Seductive Sin, page 19
“I’ll get the nurse.” Another voice.
Then the image comes into focus. “Savannah?”
But it’s not Savannah. “Ray, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see my big brother.” Raven rubs my arm. “You look terrible, Falcon. I can’t believe this happened to you.”
What happened to me?
Right.
The McAllisters’ goons.
Or the Bianchis’ goons.
Same difference. They had muscles and fists. And of course the added advantage of tying my wrists together and my legs to a fucking chair so I couldn’t move away from their blows or defend myself.
Cowards.
“Mr. Bellamy,” another voice says, “how are you feeling?”
“Great,” I eke out, my voice hoarse.
“Your oxygen saturation is excellent. We can get rid of the mask and use a nasal cannula for now. At the end of the day, we’ll see if the doctor thinks you can go off of oxygen.”
“Why am I on oxygen?”
“You have a punctured lung. It should heal on its own, but for now the doctor wants your oxygen supplemented.”
“Okay,” I say.
“Everything looks good. Your breakfast should be here soon.”
Ugh. Breakfast. I can’t eat. I’m hungry, but it will be too painful. My jaw isn’t broken, or it would be wired shut like Zion’s was. Still, it hurts like a mother just to open my mouth to talk.
“Broken?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” Raven asks.
“Do you remember what happened yesterday, Falcon?” Savannah asks. “What the doctor said?”
I open my mouth and wince at the pain.
“I’m sorry,” Savannah says. “Don’t try to talk. You have several fractured ribs, but no other broken bones. Other than the punctured lung, all the wounds are superficial.”
Superficial. Right. They sure as hell don’t feel superficial.
“You’re a lucky man, Falcon.” Raven’s soft voice. “Now try to stay out of trouble, okay?”
I close my eyes.
36
SAVANNAH
Raven sat with Falcon most of the day, which allowed me to sneak out to the safehouse and get some clothes and an overnight bag.
One day I have to go shopping for new clothes. Most of mine were destroyed when Abel and Giancarlo ransacked my place, killing Mr. Shaw.
God… Poor Mrs. Shaw. She was released from the hospital and I haven’t been to see her. In my defense, I was holed up at a safe house, but still… I should check in on her. I’ll see about that tomorrow. Last I heard she was staying at her sister’s place while the duplex is being renovated.
Now, though, I’m almost to my parent’s place in Austin. I hope it won’t be a late night because I have to drive back and spend the night with Falcon at the hospital. But I promised Vinnie I’d be here, and I need to be. I need to know what’s going on. Of course, we have to wait for Mom to go to bed to speak privately. Someone should be with Falcon…
Why didn’t I arrange for Leif or Hawk to be there?
I call Leif on my cell.
“Hey, Savannah,” he says.
“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m having dinner with my brother in Austin at my folks’ house, and I may be late. Could I bother you to sit with Falcon tonight?”
“I’m actually here now. He’s looking okay, all things considering. He’s awake and alert.”
“Thank God.”
“The doc says he can go off oxygen, but he’ll be here tonight and tomorrow night for observation. If all looks good with the lung after that, he can go home.”
“That’s good news.” I bite my lip. “But about tonight…”
“It’s taken care of,” he says. “Raven is staying.”
“Raven?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t talk her out of it. She says—”
“May I speak to her, please?”
“Yeah, sure. Don’t you want to talk to Falcon?”
“Not if it’s still hurting him to talk.”
“Yeah, it’s still pretty difficult for him.”
“Tell him I love him, and please let me talk to Raven.”
“She loves you, Fal. Ray, she wants to talk to you.”
“Savannah?” Raven’s voice.
“Hi, Raven. I’m so sorry I’m not there, but are you sure you’re up to staying with him?”
“Absolutely. He stayed with me when I needed him.”
I sigh. “I should be there.”
“It’s okay. He understands. He says there are things he can’t tell me. But are you okay, Savannah?”
“I’m fine.”
“Take care of your business tonight,” she says. “I have your number, and I’ll call you if anything changes with Falcon.”
I smile into the phone. “You’re an angel, Raven. Truly.”
“Falcon’s my angel.” Her voice cracks. “I’d do anything for him.” She clears her throat. “When you get back though, you and I need to talk.”
My heart jolts. “About what?”
“About that gorgeous brother of yours. I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
Dinner is tense.
The coq au vin that Cook prepared looks and smells delicious, but the flavor is lost on me when I’m consumed with thoughts of Falcon and of the conversation Vinnie and I are going to have tonight.
My mother is sullen toward me.
Is this truly the same mother who took me on that mother-daughter day so long ago? That perfect memory that has been my safe space for so long? The mother who looks like me, with a fair complexion and a spray of freckles, so different from my darker-skinned brothers who resemble my father.
We eat mostly in silence, until finally I can’t take it any longer.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
She stops her fork midway to her mouth and glares at me. “What’s going on, Savannah, is that your father—my husband—is not here. He’s being held without bail for the murder of Miles McAllister, an action he committed to save your boyfriend.”
“Exactly,” I say. “So he shouldn’t be charged with murder. He was defending someone. He was defending Falcon.”
“You and your criminal justice background,” she says. “Don’t you know by now that the rules don’t apply to us? He killed the son of a rival family. It doesn’t matter why he did it. It doesn’t matter if doing so prevented war, or famine, or the destruction of the universe. He will go down for it. Declan McAllister will see to that.”
“Sav,” Vinnie says, “there’s more at work here than you understand.”
“Then help me understand, Vinnie.”
“Your father is expendable,” Mom says. “Your father was always expendable, and your grandfather won’t bargain for him because now Vinnie is back to take his place.” Mom turns to Vinnie. “Not that I’m upset that you’re back, honey. I’ve been dreaming of this day.” Then she turns back to me, glaring. “But if you’d done as you agreed to—married Miles—none of this would be happening.”
“So you’d prefer I be unhappy and married to a kidnapper and rapist?”
She slams her fork down on her plate. “Do you think it was any different from what I went through?”
“Are you telling us that Dad raped you?” Vinnie asks through clenched teeth.
“No,” she says. “Your father was good to me. I was only eighteen, and we’d just met. He was gentle. Or he tried to be, anyway. He was kind and never laid a hand on me until I was ready.” She looks down at the table. “Unlike my own father.”
“Grandpa—”
“Don’t look so surprised, Savannah,” Mom snaps. “We all know what your grandfather is capable of.”
I do now. Especially after Vinnie told me what Grandpa did to him when he turned eighteen. Except—
“He never touched me that way,” I say.
“No, he didn’t,” Mom says. “He’d never soil his little cricket. He had a soft spot for you.”
Vinnie twists his face in anger. “Christ, Mom. All these years—”
Mom pushes her plate away. “I’m done. I’m done with this pleasant dining experience. I’m blaming you for everything that’s happened, Savannah.”
“Mom, I—”
“Be quiet,” she says. “Perhaps I’ll see it another way eventually, but at the moment I’m no longer under my husband’s care. I’m under my father’s, and that is a very dangerous place to be. For all of us.” She rises. “I’m retiring to my room.” She whisks out of the formal dining room.
My heart is in shambles. My grandfather raped my mother? Wasn’t she supposed to be a virgin like I was? So much I don’t understand, and frankly I don’t want to understand it. I ache for my mother, but her blame on me is misplaced.
Hedy, our maid, comes in to clear the dishes. “Do either of you need anything else?” she asks.
“Yeah,” Vinnie says. “A bourbon. Neat.”
“Make that two,” I say.
When Hedy returns with our drinks, Vinnie rises. “We can use Dad’s study. It’s soundproof.”
I nod and follow my brother out of the dining room and down the hallway to Dad’s home office. It is indeed soundproof, and probably wired.
“You sure it’s safe?” I ask once Vinnie shuts the door.
“Yeah. I had it checked out earlier today.”
“By someone you trust?”
“Hell, Sav, I don’t know who to trust.” He rubs his temples. “The people here are loyal to Dad, not to me. But I have to assume, until I have the power to find out otherwise, that they’re telling me the truth.”
I take a seat on a leather chair in front of my father’s massive desk.
I wonder if Falcon was here. I’ve been wanting to ask him since we got to the hospital, but first he was on that medication that made him sleep, and then I didn’t want him to talk with his injured jaw. But I want to know if he came here to see my father that night he was taken to the warehouse. If my father had anything to do with it.
I don’t know, and I can’t waste my time wondering.
“Tell me everything,” I say to Vinnie.
37
FALCON
“Please, Eagle. Think of Mom. You’re her baby. This will kill her. Think of Nana. Think of—”
“Shut up, Falcon!” Eagle steadies his hand, takes aim—
And he fires, straight into Vega’s heart.
Vega hits the ground with a thud.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Eagle, get down!” I yell.
But there’s no need. The two minions rush out, and within minutes, they’re unloading a shit-ton of drugs out of their truck and onto our property.
“What the fuck?” Hawk races after them.
Eagle stands, the gun still pointing where Vega stood.
Vega’s blood has soaked through his shirt, but I’m more concerned about my brother than trying to revive a drug lord.
“Eagle,” I say, willing my voice to stay calm. “Please. Give me my gun.”
He stares, trancelike, straight ahead as if Vega is still standing there.
“Eagle…”
Outside, I hear the truck engine start and then screech away, the four-wheel drive trudging over the bramble presumably back toward the border.
Shit. Those two will get back and tell the second-in-command what happened here, and they’ll come after Eagle to avenge Vega.
Fuck.
Hawk returns. “They unloaded their cargo. Now what the hell do we do?”
Only then does Eagle look at me. “Falcon?”
I grab his shoulder. “Yeah, E. It’s me. Everything’s going to be okay. Just give me the gun.”
He looks down at Vega’s immobile body, the blood now soaking his entire shirt.
“It’s okay. We’ll fix it,” I say. “Just give me the—”
Eagle escapes my grasp and darts out the door of the old barn.
Hawk and I follow, as Eagle shoots.
He shoots again.
“Eagle!” I shout. “Stop it. Stop it now!”
Hawk runs after him, but Eagle is quick. He shoots into thin air, in every direction.
Hawk and I watch our brother shooting like a lunatic.
Eagle continues to shoot until the cartridge is empty.
Still he shoots, clicking the trigger even though no more bullets rain down.
“Easy, Eagle,” I say, keeping my voice as calm as I possibly can, even though my heart is thundering like a machine.
“What the fuck?” Hawk mutters.
“Eagle?”
I take a step forward.
“Watch out,” Hawk says. “He’s in shock or something.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t have any more bullets—”
Eagle drops my pistol and then pulls his own out of a hidden holster. Damn it! He wasn’t supposed to be armed.
My heart thumps like a galloping stallion.
“Eagle…”
He points the gun at me.
I’m unarmed. My pistol’s at Eagle’s feet.
Hawk stands, reaches for his own piece, but I gesture to him slightly with my head to back off.
Putting another gun on Eagle will just spook him more.
I have to believe our brother won’t harm us. So I advance another step. Eagle still stands, holding the gun to me.
“Hawk, stay back,” I say.
“I’m not moving,” he says.
I take another tentative step toward my brother, who is still holding the gun.
“E? You need to put your gun down. There’s not going to be anymore shooting tonight. No one’s going to hurt you.”
He cocks his head slightly, but he does not lower the gun.
My heart is thumping so quickly.
I take another step.
Eagle steps back a few inches then.
Damn. He’s spooked.
Why shouldn’t he be? He just shot a fucking drug lord.
“Come on, Eagle. You need to give me that gun.”
I take one more step forward. Only about five feet separate us now.
One more step. “It’s just me. It’s Falcon.” One more step.
Three feet. If I reach out, I can grab the gun. But I know better than to do that. I need to be closer to him.
One more step and then one more. We’re face to face, and I hug him. I take my brother in my arms, and then I pull back slightly, retrieving his gun out of his grip.
Eagle falls back into my arms and lets out a sob.
“It’s okay, brother. I got you.”
Everything will be okay now.
Except everything’s not okay. My brother just shot a fucking drug lord.
And he did it with my gun.
38
SAVANNAH
“Everything isn’t on the table,” Vinnie says to me. “You know that. But I’ll tell you what I can. Everything will only make you unsafe, and I can’t have that.”
“Because you’re doing this to keep me safe.”
He nods. “This is my atonement. For you. For Michael.”
I sigh. “You and I both know there’s nothing you can do for Michael now.”
“I know, but I feel it in my soul that I need to do this. That it’s my calling.”
“To bring down your own family?”
His face darkens. “To bring down Grandpa specifically. And if I find Dad has been his innocent pawn all this time? I’ll see that he’s set free.”
“Did Dad know what Grandpa did to you?”
“I didn’t tell him. I don’t know what Mikey told him. For all we know, he did it to Dad before he let him marry Mom.”
“God.” I bury my face in my hands. “How much sicker can this get?”
“A lot,” he says, “but I can’t give you the gory details, and believe me, you don’t want them.”
I simply shake my head. There’s nothing else I can say.
“Right now, Dad needs to be in prison awaiting trial for the murder of Miles McAllister. It’s the only thing that’s appeasing Declan at the moment, and according to Grandpa, we can’t be working at cross purposes with Declan.”
“Fuck them all,” I say.
“Sav, you know I agree with you, but for now, I have to play the willing grandson. As far as they know, I’m seeking their forgiveness for my betrayal, and I’m going to have to prove myself.”
My heart slams against my sternum. “By doing what?”
He draws in a breath, and before he speaks, I already know the answer.
“No, Vinnie. Don’t.”
He looks up to the ceiling and then darts his gaze around the room. He rises. “Let’s go outside.”
“Outside?”
“Like I said, I trust the security guys, but I don’t want to take the chance. Come on.”
We leave Dad’s office and go out the French doors leading to my parents’ large manicured lawn out back. Vinnie and I walk out into the middle of the yard, close to the pool house.
He nods to a camera mounted near the gate to the pool house. “They can see us out here, but they can’t hear us.”
“Won’t they wonder what we’re up to?”
“Yes, which is why I’m going to make this brief. As far as the camera knows, you’re showing me around the back lawn, the pool house, everything else.”
“Vinnie, it’s all the same since you left.”
“Yes, but I’ve been through a lot, and perhaps my memory has failed. That’s what I’ll tell them if they ask, but they probably won’t ask.” He takes my arm. “Come on.”
We walk around the yard, stopping every couple of steps to make it look good.
“I have no intention of taking anyone’s life,” Vinnie says. “But that is what they’ll expect of me.”
“Then how will you prove your loyalty?” I ask.
“I’ll fake it.”
I shake my head, my mouth dropped open.
He nods slowly, breathing evenly. “Yeah, I don’t have the details yet. But I’ll get some blanks, send whoever I’m supposed to take care of out of the country. I don’t know the specifics, Sav, but I promise you I won’t kill anyone.”
Then the image comes into focus. “Savannah?”
But it’s not Savannah. “Ray, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see my big brother.” Raven rubs my arm. “You look terrible, Falcon. I can’t believe this happened to you.”
What happened to me?
Right.
The McAllisters’ goons.
Or the Bianchis’ goons.
Same difference. They had muscles and fists. And of course the added advantage of tying my wrists together and my legs to a fucking chair so I couldn’t move away from their blows or defend myself.
Cowards.
“Mr. Bellamy,” another voice says, “how are you feeling?”
“Great,” I eke out, my voice hoarse.
“Your oxygen saturation is excellent. We can get rid of the mask and use a nasal cannula for now. At the end of the day, we’ll see if the doctor thinks you can go off of oxygen.”
“Why am I on oxygen?”
“You have a punctured lung. It should heal on its own, but for now the doctor wants your oxygen supplemented.”
“Okay,” I say.
“Everything looks good. Your breakfast should be here soon.”
Ugh. Breakfast. I can’t eat. I’m hungry, but it will be too painful. My jaw isn’t broken, or it would be wired shut like Zion’s was. Still, it hurts like a mother just to open my mouth to talk.
“Broken?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” Raven asks.
“Do you remember what happened yesterday, Falcon?” Savannah asks. “What the doctor said?”
I open my mouth and wince at the pain.
“I’m sorry,” Savannah says. “Don’t try to talk. You have several fractured ribs, but no other broken bones. Other than the punctured lung, all the wounds are superficial.”
Superficial. Right. They sure as hell don’t feel superficial.
“You’re a lucky man, Falcon.” Raven’s soft voice. “Now try to stay out of trouble, okay?”
I close my eyes.
36
SAVANNAH
Raven sat with Falcon most of the day, which allowed me to sneak out to the safehouse and get some clothes and an overnight bag.
One day I have to go shopping for new clothes. Most of mine were destroyed when Abel and Giancarlo ransacked my place, killing Mr. Shaw.
God… Poor Mrs. Shaw. She was released from the hospital and I haven’t been to see her. In my defense, I was holed up at a safe house, but still… I should check in on her. I’ll see about that tomorrow. Last I heard she was staying at her sister’s place while the duplex is being renovated.
Now, though, I’m almost to my parent’s place in Austin. I hope it won’t be a late night because I have to drive back and spend the night with Falcon at the hospital. But I promised Vinnie I’d be here, and I need to be. I need to know what’s going on. Of course, we have to wait for Mom to go to bed to speak privately. Someone should be with Falcon…
Why didn’t I arrange for Leif or Hawk to be there?
I call Leif on my cell.
“Hey, Savannah,” he says.
“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m having dinner with my brother in Austin at my folks’ house, and I may be late. Could I bother you to sit with Falcon tonight?”
“I’m actually here now. He’s looking okay, all things considering. He’s awake and alert.”
“Thank God.”
“The doc says he can go off oxygen, but he’ll be here tonight and tomorrow night for observation. If all looks good with the lung after that, he can go home.”
“That’s good news.” I bite my lip. “But about tonight…”
“It’s taken care of,” he says. “Raven is staying.”
“Raven?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t talk her out of it. She says—”
“May I speak to her, please?”
“Yeah, sure. Don’t you want to talk to Falcon?”
“Not if it’s still hurting him to talk.”
“Yeah, it’s still pretty difficult for him.”
“Tell him I love him, and please let me talk to Raven.”
“She loves you, Fal. Ray, she wants to talk to you.”
“Savannah?” Raven’s voice.
“Hi, Raven. I’m so sorry I’m not there, but are you sure you’re up to staying with him?”
“Absolutely. He stayed with me when I needed him.”
I sigh. “I should be there.”
“It’s okay. He understands. He says there are things he can’t tell me. But are you okay, Savannah?”
“I’m fine.”
“Take care of your business tonight,” she says. “I have your number, and I’ll call you if anything changes with Falcon.”
I smile into the phone. “You’re an angel, Raven. Truly.”
“Falcon’s my angel.” Her voice cracks. “I’d do anything for him.” She clears her throat. “When you get back though, you and I need to talk.”
My heart jolts. “About what?”
“About that gorgeous brother of yours. I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
Dinner is tense.
The coq au vin that Cook prepared looks and smells delicious, but the flavor is lost on me when I’m consumed with thoughts of Falcon and of the conversation Vinnie and I are going to have tonight.
My mother is sullen toward me.
Is this truly the same mother who took me on that mother-daughter day so long ago? That perfect memory that has been my safe space for so long? The mother who looks like me, with a fair complexion and a spray of freckles, so different from my darker-skinned brothers who resemble my father.
We eat mostly in silence, until finally I can’t take it any longer.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
She stops her fork midway to her mouth and glares at me. “What’s going on, Savannah, is that your father—my husband—is not here. He’s being held without bail for the murder of Miles McAllister, an action he committed to save your boyfriend.”
“Exactly,” I say. “So he shouldn’t be charged with murder. He was defending someone. He was defending Falcon.”
“You and your criminal justice background,” she says. “Don’t you know by now that the rules don’t apply to us? He killed the son of a rival family. It doesn’t matter why he did it. It doesn’t matter if doing so prevented war, or famine, or the destruction of the universe. He will go down for it. Declan McAllister will see to that.”
“Sav,” Vinnie says, “there’s more at work here than you understand.”
“Then help me understand, Vinnie.”
“Your father is expendable,” Mom says. “Your father was always expendable, and your grandfather won’t bargain for him because now Vinnie is back to take his place.” Mom turns to Vinnie. “Not that I’m upset that you’re back, honey. I’ve been dreaming of this day.” Then she turns back to me, glaring. “But if you’d done as you agreed to—married Miles—none of this would be happening.”
“So you’d prefer I be unhappy and married to a kidnapper and rapist?”
She slams her fork down on her plate. “Do you think it was any different from what I went through?”
“Are you telling us that Dad raped you?” Vinnie asks through clenched teeth.
“No,” she says. “Your father was good to me. I was only eighteen, and we’d just met. He was gentle. Or he tried to be, anyway. He was kind and never laid a hand on me until I was ready.” She looks down at the table. “Unlike my own father.”
“Grandpa—”
“Don’t look so surprised, Savannah,” Mom snaps. “We all know what your grandfather is capable of.”
I do now. Especially after Vinnie told me what Grandpa did to him when he turned eighteen. Except—
“He never touched me that way,” I say.
“No, he didn’t,” Mom says. “He’d never soil his little cricket. He had a soft spot for you.”
Vinnie twists his face in anger. “Christ, Mom. All these years—”
Mom pushes her plate away. “I’m done. I’m done with this pleasant dining experience. I’m blaming you for everything that’s happened, Savannah.”
“Mom, I—”
“Be quiet,” she says. “Perhaps I’ll see it another way eventually, but at the moment I’m no longer under my husband’s care. I’m under my father’s, and that is a very dangerous place to be. For all of us.” She rises. “I’m retiring to my room.” She whisks out of the formal dining room.
My heart is in shambles. My grandfather raped my mother? Wasn’t she supposed to be a virgin like I was? So much I don’t understand, and frankly I don’t want to understand it. I ache for my mother, but her blame on me is misplaced.
Hedy, our maid, comes in to clear the dishes. “Do either of you need anything else?” she asks.
“Yeah,” Vinnie says. “A bourbon. Neat.”
“Make that two,” I say.
When Hedy returns with our drinks, Vinnie rises. “We can use Dad’s study. It’s soundproof.”
I nod and follow my brother out of the dining room and down the hallway to Dad’s home office. It is indeed soundproof, and probably wired.
“You sure it’s safe?” I ask once Vinnie shuts the door.
“Yeah. I had it checked out earlier today.”
“By someone you trust?”
“Hell, Sav, I don’t know who to trust.” He rubs his temples. “The people here are loyal to Dad, not to me. But I have to assume, until I have the power to find out otherwise, that they’re telling me the truth.”
I take a seat on a leather chair in front of my father’s massive desk.
I wonder if Falcon was here. I’ve been wanting to ask him since we got to the hospital, but first he was on that medication that made him sleep, and then I didn’t want him to talk with his injured jaw. But I want to know if he came here to see my father that night he was taken to the warehouse. If my father had anything to do with it.
I don’t know, and I can’t waste my time wondering.
“Tell me everything,” I say to Vinnie.
37
FALCON
“Please, Eagle. Think of Mom. You’re her baby. This will kill her. Think of Nana. Think of—”
“Shut up, Falcon!” Eagle steadies his hand, takes aim—
And he fires, straight into Vega’s heart.
Vega hits the ground with a thud.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Eagle, get down!” I yell.
But there’s no need. The two minions rush out, and within minutes, they’re unloading a shit-ton of drugs out of their truck and onto our property.
“What the fuck?” Hawk races after them.
Eagle stands, the gun still pointing where Vega stood.
Vega’s blood has soaked through his shirt, but I’m more concerned about my brother than trying to revive a drug lord.
“Eagle,” I say, willing my voice to stay calm. “Please. Give me my gun.”
He stares, trancelike, straight ahead as if Vega is still standing there.
“Eagle…”
Outside, I hear the truck engine start and then screech away, the four-wheel drive trudging over the bramble presumably back toward the border.
Shit. Those two will get back and tell the second-in-command what happened here, and they’ll come after Eagle to avenge Vega.
Fuck.
Hawk returns. “They unloaded their cargo. Now what the hell do we do?”
Only then does Eagle look at me. “Falcon?”
I grab his shoulder. “Yeah, E. It’s me. Everything’s going to be okay. Just give me the gun.”
He looks down at Vega’s immobile body, the blood now soaking his entire shirt.
“It’s okay. We’ll fix it,” I say. “Just give me the—”
Eagle escapes my grasp and darts out the door of the old barn.
Hawk and I follow, as Eagle shoots.
He shoots again.
“Eagle!” I shout. “Stop it. Stop it now!”
Hawk runs after him, but Eagle is quick. He shoots into thin air, in every direction.
Hawk and I watch our brother shooting like a lunatic.
Eagle continues to shoot until the cartridge is empty.
Still he shoots, clicking the trigger even though no more bullets rain down.
“Easy, Eagle,” I say, keeping my voice as calm as I possibly can, even though my heart is thundering like a machine.
“What the fuck?” Hawk mutters.
“Eagle?”
I take a step forward.
“Watch out,” Hawk says. “He’s in shock or something.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t have any more bullets—”
Eagle drops my pistol and then pulls his own out of a hidden holster. Damn it! He wasn’t supposed to be armed.
My heart thumps like a galloping stallion.
“Eagle…”
He points the gun at me.
I’m unarmed. My pistol’s at Eagle’s feet.
Hawk stands, reaches for his own piece, but I gesture to him slightly with my head to back off.
Putting another gun on Eagle will just spook him more.
I have to believe our brother won’t harm us. So I advance another step. Eagle still stands, holding the gun to me.
“Hawk, stay back,” I say.
“I’m not moving,” he says.
I take another tentative step toward my brother, who is still holding the gun.
“E? You need to put your gun down. There’s not going to be anymore shooting tonight. No one’s going to hurt you.”
He cocks his head slightly, but he does not lower the gun.
My heart is thumping so quickly.
I take another step.
Eagle steps back a few inches then.
Damn. He’s spooked.
Why shouldn’t he be? He just shot a fucking drug lord.
“Come on, Eagle. You need to give me that gun.”
I take one more step forward. Only about five feet separate us now.
One more step. “It’s just me. It’s Falcon.” One more step.
Three feet. If I reach out, I can grab the gun. But I know better than to do that. I need to be closer to him.
One more step and then one more. We’re face to face, and I hug him. I take my brother in my arms, and then I pull back slightly, retrieving his gun out of his grip.
Eagle falls back into my arms and lets out a sob.
“It’s okay, brother. I got you.”
Everything will be okay now.
Except everything’s not okay. My brother just shot a fucking drug lord.
And he did it with my gun.
38
SAVANNAH
“Everything isn’t on the table,” Vinnie says to me. “You know that. But I’ll tell you what I can. Everything will only make you unsafe, and I can’t have that.”
“Because you’re doing this to keep me safe.”
He nods. “This is my atonement. For you. For Michael.”
I sigh. “You and I both know there’s nothing you can do for Michael now.”
“I know, but I feel it in my soul that I need to do this. That it’s my calling.”
“To bring down your own family?”
His face darkens. “To bring down Grandpa specifically. And if I find Dad has been his innocent pawn all this time? I’ll see that he’s set free.”
“Did Dad know what Grandpa did to you?”
“I didn’t tell him. I don’t know what Mikey told him. For all we know, he did it to Dad before he let him marry Mom.”
“God.” I bury my face in my hands. “How much sicker can this get?”
“A lot,” he says, “but I can’t give you the gory details, and believe me, you don’t want them.”
I simply shake my head. There’s nothing else I can say.
“Right now, Dad needs to be in prison awaiting trial for the murder of Miles McAllister. It’s the only thing that’s appeasing Declan at the moment, and according to Grandpa, we can’t be working at cross purposes with Declan.”
“Fuck them all,” I say.
“Sav, you know I agree with you, but for now, I have to play the willing grandson. As far as they know, I’m seeking their forgiveness for my betrayal, and I’m going to have to prove myself.”
My heart slams against my sternum. “By doing what?”
He draws in a breath, and before he speaks, I already know the answer.
“No, Vinnie. Don’t.”
He looks up to the ceiling and then darts his gaze around the room. He rises. “Let’s go outside.”
“Outside?”
“Like I said, I trust the security guys, but I don’t want to take the chance. Come on.”
We leave Dad’s office and go out the French doors leading to my parents’ large manicured lawn out back. Vinnie and I walk out into the middle of the yard, close to the pool house.
He nods to a camera mounted near the gate to the pool house. “They can see us out here, but they can’t hear us.”
“Won’t they wonder what we’re up to?”
“Yes, which is why I’m going to make this brief. As far as the camera knows, you’re showing me around the back lawn, the pool house, everything else.”
“Vinnie, it’s all the same since you left.”
“Yes, but I’ve been through a lot, and perhaps my memory has failed. That’s what I’ll tell them if they ask, but they probably won’t ask.” He takes my arm. “Come on.”
We walk around the yard, stopping every couple of steps to make it look good.
“I have no intention of taking anyone’s life,” Vinnie says. “But that is what they’ll expect of me.”
“Then how will you prove your loyalty?” I ask.
“I’ll fake it.”
I shake my head, my mouth dropped open.
He nods slowly, breathing evenly. “Yeah, I don’t have the details yet. But I’ll get some blanks, send whoever I’m supposed to take care of out of the country. I don’t know the specifics, Sav, but I promise you I won’t kill anyone.”
