use his own dick, thank God. It was a power play, pure and simple. A power play to get me in line, and he expected me to do it to others.”
“He said that?”
Vinnie nods. “To whomever was next in line to lead the family, next in our bloodline. If I’d had a son, he would’ve expected me to do the same thing to him. And no way in hell was I going to do that.” He sighs. “I knew then that I had to get the hell out.”
“It’s strange,” I say. “When I went with Miles willingly, in exchange for him making any charges against Falcon go away, he took me to his father’s house. And his mother, Maggie, is a really sweet woman but is unfortunately a product of the system. She told me I was safe for the night. That Miles wouldn’t come to me until we were legally married. I took her at her word. Turned out she was wrong.”
“Perhaps her husband didn’t take her until they were married. I don’t know,” he says. “All I did know is that if I ever have a wife, she won’t be some subservient little housewife like Mom.” He frowns. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Mom and I always have.”
“You were her firstborn, Vinnie. It killed her when you left.”
“I know, Sav. I know.”
I rub my eyes to obscure the tears that are filling them. “It killed all of us.”
“And it literally killed Mikey.” He shakes his head. “When that news got to me, I came pretty close to jumping off a cliff.”
“Oh God, Vinnie.”
He slowly breathes in and out a few times. “But I didn’t. I’ve done a lot of self-healing on this journey. I’ve read philosophy from the great masters, and I even studied with some of them. I’ve lived a nomadic life, and I’ve learned that suicide is never the answer. But I’m still on this earth for a reason. I have something to offer. When I heard from your friend Leif about what was going on, I knew it was time to return. I have a role to play in this family.” He grabs my hand and squeezes it. “You do too, Savannah. I’m not quite sure what it is yet, but it certainly doesn’t entail me heading the family, and doesn’t entail you being married to Miles McAllister. We’ll figure it out together.”
I give my brother a hug, kiss him on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re home, Vinnie.”
He looks around the drab surroundings of the basement. “This isn’t home to me,” he says. “We were still on Long Island when I left.”
“I know. I’m still not clear on why we came to Texas. And why the McAllisters came as well.”
“Easy enough,” Vinnie says. “We’re closer to the border. Closer to the source.”
“But shouldn’t we be far from the source? To keep fingers away from us?”
He sighs. “Hell if I know, Sav. If I knew how this whole business worked, I’d be in too damned deep.”
The door opens to the basement, and Leif strides down the stairs.
My heart races. “Oh my God, where’s Falcon?”
“The deputies took him. Suspicion of murder—”
I gasp.
“—and parole violation.”
“Damn,” I say. “They can shove him right back into a cell for that.”
“I don’t know why he didn’t think of it,” Leif says.
“I did,” I say, “but there was so much else going on. And I just figured he had it taken care of.” I bury my face in my hands. “I feel like a complete idiot.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Leif says. “Falcon wouldn’t want you doing that.”
“Don’t blame yourself either,” I say.
He frowns and looks up the basement stairs. “Yeah, well that ship has sailed.”
“For me too.” I nod.
“How do we get him out?” Vinnie asks.
“Falcon’s father has the best attorneys in Texas. The problem is that they may not be able to get around is the parole violation. They’ll probably be able to do something about the murder charges.”
I sniffle. “That’s why I went with Miles in the first place. And now I’m paying for that. For leaving.”
“Don’t even go there, Savannah,” Leif says. “That is not what Falcon would want.”
He’s right, and I know it.
I still feel terrible though.
“What can we do?” I ask.
“I think the best thing to do is to get the two of you back to the safe house,” Leif says. “I’m ordering supplies, and once they’re here, we’ll deliver you and the supplies back to the safe house in the Nissan Leaf.”
“Then how will you get back?”
“I’m going to follow you with the supplies. We’ll be careful.”
I nod. “All right. If you’re sure. But Leif, what about Kelly?”
“Kelly knows what I do for a living. She accepts it. And she knows how much Falcon means to me.”
“I think you’re married to a saint,” I say.
Leif erupts into laughter then.
“I’m not sure I said anything funny.”
“If you knew how Kelly was when we first met, you would know why I’m laughing.” He stops chuckling, but a big smile remains on his face. “She’s a great girl, and I love her more than anything, but a saint she is not.” He walks toward the stairs. “Come on up. The supplies should be here shortly, and then we’ll get you two back to the safe house.”
“I don’t think I should go to the safe house,” Vinnie says. “I think I need to see my father.”
“No, Vinnie.” I grab his hand. “Please. Come with me. I don’t want to be there alone.”
“All right, for you, Sav. But as soon as Falcon is out and he’s back with you, I need to talk to our father.” Then his gaze burns into mine. “And our grandfather.”
“I’d like to talk to the two of them as well.”
“You will,” he says, “but I’ve got first dibs. We have some unfinished business. We’ll see if Grandpa can take what he dishes out.”
I drop my jaw. “No, Vinnie, you’re not going to—”
“Violate an eighty-year-old man?” He shudders. “Hell no, Savannah. I’m not a criminal, and that’s just sick. But I’ve been thinking for seventeen years what I would do if I came face-to-face with him again.”
“What could you do that’s worse than rape?”
“I could kill him,” Vinnie says, “but I’m not a killer. It’s part of the reason I got out of this family in the first place.” His demeanor hardens. “No, Savannah. I’m going to take the old man down. This family is going to topple, and I’m going to be the catalyst.”
My jaw drops. “Vinnie, you’re one man. I’m one woman. We can’t take down our entire family.”
“We can, Savannah. They all deserve to be in prison.”
“Even Dad?”
“Especially Dad. He conspired to sell you off to the McAllisters.” He looks away, disgust on his face. “I have no proof, but I bet he’s taken some lives over the years.”
“What about Mom?”
“Mama’s innocent in all of this. Just like you are. Just like Mikey was.” He swallows. “Mikey paid the price, and I’m going to make sure he didn’t die in vain.”
“How are you going to do it?”
He taps at his temple. “I’ve got a plan in the works. It’s been percolating for years. And now that I’m back, it’s time to put it into action.”
“Hey, anything you need on my end, you got it,” Leif says.
“Thanks, man.” He takes Leif’s hand and shakes it. “And thanks so much for everything you’ve done for Savannah. But this is something I have to do myself.”
“You’re going to do it without me?” I ask.
“Savannah, I love you. You are smart and wonderful and I would love your help, but I don’t want to drag you any further into this.”
I let out a scoffing laugh. “I’m already in it. As soon as they find me, they’re going to drag me back to Miles McAllister. So yeah, I’m as much in this as you are, Vin.”
He pauses and cocks his head. “Tell you what. You and I will go back to the safe house, and we’ll talk. We’ll figure out a way.”
“Falcon’s going to hate this,” Leif says.
“I love Falcon,” I tell him. “And I know he loves me. I know he wants to protect me from everything, just like I want to protect him. But I couldn’t protect him from the cops today, and I should have. I should have told him to leave the safe house and go to his parole appointment. So that’s on me. But I can tell you one other thing.” I cross my arms. “Falcon Bellamy doesn’t own me, and if my family is going down, I want a hand in it.”
Leif smiles at me then. “You remind me so much of Kelly. You’re a handful, just like she was. And is. I wouldn’t trade her for all the gold in the world. And I’m pretty sure Falcon feels the same way about you.”
