Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I jerk myself out of my daydream. I’m in the car with Vinnie. His people are driving us to the hospital.
That voice from the dreams, the one telling me to remember something…
It’s my grandmother. It’s a memory from the day I walked in on my father in his office talking with that strange man. The strange man who looked like he was up to no good.
She told me to remember that everyone has little secrets.
I haven’t thought about that day in forever. I always just thought that my father was in a bad mood and overreacted.
But now, in the light of his attempted suicide, I can’t help but wonder.
Is Dad involved with something bad?
I try not to cry when I see my father in the ICU bed, hooked up to all kinds of monitors. So many times he had to look at me like this.
It must have been awful for him.
My mother sits next to him. Robin, Falcon, Hawk, and Eagle are here, but they’re in the waiting area with Vinnie and Jared. The staff doesn’t like more than two visitors in the room at a time.
I sit in the hard, uncomfortable chair near the window as I watch my father sleep. I let the silence of the room wrap itself around me, the steady beep of the heart monitor the only sound that breaks through. I trace the weathered lines on his hands.
My mother’s face is a mask of calm, but her eyes betray her fear. She squeezes my father’s other hand gently. “How could he do this?” she asks, but I don’t feel like she’s talking to me.
She’s talking to the universe.
A nurse walks in, her face impassive behind her sterile mask. She checks my father’s vitals and gives us a curt nod before leaving. Her detached professionalism does nothing to ease the tension in the room.
I squeeze his hand. “Daddy,” I whisper. “You have so much to live for. How could you?”
His eyes flicker open. “Ray,” he croaks out.
“I’m here. Mom’s here.”
“I need to see Vinnie,” he says.
I raise my eyebrows. “Vinnie? Why?”
“Is he here with you?”
How would my father know that? “Yes, he’s here.”
“Please. I need to talk to him. Before I fall asleep again.”
“Okay. I’ll get him.”
I walk back out to the waiting area and grab Vinnie’s hand. “He says he wants to see you.”
My brothers all raise their eyebrows, though not one of them speaks. They’re still all in shock.
“Why me?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” I wipe a tear from my cheek. “I just want… I want whatever he wants.”
Vinnie nods. “Of course. I’ll go.”
He follows me down the hallway to my father’s room.
Dad’s eyes are still open, and Mom is wiping his forehead with a cool towel. His head is bandaged.
“I’m back, Daddy,” I say. “Vinnie is with me.”
“Thank you.” Dad tries to clear the hoarseness from his throat. “I need to talk to Vinnie alone.”
“Daddy…”
“Go, Raven.” He looks at Mom. “You too, Star.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Mom says.
“Please,” Dad says. “It’s only for a minute. Please.”
Mom stands, gulping. She looks at me, her forehead wrinkled, her eyes sunken and sad. Is she looking for reassurance? I have none to give.
“Come on.” I take Mom’s hand and lead her out. “Everything will be okay.”
Mom grabs a tissue and dabs her eyes. “How could he do this, Ray? Why would he do this?”
I don’t reply.
Because I have no answer.
42
VINNIE
Bellamy’s skin is pale, but he otherwise looks strong. His physique is still muscular, and but for the bandage over his head, he looks okay.
“I’m here, Austin,” I say.
“Thank you, Vinnie.”
“For what?”
“For what I’m about to ask you to do.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And what’s that?”
He grits his teeth. “Finish what I started.”
I drop my jaw.
Did I hear him right? He just asked me to kill him?
“Before you say no,” he continues, “I know all about you. I know what you’ve done. What you will do.”
There’s no way he knows about the plan in the works for Agudelo, Vega, McAllister, and the others.
So what the hell is he talking about?
“Yes, you’ve made it clear you’re aware of my past. But the answer is no. And you knew damned well it would be no.”
“It’s the only way I can save my family,” he says.
“Look. I know what you’ve gotten yourself into. You may not have had a choice. You may have had a choice but got seduced by the money.”
“Money has no value to me,” he says. “My mother left me more than I could spend in four lifetimes.”
“Then why?”
“I could say it started eight years ago, but it started much earlier than that.”
“But eight years ago was when Falcon—”
“Yes,” he interrupts me. “It was. I used it to my advantage, but I was also protecting my son.”
“Falcon?”
He shakes his head. “Eagle, actually. The kid’s a loose cannon. Always has been. Star and Raven babied him something awful. He grew up entitled, and you know what happens to entitled rich boys.”