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)
“She’s not going to be your damned wife,” I say through clenched teeth, my jaw hurting like a mother. “Now show yourself.”
“Why would I give you the pleasure of looking at my face, Bellamy? Only a sweet, small thing like Savannah deserves such a privilege.”
Savannah scowls at him. “I’ll never look at your face with anything but disdain, Miles. You disgust me, and you’ll never take the love of my life away from me.”
She reaches under her T-shirt and quickly draws a gun, pointing it directly at Miles.
Miles gasps. “You’re armed?”
I can’t help a smile, though it hurts like hell. That’s my girl.
Savannah smirks. “Your guard didn’t think such a sweet, small thing could possibly be carrying a piece. Guess it’s time we brought this family into the twenty-first century.”
Miles scoffs. “Even if your boyfriend here got you a gun, you don’t have the gall to shoot a man.”
“You want to try me?” She cocks the gun.
Then Bianchi speaks. “Little cricket,” he says, his voice low and gentle. “A nice girl like you doesn’t need to use guns. Why don’t you put that away and we’ll talk this over?”
Savannah doesn’t remove her gaze from above my head. She’s looking that cowardly Miles McAllister in the eye. “You keep your mouth shut, Grandpa. I know how horrible a man you truly are, I know what awful things you’ve done. I’m not going to—”
Then a gunshot
And a shriek from Savannah.
30
SAVANNAH
“No! Not Falcon!” I drop my gun, rush past the goons, cradle Falcon’s head, until—
“I’m okay, Vannah. I’m not shot.”
I move backward a few inches.
“Then what—”
Miles’s body is on the floor, blood draining from his head.
And behind him stands…
My father.
“Daddy?”
He turns to me, a single tear running down his cheek. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry for everything.”
Part of me wants to go to my father, wrap my arms around him, and thank him, but Falcon is my world, and he’s hurting. They’ve hurt him.
“Please,” I say to my father, “you’ve got to help him.”
But the others are stalking toward us, and Declan McAllister is not happy. His gun is trained on my father. “I’m going to make you suffer, Gallo.”
“No!” I shout. “Enough! Isn’t this enough?”
“You’ll do no such thing,” my grandfather says, his voice completely steady, as if a dead man isn’t lying ten feet away from him. “My son-in-law was avenging his daughter. Your son attempted to rape her before they were legally wed.”
“He wouldn’t,” Declan says.
“He did,” I yell. “He tried but I got away.”
“Besides,” my grandfather continues, “Miles and Savannah are no longer needed. My grandson Vincent has returned, and he will take his place as head of the family when I retire. He’ll marry your daughter Belinda.”
Declan’s face shows not a hint of emotion. His son—a horrible man, but his son nonetheless—is dead at his feet, and there’s no emotion. Even when he threatened my father, his voice was steady.
It’s business.
I can already hear the words in my head.
“Belinda is eleven,” Declan finally says.
“They’ll be married when she turns eighteen,” Grandpa says.
Nausea creeps into my mouth, sour and acidic. “No, Vinnie.” I shake my head. “You can’t.”
“I can,” my brother says, “and I will. This frees you, Sav. You and Falcon can have a life.”
“But I just got you back!”
Vinnie raises his hand to quiet me. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here in Austin now. We’ll be able to see each other whenever we want to.”
“Vinnie, the girl is too young for you.”
“It’s my duty,” he says, “and hers. Everything will be fine.” He slightly shakes his head at me.
And I know.
He has no intention of marrying Belinda McAllister. No intention of taking over the family. He’s saying what he must to free Falcon and me.
And God, I love him for it.
I nod back slightly at him, and I hope he knows what I mean—that Falcon and I will be there for him, that we’ll help him bring these criminals down.
Grandpa nods to the goons. “Release Bellamy,” he says. “And then, Savannah, you and he may go.”
My gun lies on the floor a few feet away. I want to grab it, try to save Vinnie.
But my father also has a gun, and though I can’t see them, I’m sure Grandpa and Declan are armed as well. And I know the two goons are.
I’d be risking my life and Falcon’s, and I won’t risk Falcon’s. He needs a hospital, and I need to get him there as soon as possible.
“Untie him then,” I say, my jaw clenched. “Falcon, we’re going home.”
31
FALCON
One of the goons whips out a knife and cuts the rope binding my wrists together. They’re both bloody from the friction of the rope. My ribs ache, and my face hurts. My nose feels like someone shoved a sharp blade inside it, and my eyes sting from the blood that has trickled into them.