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)
“How can I? You just said our family is getting into—”
“Shh. Don’t even say it.” He looks out the door of the hospital room. “Never say it out loud, Sav. You never know who is listening.”
I gulp again.
“Seven years, Sav. I have seven years to figure out how to take down my own family.”
“You’ll have to work with someone in the government,” I say. “Someone with the resources to help you from that side.”
“I’m working on that. I figure I can probably find someone on our payroll who’s willing to roll over to the right side for the right amount of money.”
I shake my head. “Do you realize how fucked up that sounds?”
He scoffs quietly. “Yeah. It’s fucked up, Sav. You think I don’t know that? But this was always my fucking birthright. Not Mikey’s, and not yours. It’s mine, and I’m claiming it. Just not for the reasons Grandpa thinks I am.”
“Do you think it’s weird that he’s welcomed you back with open arms after seventeen years?”
He shakes his head. “No. It was always supposed to be me. In his eyes, I’m the prodigal son.”
I look at the ground and scoff. “I never understood that parable. One son leaves his family and lives a life of indulgence, while the other works his ass off for the family. Then the spoiled brat comes home and is welcomed.”
“Calling me a spoiled brat, now?”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
“It’s a family thing,” he says. “I was always supposed to be the one, and now I’m back.”
“So Michael and I were sloppy seconds?”
“Not in my eyes, but in Grandpa’s? Yeah, you were.” He puts a hand up right as I’m about to respond. “I’m not saying it’s right, Sav. What I am saying is that he’s glad I’m back. I’ll do what I have to do to earn his trust.”
“And then use it against him?”
“Bingo,” he says. “This will end, and it will end on my watch.”
I open my mouth to respond when someone else walks into Falcon’s room. Vinnie turns at the sound of the door.
“It’s probably just the nurse,” I say, standing.
But it’s not the nurse.
It’s Falcon’s sister Raven.
And my brother can’t stop staring at her.
“Hi, Savannah,” she says to me. “How is he doing?”
“He’s still asleep.” I keep my voice low. “Raven, this is my brother Vinnie. Vinnie, this is Falcon’s sister Raven.”
“Nice to meet you.” Vinnie holds out his hand.
Raven takes it. “You too.”
“How are you feeling?” I ask Raven.
“All better. It was just a silly virus.”
“I’m so glad,” I say. “Vinnie and I can give you some time with Falcon. Come on, Vin.” I drag my brother out of the room.
“We can’t talk here,” Vinnie says.
“I get it, but she deserves some time with her brother. He saved her life, after all.”
“Yeah. Wow.” He takes a slow breath in. “I wouldn’t have expected a bald woman to be so damned beautiful.”
“Everyone in their family is beautiful.”
Vinnie stares at Raven through Falcon’s door. She’s sitting in the recliner I vacated, leaning over and talking to him. Is he awake?
“How will we stay in touch?” I ask Vinnie.
He tears his gaze away from Raven and meets mine. “I’ll figure that out. I’m thinking a satellite phone. Falcon already has one, so you’re covered on your end. I’ll get one and make sure no one knows about it.”
“Won’t Grandpa be watching you like a hawk?”
Vinnie nods. “At first he will, so our communication will be minimal. But you’ll be notified of anything important.”
“And…Dad?”
“Dad made his bed. He knew what would happen if he offed Miles.” Vinnie looks around. “We really shouldn’t talk here.”
“Where, then? I need to know about Dad.”
He looks in the room again. “I hate to make her leave.”
“We can’t, Vinnie. That’s her brother. I can’t waltz in there and tell her she has to leave.”
Vinnie breathes. “All right. Come to Mom and Dad’s house tonight for dinner. It’ll be just Mom and me, and after she goes to bed, we’ll talk.”
“And that’s safe?”
“I’ll make sure it is. I’ll make some excuse to Mom and Grandpa that I need to spend some time with the only sibling I have left before I begin my work. Something like that. I’ll find the right words.”
“But Falcon…”
He lays a hand on my shoulder. “Falcon is fine here. No one will touch him. It’s part of the deal I made with Grandpa and Declan McAllister.”
“And you’re sure?”
He nods. “Yeah. I sold my soul to the devil, so he’d better be good for it.”
Vinnie’s words don’t exactly put me at ease.
“I’ve got to go now, Sav,” he says, giving me a quick hug. “I’ll see you tonight at Mom’s house.”
I nod.
And then I go back into Falcon’s room.
35
FALCON
I hate that mask.
I wish I could see you.
I wish I could save you the way you saved me.