“Yeah, and they’re going to help us,” I said.
“Are you sure that’s not a trap so your family would let them in?” Marco asked.
“We’re sure,” Aaron said. “I saw it in her eyes. She won’t break her promise.”
“Okay, that’s one less problem then.” Marco whistled.
“Don’t get too excited,” I said. “Roberto put a bounty on our heads. Anyone who wants the money can try to get it.”
Marco swore.
“Do you have our phones?” I asked, and Marco immediately pulled out mine from the bag he’d been holding and handed it to me. “Thanks.”
“So I guess the deal’s off either way, and we probably can’t avoid a war. Great.” Marco scratched his chin. “Maybe we should just stay here until it ends.”
“Did you talk to your father?” Aaron asked, his brows drawing together in concern.
“I tried, but I can’t reach him,” Marco said.
“We’ll find a way to get him away from my father, okay?” Aaron clapped Marco on the back. “Give me the guns.”
Marco opened the bag and Aaron grabbed his gun. I dialed my family’s special number, and it was my father who answered on the first ring. “Hey, Dad. Lora’s with us. She’s going to send some of her men to help us. You were right about Roberto wanting to work with her. It looks like he’s trying to convince everyone we broke the deal to get to Aaron, who’s working with us because of me.”
Aaron came to stand behind me and slid my gun into my holster under the jacket.
“Good,” my dad said. “There’s one thing you should know. Your brothers found out there’s a price on your head. You should go somewhere safe where no one can find you.”
“Yeah, I know. Lora told us.”
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side. “Out of this city too?” My mom screeched in the distance. “She can’t stay out there without protection if professionals will be coming after her!”
“What do you suggest we do?” My father’s voice was much quieter, and I assumed he was talking to my mother. My father must have put our conversation on speaker so everyone could hear.
“Bring her here,” she said.
“It’s too dangerous.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “I’ll come. We have to be together. But Aaron and Marco will be coming with me.”
“Absolutely not.” Jason’s voice was loud and clear even over the phone.
“Damn it, Jason,” I said. “Can’t you see what’s happening? If Roberto trying to kill Aaron isn’t proof enough to you that Aaron doesn’t have some secret plan to destroy our family, then I don’t know what is. Just agree for once. For me. Please. I don’t want to argue anymore.”
Jason mumbled something, but he had to be standing too far away from the phone, so I couldn’t hear him.
“Princess,” my father said. “It’s alright. The three of you can come, but we decided to move to a safer place. Come to that park where you used to play a lot as a kid, and your brothers will leave clues for you as to where to go.”
“Okay. But if the clues aren’t clear, I’m going to call you.”
“You do that.”
I ended the call. We still had a long way to get back home. I pushed the phone into my pocket. “Let’s go.”
“We should hurry,” Marco said. “You never know when those assassins...”
A man dressed in black was standing in the middle of the alley, right in our path. Where had he come from?
“You just had to say that,” Aaron said dryly, grabbing my arm and tugging me so I ended up standing behind him. Marco immediately reached for his gun, but before he could get to it, a shot rang out.
Chapter 17
I dove to the ground and rolled over. The bullet ricocheted against something metal, possibly the trash can behind me. Marco was on the ground too, but when I looked at Aaron, my heart skipped a beat. He was on his feet and rushing toward our assailant, who aimed a gun at him. The man pulled the trigger, but Aaron ducked behind a trash can, avoiding the bullets. Marco finally got his gun out, and the attacker fired at him before he could, barely missing as Marco rolled over. Aaron used the opportunity and tackled the assailant to the ground.
Marco pushed himself up and raced toward Aaron, who got on top of the attacker and punched him. I rose to my feet, wincing as pain shot through my knee, but as I looked down at it, I realized it was just a scrape.
Aaron was still bringing his fist down on the guy, who yelped. “I’m sick and tired of everyone trying to kill me! Get in line, you piece of shit. What did you think? That you were going to get easy money from my father?”
The man cried out, and Marco just stood there next to Aaron, his gun aimed at the attacker. I slowly made my way toward them, rolling my neck. Resting my hand on the handle of my gun, I looked around us, just in case someone else decided to come at us or maybe to help the guy, but I couldn’t see anyone.
Aaron finally let go of the guy and clambered to his feet. “Kill him,” he said to Marco.
“No! Please!” the man choked out, and as I inched closer, I saw blood all over his face and shirt. His nose was broken.
“You didn’t have any problem with trying to kill us for money. Why should we let you go?” Marco asked.
“I was just...” The man coughed. “I need money... to survive. Please. I didn’t kill anyone...”
Aaron crouched next to him and gripped his shirt, pulling it aside and revealing a tattoo. “No, you just killed five.” As he was getting up, the man kicked out with his leg, making Aaron stumble back. Marco fired, and the man went still.
“We should get out of here before competent assassins come here. Someone at the bar must’ve tipped them off we’re here,” Aaron said.
“What are we going to do with him?” Marco asked.
“Leave him.” Aaron turned toward me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just... tired, I guess.”
Aaron snaked his arm around me, pulling me close. “You can rest in the car.”
I nodded. “I just want to go back to my family, and then we can figure out how to win this war.”
“Let’s go.”
We had to get out of here as soon as possible.
***
“Are we going to run from assassins all the time or what?” Marco asked as we were getting closer to our city. “What happened in that alley... Literally anyone who hears about the bounty can try to kill us, and maybe next time we won’t see it coming.”
“There’s only one way to end all of this,” Aaron said, his hands gripping the wheel. “My father needs to die.”
“Right. Then you can take over the Viteris’ business as Roberto’s heir and stop the war. Bounty hunters will stop coming after us because their employer will be gone...” Marco’s voice trailed off. “Or maybe not. You’d probably have a whole lot of new enemies.”
“Yes, the war would be over and we’d be safe, “Aaron said. “But I’m not the only one who can take over the business. My father’s half-brother might pop up.”
“Why would he want to get involved with this? He hates your father and no one’s heard from him for years,” Marco said.
“Some of my father’s men might contact him and offer him their support,” Aaron said. “They won’t be fond of me if they believe what my father said about me, and after what I...”
“Didn’t you think about that earlier?” I asked. “I mean, you asked me to help you take over, so I assume you had a plan on how to do that.”
Aaron bit down on his lip. “I didn’t really plan that far. I just wanted to ruin him and his plan to rule our city.”
“Oh.” I wondered if he actually planned to kill his father, but I wasn’t about to ask. If he hadn’t, his father doing this to him might have changed his mind.
“Where’s that park your father mentioned?” Aaron asked.
“Take a left turn, then go straight. It’s not far from the church.”
“
I get that your family doesn’t want to tell you over the phone where to meet them, because not even secure connections are truly secure these days, but how are you going to figure out those clues they talked about? And how are they sure someone else won’t stumble upon them and figure out the message?” Marco asked. “Why didn’t they just tell you the clues over the phone if no one’s supposed to know what they mean? They told you about the park.”
“Random people wouldn’t even know what to look for, and the ones who would can’t figure out where the park is because I doubt someone was following me as a kid when they didn’t know who I really was. If they heard it all over the phone, they might be able to figure it out,” I said. “And if someone steals the paper with clues or it disappears, I’ll just call my family to leave it again somewhere else. It’ll take us some time, but I don’t want my family to be in danger.” This time avoiding a war seemed impossible, especially since we didn’t know how many people Roberto had tricked into joining him, so we had to be very careful.
“Whatever you say.” Marco didn’t sound too convinced.
“You’ll see. We’re almost there.” It took us a few minutes to reach the park, and Aaron parked the car. “I’ll go alone,” I said. “You wait for me in the car.”
“Marco or I should come with you. If someone sees you and recognizes you...” Aaron said.
“No. I’ll be quick. And there’s no one around. Look.” It was almost dawn, and everyone was still asleep. Aside from a few cars that passed by, it was very quiet. The park was small anyway. “You can see me from the car. I’ll be fine.”
Aaron reluctantly nodded.
“Are you going to dig through the trash or something?” Marco’s voice was filled with amusement.
“No. I have a secret spot where I used to bury things when I was a kid.”
“Like dead bodies?” Marco pushed his head between the seats to look at me.
“No!” My scowl turned into a grin. “Just some broken toys.”
“I knew it was dead bodies,” Marco whispered, and Aaron shot him a glare. Marco quickly leaned back.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, and got out of the car. The chilly air made me shiver, and I closed the jacket tighter around myself. It took me a few moments to figure out where my spot was, but the ground was slightly darker there because my brothers or one of the guards had recently touched it. I crouched and dug my fingers into the earth, hoping like hell I wasn’t touching anything gross. Oh God, I probably was touching something gross. As soon as my fingers brushed against paper, I tugged at it and pulled it out. Wiping off the dirt, I stared at my mom’s handwriting. I tucked the note into my pocket and hurried back to the car.
“Found it?” Aaron asked as soon as I opened the door.
“Yeah.” I got in, slamming the door. “Just drive.” Fishing the note out of my pocket, I glanced at Marco, who was again leaning forward.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Marco asked when I unfolded the note.
“A scary old crow on a big oak tree loved to steal people’s hamburgers and throw away the meat. The meat fell down on Anne’s old car, so she went to buy a new one. On her way home, she bought a book. It was Little Red Riding Hood. Anne parked her car in the garage, but when she opened the door, her book fell down. It opened on the third page, and a drop of water splashed on it.” I read it out loud. Aaron blinked, shaking his head slightly.
“Okay, but what happens next?” Marco asked. “How’s that going to lead you to some place?”
I grabbed my phone. “All I need is a little help from that app that lets you see maps and streets.”
“Huh?” Marco didn’t stop looking over my shoulder.
“Can’t you just put your seatbelt on or something?” I glanced at him. “You’re ruining my concentration.”
“But I want to know how you’ll figure it out.” He pouted like a five-year-old.
“Marco,” Aaron said in a warning tone.
“Okay, I’ll explain. All I have to do is find the area that has all of these things very close together: a burger restaurant, car shop, bookstore, and a bar or something that has a crow or an oak in its title or symbol. It’s a house with a garage, it’s the third one, and it has a pool. Obviously, the car shop and the bookstore are on one side, and the rest are on the other.” I let the app show me all burger restaurants and bookstores, and if they were only a block away, I took a closer look to see if anything else mentioned was nearby.
“Whoa, that’s crazy,” Marco said.
“Okay,” I said a few minutes later. “I think I found the bar with a crow drawn on its windows. And everything else seems to fit. There’s only one street with houses in between.”
“How are you going to know on which side it is?” Marco asked.
“The ones on the left don’t have pools.” I quickly scanned through the images of the street. “Now if I can figure out... Ah, there it is. Only this one can be considered as the third and has both a garage and a pool.”
“Show me the map,” Aaron said, and I turned the screen toward him. “Okay.” He nodded, and I tucked my phone into my pocket.
“This is crazy, and kind of fun,” Marco said cheerfully.
“Keep your head down. We have to be careful and make sure no one’s following us. We don’t want to bring unwanted visitors to my family’s door,” I said, letting my hair hide most of my face. I would’ve brought a wig, but with a war brewing, we couldn’t afford not being recognized by our own people.
“I’ll take a longer route,” Aaron simply said, glancing in the rearview mirror. As I leaned back in my seat, I hoped this war would be over soon.
Chapter 18
“Oh, honey. Thank God you’re here.” My mom gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek. My father was seated in a dark red armchair, and my brothers were all lounging on the couches. I had a feeling this house was my father’s recent purchase, probably through a proxy, because, aside from the armchairs, couches, and a glass table, there was only a TV and an old clock on the wall. The dark blue carpet was ripped and stained in places. Our guards were in the foyer and just in front of the door. There were two more floors, but I didn’t know if I’d even be going up there.
“Why did you have to bring them here?” Just hearing Jason’s voice made me roll my eyes.
“Sit down,” my father said, looking at Aaron and Marco and ignoring Jason, who pressed his lips together in disapproval. We all took a seat on an empty couch, and I placed my hand on Aaron’s knee.
“Roberto’s forces have already attacked two of our stash houses closest to the border and some of our dealers. They’re stretching us out. We have to run from one place to another to protect our assets.” My father rubbed his temple. “We managed to stop some of the families from joining him, but there are still some from different areas who might plan to come later. Do you know who else your father could contact for help?” His gaze fell on Aaron.
“No,” Aaron said. “I don’t know anyone aside from the Hulseys who isn’t from this city.”
Jason snorted. “And you’re going to believe that, Father?”
“Yes,” my father simply said. “I don’t know for how long we can keep this up. We might be able to defeat Roberto’s men, but if he brings more... We’ll be forced to give up parts of our territory, and that could be very dangerous.”
“We can’t let them push us back,” Dylan said, his hazel eyes gleaming with determination. “The others will help us when it’s confirmed we aren’t the ones who broke the deal. We just have to hold on until then.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, my son. The ones who didn’t pick a side already will drag their feet with their decision because to them it isn’t clear who really broke the deal, and since one of the Viteris is with us... That makes things complicated.”
“You see? We should get rid of him. The deal’s broken. Why don’t we just put a bullet in him and go after his father? I told you we should’ve done that. Everyone would be
afraid of us now, but no, you had to let that scum go free.” Jason curled his lip. Marco started to get up, his face getting red, but Aaron caught his wrist and pulled him back.
“We can end this,” I said. “All we have to do is kill Roberto, and it all ends.”
“Yes, that would be the best option,” my father said. “But, unfortunately, we don’t know where Roberto is, and if he knows Aaron is with us, he’ll make sure we can’t use any secret entrances or any information Aaron could provide us.”
“We could try,” Tony said. “Since the deal’s off, I could try to hack into the Viteris’ systems. If Aaron gives me the codes... We could storm a few of his hideouts.”
“I have an idea,” Michael said, straightening his back. “But you might not like it.”
“Tell us.” My father spread his arms.
“I think Tony’s right. We can use Aaron’s intel and gather what men we can spare to attack Roberto’s most probable hideouts so he’ll have to move again. Then all we have to do is spread the rumor that you have renounced Octavia, and that she and Aaron ran away to another town before you could deal with them. Say you blame Octavia for the war or something and offer bounty hunters more money than Roberto did to bring the two of them back to you alive. Since his men will be busy, and bounty hunters won’t want to work for him, Roberto will have to go after Octavia and Aaron himself if he wants to catch them before he loses them forever. And he’ll want to make sure they’re really dead, right? We can lure him out and catch him.” Michael looked around the room.
“But he’d figure out Octavia and Aaron didn’t go anywhere,” Dylan said.
“He wouldn’t if we actually sent them away,” Michael said.
“Too risky.” Dylan shook his head. “They can’t go on a trip now. And how would we even catch Roberto before he got to them?”
“We could get them out of here in secret. If they’re in no one’s territory, they should be safer, and we wouldn’t have to worry about violating any agreements. We should go with them too, but make sure no one knows about it or sees us. Maybe just two of us and some of our men. Roberto won’t be able to take many men with him either, and we should be able to protect Octavia.”
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