by Penelope Sky
“Do you think he realized what Vanessa said?”
“Hope not. If he did…we won’t see him until the meeting tonight. And we’ll have to come up with a different plan.”
Uncle Cane came up behind him, dressed similarly and with the same pissed-off expression in his eyes. His gun sat on his hip, and he didn’t look the least bit happy to see me. He barely greeted Carter.
When my mother emerged from the back of the SUV, I actually had to do a double take. “What’s Mom doing here?”
My father didn’t look at her over his shoulder. “Let her be.”
“This is no place for her,” I argued. “How could you let her come along?”
“He tried,” Uncle Cane said. “It didn’t work.”
My father didn’t hide his look of disappointment, but he stuck to his guns. “This is her daughter. There was nothing I could do to get her to stay behind. And she’s pretty damn good with a gun. She agreed to stay in the rear.”
I couldn’t believe that my father, the most protective man on the planet, had allowed this to happen. I didn’t consider my mother to be weak by any means, but a war zone was no place for her. “We should split into two groups and circle the block in different directions. If one of us uncovers something, we’ll radio to you.”
“Alright,” my father said. “We’ll—”
Gunshots fired into the air.
Our heads snapped in different directions, hearing the backfire echo in the streets. Men pulled their guns from their holsters. My mom was the quickest to draw her weapon.
The gunshots could be caused by anyone, but it was too much of a coincidence.
“It’s her,” my father said. “Let’s move.”
We sprinted down the road and cut over onto the next block. We all took different routes, preparing to come into contact with the shooters. I reached an apartment complex with Carter first, and the second we turned to the gate, we spotted her.
Vanessa.
She tripped on the concrete as she ran, the gun sliding out of her hand and hitting the ground. Blood soaked her clothes and streaked down her arm. A gunshot wound was in her left arm, and it was obvious her flesh had just been punctured.
Motherfucker.
I sprinted to her, my gun still secured in my hand. “Vanessa!”
A henchman appeared behind her, his gun raised to shoot her in the back.
Before I could aim and fire, the man had been hit in the chest. He collapsed to the concrete, dead before he hit the ground.
My father appeared from the left, a raging look in his eyes. Smoke still blew from the barrel of his gun.
I got to Vanessa first and held her to her feet. “You’ve been shot.”
“Obviously.” She hissed through her teeth, blood still spilling everywhere. “Knuckles shot me when I tried to get away.”
My father didn’t stop to check on Vanessa. “Conway, get her to the hospital. I’ve got to—” He stopped when he came face-to-face with Knuckles, a long gun pointed directly between his eyes.
“No!” Vanessa tried to squirm out of my grasp.
I held her tighter, my gun at the ready.
Knuckles sneered at my father. “You thought you could cross me?”
“I did.” My father didn’t raise his hands in the air. With a strong voice and even stronger stance, he didn’t show an ounce of fear. “I’ve got my daughter back, and Sapphire is safe. You could put a bullet in my brain, but it wouldn’t make a difference.”
Knuckles pressed the gun harder into my father’s skull, his irritation bright in his eyes. He held the gun, but my father held all the power. Even if Knuckles pulled that trigger, he would lose the game. It took all the victory out of it. Once he killed my father, he would be captured by the rest of our men. If he hadn’t been so arrogant as to underestimate the Barsettis, he wouldn’t have been so careless. I knew he was capable of a better plan than this, a man with more resources than us, but his confidence affected his judgment. If he’d taken the time to learn more about my family, he would have realized this wasn’t our first rodeo.
Fucking idiot.
My mom appeared from behind Knuckles, a black rope between her hands. With featherlight steps, she came from around the corner then yanked the rope against his throat, just when my father turned out of the way of the gun. With lightning speed, he broke Knuckles’s wrist and snatched the gun out of his broken hand.
And my mom choked him harder, pulling so tight on the rope it was about to snap in half. She tugged on the rope and pulled him to the ground, making his body slam on the concrete. She was half his size and weight, but she managed to drag him several feet, making the rope slice into his skin. A gun was on her hip, but instead of giving him a swift death, she decided to make him suffocate.
My father didn’t intervene, letting my mother do exactly what she wanted.
“No one. Touches. My.” She watched his eyes roll into the back of his head and his body finally give out. “Daughter.” With knuckles strained and white, her hands were about to give out. But when his body collapsed and his spirit left him, she still pulled—like desecrating his remains would give her even more satisfaction.
My father approached her slowly. “Button.”
Like she didn’t hear him, she continued to tug.
He repeated her name again, this time with more force. “Button, he’s gone.”
She finally dropped the rope. She stared down at him before she spat right on his face.
“Damn,” I said under my breath.
Vanessa was watching the scene too, resting most of her weight on me. “I hate to whine but…I think I need to get to a hospital.”
I didn’t think my mother had it in her to become a ferocious killer. But the second her daughter was in danger, she turned into someone I didn’t recognize. She relished the bloodshed the same way a killer did. “Alright, here we go.” I scooped Vanessa up into my arms and waved down a taxi, not wanting to wait for Carter to bring the SUV around.
I carried her into the back seat and looked at the driver’s terrified expression in the rearview mirror. “Get me to the nearest hospital.”
They took my sister to surgery right away, and we were left to sit in the waiting room. I was covered in blood, so Carter gave me a t-shirt to change into. The waiting room was packed with other families waiting for news about their loved ones.
My mother and father stood alone on the other side of the room, talking quietly to each other. Tears welled up in my mother’s eyes over and over again, and my father did his best to make them stop.
Aunt Adelina came a few hours after that, bringing her daughter, Carmen. They hugged Carter and held him for a long time.
I’d been too busy thinking about Vanessa that I hadn’t even thought about Muse. I should pick her up and bring her to the hospital to wait with the rest of my family, but I didn’t want to leave just in case we got any news. The nurse told us removing the bullet should be a simple process. It didn’t have the same risk factors as open-heart surgery or something more invasive.
I picked up the phone and called Muse.
She answered so quickly I didn’t actually hear the phone ring. “Con, are you alright?”
“Yeah, Muse. I’m okay.”
“Did you get Vanessa?” she asked in a tear-filled voice. “Tell me you got her.”
“Yes, we did.”
“Thank god,” she whispered. “And no one else got hurt?”
“Well…Vanessa was shot. We’re at the hospital while she’s in surgery.”
“No…” The tears began to pour out, not only escaping in her voice.
“We think she’s going to be okay. She was shot in the arm. Didn’t hit an artery. But we’re still waiting on pins and needles.”
“I should be there.”
“I’d come get you, but I can’t leave the hospital. My parents are pretty upset right now…”
“I understand. Can I have Dante drop me off? Would that be okay?”
Dante would do anything I asked, especially under the circumstances. “Yeah, sure.”
“Good. I need to be there. Vanessa is my friend. When I first came around, she was so good to me. She was my friend immediately. I didn’t even need to do anything to earn her friendship…it was just natural.”
“Yeah, I know.” My sister made an effort to make Muse feel welcome in my family. Vanessa was a brat most of the time, but when it mattered, she was there for me. She always had my back, just how I had hers.
“I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“Alright.”
“I love you, Conway,” she whispered into the phone. “I can’t wait to see you.”
I closed my eyes, loving the way her love reached all the way through the phone. I could feel it, just the way I could feel her lips against mine when she kissed me. Her love didn’t understand distance, not when it could cross an ocean in a heartbeat. “Me too.”
We got off the phone, and then I looked at my parents again.
My father was holding my mother against him, his chin propped on her head. His hand rested under the fall of her hair while his other hand settled on the small of her back. He hid his emotions like a professional, keeping his thoughts and feelings a mystery. My mother wasn’t the same way. She wore her heart on her sleeve, let her tears cascade down her cheeks.
I approached them slowly, testing the waters to see if they wanted to speak to me right now.
My dad looked at me then opened his arm toward me, beckoning me to join their circle. He wrapped his arm around me and held my mother and me together. I was taller than my mother and the same height as my father, so we cushioned my mother in between us.
“Con…” My mom turned away from my father and moved into my chest instead. She hugged me tightly, her tears soaking into my t-shirt. “Thank you for getting her here so quickly.”
“Of course.” I ran my hand up and down her back. “You were a badass today, Mom. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“No one touches my babies and gets away with it,” she said with a sniff. “Not my son…not my daughter.”
My father only had eyes for her, watching her come apart against me. “Button, Vanessa will be alright.”
“I know,” my mother said. “But until I see her…I’ll be a wreck.”
Muse walked into the waiting room with Dante beside her. To everyone else, she looked exactly the same as before. But to me, she was glowing. Her flat stomach couldn’t hide what was growing deep inside her.
What we made together.
My parents held each other through this ordeal, terrified their little girl wouldn’t make it through the surgery.
Muse and I were just like them now. We made something together, and we would love something together.
She set her sights on me first, and like no one else was in the room, she ran up to me and landed against my chest, hitting me like a speeding car hits a brick wall. She clutched me, gripping my waist with strength I didn’t realize she had.
My hand cupped the back of her head, and I pressed kisses to her hairline, showering her with plenty of affection right in front of my family. I didn’t care if it made them uncomfortable. I didn’t care if it was inappropriate.
“Have you heard anything?” she asked.
“No.”
She sighed against my chest. “She’s going to be okay, right?”
“Yes…I know she will.” I tilted her head up to look at me, showing her the resolution in my eyes. “She’s a tough-ass woman. She can hold her own. I know she’ll get through it. She’s way too proud to survive a kidnapping only to die on a surgical table.”
“True.”
I angled Muse’s chin to meet my gaze so I could place a kiss on her mouth. Her affection filled me with joy, made me feel happy for a brief moment. I forgot all the shit going on around me and just concentrated on her kiss. The only reason I pulled away was because I forced myself to. I rubbed my nose against hers and stepped back.
My mom walked up to us, her eyes still puffy and red from crying on my father’s shoulders. “Your father told me about the baby. I meant to call…but then all this stuff happened and—”
“Mom, don’t worry about it,” I said quickly. “We understand.”
She wrapped her arm around Muse’s shoulders and rested her head against hers. “I just want you to know how excited I am. Your baby will be beautiful and healthy, and I’m so happy to be a grandmother.”
“Thank you,” Muse whispered. “I can’t even tell I’m pregnant, but I feel totally different.”
“I felt the same way when Conway was growing inside me.” She moved her arm around my waist too. “You guys are going to start your own family now. It’s the time of your lives when you’ll feel the most joy. I know from experience.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said. “We might need a babysitter sometimes.”
“And I would be delighted,” she said. “Your father would too.”
I chuckled. “He doesn’t seem like a baby kinda guy.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” she said. “When you were born, all he wanted to do was play with you. He didn’t care about work anymore. You were the most important thing in his life. It used to be me…but I was glad to make the transfer.” She kissed me on the cheek. “And I know you’ll be the same way. You have your father’s hardness, his roughness.” She placed her finger against my chest, right over my heart. “But you have his softness too.”
18
Vanessa
I woke up to the sound of my monitor beeping.
It took me a few seconds to figure out where I was.
To remember how I got there.
Knuckles kidnapped me, and I made a run for it. I got shot during my escape, and my mother choked him to death right in front of my eyes. Conway carried me into the back seat of a taxi and got me to the hospital. By the time we arrived, I’d passed out.
I’d been in the dark the rest of the time.
Thick gauze was wrapped around my arm, covering my gunshot wound. A drip of morphine was running directly into my IV. I was in a private room with a window that was covered by the drapes.
My eyes landed on my father first, who was sitting still as a statue. His head rested back against the wall, and my mother slept across his lap. His beard was thick from not shaving, and despite his age and constant exposure to the sun, he resembled a young man—strong and in the throes of youth.
I watched him before he noticed me, remembering the way he stood up to Knuckles even with a gun pressed to his forehead. There was no way for him to know my mother was coming. He was simply brave—braver than all other men.
He came for me like I knew he would. And the only way he would have been in the area was if my clue had tipped him off. We worked together to get me out of there. Everyone had survived, except Knuckles.
I was glad he was dead.
And I was glad my mother spat on his face.
I would have done the same if I weren’t so weak.
Conway and Sapphire were in the room too, Sapphire sitting on Conway’s lap. He ran his fingers through her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder. Uncle Cane sat on the other couch with Aunt Adelina, their heads pressed close together.
I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice didn’t come out. My mouth was just too dry. I tried again. “Dad…”
My father’s eyes shifted to me at once, and the hardness on his face was instantly replaced by overwhelming joy. It was the same look he gave when he was proud of something I said or did. He shook my mother underneath him, his eyes staying on me. “Button, she’s awake.”
Mom jerked up immediately, her body waking up quicker than her brain did. “My baby…”
My father walked to me with his arm around my mom. He stood at my bedside and placed his hand against my chest, looking down at me with those same proud eyes. His hand was warm in comparison to the icy temperature of the room. “Tesoro…” It was a name he’d been calling me since I w
as little.
Sweetheart.
His thumb brushed across my hairline. “You’re so strong…so strong like your mother.” He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. Then he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me, his chin resting on my head. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said into his neck, smelling his cologne.
He kissed my forehead again. “Love you so much, tesoro.”
“I love you too.”
When my mom moved in next, the tears in her eyes were the size of raindrops. They splashed on my cheeks and rolled down my face. She held me close to her, crying quietly against me. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too, Mama.”
She smothered my forehead with kisses and continued to weep quietly.
My father rubbed her back, watching her embrace me.
My mom pulled away minutes later, her tears done but the aftereffects still present. With red and puffy eyes, she stepped back and sniffed.
“You’re a badass, Mom,” I said. “He was twice your size, and you dragged him across the ground.”
“It’s mama bear strength,” she whispered. “Every woman has it when they think their little one is in trouble.”
“But yes,” my father said. “Your mother is a badass.”
I chuckled then patted her arm. “Thanks for taking him out. I would have done it myself, but you beat me to the punch.”
My brother came next, giving me a rare look of fondness he refused to show unless he had to. He grabbed my hand and smiled with his eyes. “You look really good. How’s your arm?”
“It’s alright,” I said. “That morphine drip is doing wonders right now…”
“Yeah, I bet,” he said with a chuckle. “You were really brave, Vanessa. Most women wouldn’t have been so fearless.”
“You’re only fearless and brave when you have so much to lose. I wasn’t going to let that weirdo keep me. And I wasn’t going to let him have Sapphire either. Father taught me well. Knuckles shouldn’t have underestimated me.”