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)
Gross.
But Vinnie’s going to try to bring them down from the inside.
If my grandfather finds out, he’ll kill Vinnie. I already know Grandpa doesn’t value human life at all.
And if Vinnie’s gone…they’ll come after me again.
I will not lose my brother. Not again. And I won’t lose myself either.
Somehow… Some way… Vinnie’s smart. He won’t let Grandpa figure it out. I have to hold onto that belief.
We arrive at the room on the second floor of the hospital, and the orderlies wheel Falcon’s bed inside and get him on the hospital bed.
He opens one eye.
“Hey,” I say, being gentle as I caress his lacerated cheek. “You’re going to be here for a while. At least until the doctors get your X-ray and CT results.”
He nods and then falls back asleep.
“May I stay?” I ask the orderly.
“Of course.” The orderly gestures to a weathered purple couch and recliner on the other side of the hospital room. “There’s a pull-out couch if you want to spend the night with him. Or just use the recliner.”
“I’ll be spending the night,” I say.
No way am I leaving his side.
Not when he’s in here because of me.
God, the guilt.
The fucking guilt.
It’s suffocating. The moment replays in my mind, a relentless loop of what I should have done differently. It’s as if the air has thickened, and every breath is a struggle against the guilt that clings to me like a second skin. Its grip tightens with every beat of my heart.
What could I have done differently? Begged him not to go to Austin? Forced him to tell me what he was up to?
He wouldn’t have told me.
Why did he go?
Who did he see?
And how the hell did he end up in that warehouse?
The sharp sting of regret pricks at my eyes as the tears form.
But I can’t cry. Crying won’t do Falcon any good. It won’t do me any good.
I could call Vinnie, but I don’t even know if he has a cell phone. I don’t have his number.
But there’s one number I do have.
My father’s.
I push it into my phone, even as my body trembles. He killed Miles, and he didn’t do it to save Falcon, although that was the result.
No.
He did it for me.
And I should thank him.
Of course he doesn’t answer.
“This is Vincent Gallo. Please leave a message.”
Short and succinct. What to say? I know better than to mention anything that happened. Every phone call is recorded by my father’s staff, and I will not incriminate myself or Falcon.
Not that either of us has done anything wrong, but I don’t trust my father anymore.
God, it’s a knife in my heart to acknowledge that, but it’s true.
“Hi, Daddy,” I say. “It’s Savannah. I’m with Falcon at the hospital. He’s got a punctured lung and he’s on oxygen, but the doctor is optimistic. Please call me.”
I don’t labor under any delusion that he’ll actually return my call. He’s no doubt in a meeting with Grandpa and Vinnie. Possibly even McAllister, for I already know my father won’t be charged in Miles’s death.
That’s the way of these things.
It’s just business.
I sigh.
Falcon lies on the bed, his eyes still closed, the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
I sit down in the recliner next to his bed and hold his hand. It’s cold. So cold.
Everything is cold.
I grab my phone once more.
This time I call my mother.
And she answers.
“Hello?”
“Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh, Savannah,” she says. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
My heart lurches. Her voice is venomous. I’ve never heard my sweet mother speak this way before. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Do you ever think, Savannah? Do you ever consider the consequences of your actions?”
“Mom? I don’t understand what you mean. I haven’t done anything. I’m in the hospital with someone I care for deeply, and—”
“Yes, the Bellamy boy.”
“He’s hardly a boy. I love him, and he loves me.”
“He’s a convict,” she says.
“An ex-convict. Plus, he says he’s innocent, and I believe him.”
She sighs through the phone. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“Mom, Vinnie’s home. Vinnie. Your son.”
“You think that makes me happy?” She’s shouting now. “Vinnie had a life. A life away from all this. He came back because of you.”
“My God,” I say. “Who are you and what have you done with my mother?”
“I lost my Michael, but at least I knew my Vincent was safe and happy. Far away from here.”
“What about me, Mom? I was here, and I wasn’t happy.”
“You made a deal, Savannah. You agreed to go with Miles.”
“How do you know about that?”
“I know everything that goes on in this family. I always have. I may look and act a certain part, I may have married a man I didn’t know to do my duty to my family, but I’ve always known the truth of what’s going on.”
“And you were willing to forsake your only daughter?”