Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Savannah widens her eyes. “Oh my God. Don’t you see? Grandpa did get into trafficking. If he could do that to his own grandson, why would he care about nameless and faceless others?”
“The man was always about the almighty buck,” Vinnie says. “Even Dad said that. Said Grandpa valued money over people.”
“I’m so sorry.” Savannah sniffles. “He was always kind to me.”
“And I thank God for that.” Vinnie rubs his forehead. “I don’t think Mikey was so lucky, and the fact that they married him to a McAllister makes me think Dad and Grandpa were getting into the trafficking scene. Why else would they ally with a family that practices such heinous things?”
“I don’t know.” Savannah gulps.
“There’s still a lot I don’t know.” He closes his eyes again and winces. “I wish I’d had more strength. I wish I’d stayed instead of run. I should have been protecting you and Mikey.”
Savannah wipes her eyes with a tissue. “Mikey’s in a better place now. No one can hurt him there.”
“Are you sure?” Vinnie says to Savannah, grabbing her arm. “Are you sure no one ever touched you? Did you block anything out?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sure. No one ever did anything to me.”
“Damn good thing,” I snarl.
Vinnie widens his eyes then. “Damn, I should’ve realized.”
“Realized what?” she asks.
“You needed to be a virgin, Sav. A virgin for Miles McAllister.”
“I hate to tell them, but I’m no virgin,” Savannah says.
“But you were when you were eighteen, weren’t you?”
Savannah shakes her head. “Yeah, but not for long. I lost my virginity in the back of Billy Conrad’s car. It wasn’t great, but my senior year of high school was hell. We left Long Island, moved to Austin, and all the friendships had already been forged at my new school. No one was interested in some newbie from New York. I was starved for attention and affection.”
Listening about someone fucking Savannah gets my hackles moving. But I didn’t know her then. I’m just glad her grandfather never laid a hand on her.
“How old is your grandfather?” I ask her.
“He’s eighty,” Savannah says. “But he’s in excellent health and can easily pass for mid-sixties. I’d love to see old age get him, but it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon.”
Rage rises in me, and my jaw tenses.
Savannah looks at me. “Falcon, no.”
“He’s a fucking degenerate. A criminal. He needs to go down, Vannah.”
Vinnie meets my gaze, angry fire as dark as mine in his eyes. “I couldn’t agree more. If you have an idea, Falcon, I’m all in.”
14
SAVANNAH
My entire world is shifting.
My brother, who I thought I’d never see again.
Finding out he’d been so cruelly violated at my grandfather’s hands.
My grandfather…
I was always the apple of his eye.
Little cricket, he used to call me.
Come here and sit with me, my little cricket, he used to say.
I’d crawl into his lap, curl into him, relish the smell of cigar smoke.
He was a handsome silver-haired Italian man, and he always came over for Sunday dinner.
My grandmother died before I was born, and my mother was their only child.
My mother took her role as an organization wife seriously. Caroline Gallo was subdued and quiet for the most part. Always looked good, like a housewife in the fifties. Hair always done, makeup always on, and she rarely wore pants.
Today, her body is as good as mine is. She keeps herself beautiful so she can be adequate arm candy when my father needs to go out with her.
That’s what I would’ve been groomed to be.
But at least with my father, I knew he wasn’t mistreating my mother.
But can I really be sure that’s the case?
“Vinnie,” I say.
“Yeah, Sav?”
“Our father never…”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Not once. Hardly ever laid a hand on me. Only when I actually deserved it.”
“And our mother?”
“You know as well as I do what a good mother she was, but she was a shadow compared to Dad.”
“Do you think Daddy ever…”
“I don’t know, but if he did, we’ll never know.” His face darkens. “Mom would never say a word.”
I nod. “I can’t believe all of this.”
“It wasn’t easy to say,” Vinnie says.
I press my lips together. “I’m so naïve and innocent I didn’t even know what you were talking about. But Falcon, you did.”
He nods. “Naïve and innocent are two things that don’t serve you well on the inside.” He turns to Leif. “Or on the battlefield, I imagine.”
“No,” Leif says. “You learn quickly that man is the most dangerous animal out there.”
My heart thrums wildly. “Thank God you guys rescued me from Miles.”
“What the hell did he do to you?” Vinnie demands.
I look at Leif, who shakes his head slightly at me. He didn’t tell Vinnie.
I clear my throat. “He was about three inches away from raping me.”
Vinnie’s cheeks turn red. Then he rises, bringing his fist down on the table.