“I should tell you, Grandma and the girls think you sneaked out for a night and someone kidnapped you. Even Melody thinks you were there against your will. Never admit otherwise.”
I nod as we push through the crowded airport. I hate the smell of the air. It smells dirty and thick with pollution. The air is dry and hot. My skin crawls, and I miss the ocean. I miss home.
“I should call for a ride,” Poppy says as we move through the airport.
I shake my head and approach an empty counter then grab a brochure about safety and a pen. I scribble down the memorized address and pull Poppy out the doors and straight into a waiting cab.
“What are we doing?” Poppy whispers.
I hand the driver the brochure and point to the address.
“You sure?” he asks.
I nod. Just like last time, it’s fading to darkness outside. I watch the city lights as we pass through but this time I’m not amazed. I hate it and everything it stands for. The car stops at a dark intersection. The driver looks hesitant to stop, but I smack my hand on the seat to let him know this is it. Poppy shoves some money at him while I get out of the car.
Shadows lurk against the buildings. A sleeping figure leans against a light post that isn’t lit. I take Poppy’s hand and pull her quickly to the boarded-up store. I can see slivers of candlelight from the inside.
I knock loudly and peek over my shoulder at the slow approaching figures.
“Shiloh, what is this place?” Poppy hisses in my ear.
A woman’s face appears in the dirty glass. Amethyst squints at me and my sister behind me. I sigh when I hear the sounds of her unlocking the door.
“Come in,” she says. “I thought I wouldn’t see you back here.”
She told me never to come back. I am supposed to be with Pierce now, living happily ever after while he protects me. Now I’m walking across enemy lines, knowing I won’t be safe. I need help that only one person can provide. Someone invisible to my father and that knows what I am facing.
We follow the old woman through the filthy room. Boxes are stacked with old newspapers and books. Everything has a thick layer of dust covering it. We come to the back room where she first agreed to help me. Where she drugged me and told me to make Pierce love me. Now I come asking for help again.
“The girl rises in the east and sets in the west?” she asks.
I don’t know what that means.
“You came back? Why?”
She hands me a pen and a piece of cardboard. The woman who knows everything must have heard their attack left me with no voice.
Get him a message, I scribble. Only she can get it to him without being detected.
Amethyst nods and waves a hand at me to continue. She already knows who I speak of. She is the only person that can reach him without being seen. My hands tremble as I write the words I hate to write.
Don’t come for me.
It hurts, but I need Pierce to stay away. My father won’t let me out of his sight again. If Pierce tries to come for me out of guilt or some misplaced loyalty, then it will cost me my life and the lives of others. Poppy sees my message and squeezes my hand. She knows it’s breaking my heart.
“You were foolish to come back here,” she continues. “Both of you.”
I nod, because I know this. He only fought for me because he couldn’t let the Gallos have me. I still betrayed him and I’m not sure we are safe here either.
“Tell me Shiloh Blackard, is it freedom you still want?”
I nod.
“He will never let you free but you know this. This is why you have returned. But this will not stop the bloodshed or protect the Gallos from further attack.”
I scribble on the cardboard. How?
“Only Marcus Blackard can destroy himself. He will kill you before they have you. He has done it before.”
“What are you talking about?” Poppy asks. “Shiloh, let’s go. This woman is nuts.”
I shake my head and grab her arms so she sits. I want to hear the story.
“A woman divided the east and west. She became a weapon to hurt the men and brought them down.”
“Oh,” Poppy whispers.
Our grandmother always told us that our dad was protecting us and he had a good reason. She told us about the woman he loved before our mother and how she was killed just to hurt him. Ever since then, he carefully guarded everyone he loved.
“Grace Evans was a beautiful woman. Marcus showered her with gifts and love. He only saw her. Nothing mattered more to him than that woman.”
“His weakness,” Poppy says, putting together the pieces.
“His only weakness. But Grace didn’t love him back. She fell in love with his business partner and left your father.”
“I thought she was killed?” Poppy asks the question on my mind.
Amethyst laughs and looks through her cabinets while she continues the story.
“When Grace left with Vincent Gallo, your father blew up the casino the two of them built together.”
Vincent Gallo? Poppy looks at me in question and I nod. Pierce’s father.
“Grace was a sweet girl. So loving. So brave and smart, but she made a stupid move. Like you, she returned to Marcus to try to talk him down and earn his forgiveness. She thought she could end the feud between the two men if he could just see how much she loved the other man.”
We all know what happened, but the truth about Grace’s fate shimmers just below the surface. I almost don’t want to hear the end of the story.
“Marcus killed Grace when she returned. If he couldn’t have her, no one could. He couldn’t forgive her betrayal.”
Poppy turns to look at me, fear in her eyes. “We should go. We shouldn’t have come back.”
“He already knows you’re here. It’s too late.”
Amethyst confirms my fears and gives birth to new ones. The feud runs deeper than I ever knew. The east and west will always be divided. My homecoming will never change that.
“What do we do?” Poppy asks.
“Only Marcus Blackard can destroy himself.”
“What does that mean?”
“You should go. Before they find you here. Go.”
Amethyst pulls me from the wooden crate I sat on and starts to push us to the door. Just before she shoves us into the street, she leans forward and whispers in my ear.
“Rewrite the story.” Something is shoved in my hand and I clench my fist to keep it hidden.
The door slams shut behind us. The words ring in my ears. The same words Pierce said to me. We were supposed to have a different ending.
“Come on.” Poppy grabs my hand, and we run through the streets.
We run a few blocks and make it to a safer area before we finally slow. The street lights work and shadowy figures don’t lurk between the buildings. It’s not long before a dark car pulls up next to us.
“Ladies. Get in.”
It’s one of our father’s men. I hesitate a second before I open the back door and slide inside. Poppy gets in behind me, grabbing my hand. We ride in silence up the hill and to the front gate. It slides open, welcoming us back.
The home I grew up in towers above me. It’s so familiar but different somehow. Now it looks even more like a prison. I miss the house on the ocean. My chest feels like it’s being crushed as I push open the car door.
There’s men there to meet us as soon as we step out. They herd us at the front door. Don’t they know we came back willingly? The extra muscle isn’t necessary.
“Here goes nothing,” Poppy mutters before opening our front door.
I’m surprised to find my grandma, my father, and our sisters waiting for us. The girls rush over, hugging and fussing over us both. Melody is even there, telling me how happy she is to finally get me home. My sisters step back eventually, and I see my grandma. Her warm eyes connect with mine and I run to her. I wrap my arms around her, inhaling her familiar perfume.
“Shiloh, I was so worried.”
/> I nod and swallow my guilt. I never meant to hurt anyone. I only wanted to live a different life.
“Are you okay?” my grandma asks, running her hands over me. “They said you couldn’t speak. Did they hurt you?”
I shake my head and stop her worried hands. They didn’t hurt me. Her son did.
Habromainia: (n.) delusions of happiness.
I pull back and face my dad. The famous Marcus Blackard. Crime Lord. Murderer. Feared and respected.
“Good to have you back, Shiloh.”
His words are simple and cold but not different from anything else he’s ever said to me. I’m used to his distance and high walls.
“Poppy, good work. Our family is back together again.”
With that he turns and heads up the stairs and turns toward his office. I watch him disappear. For someone that wanted me back so badly, he didn’t seem very excited to have won. But I know the truth. I know it’s not me he was after. He just couldn’t stand the fact the Gallos took something from him. Marcus Blackard couldn’t admit defeat and back down. He needed to win.
That was why I needed to leave the island. As much as I hate being here, I couldn’t let Pierce get caught in the crossfire anymore. My father wouldn’t stop until we were all dead.
“Come. You look exhausted,” my grandmother says.
She leads me to my room—the bedroom that I spent my whole life in. It was here that I dreamed and wished for a new life.
“You’re safe now, Shiloh,” she whispers. “Just get some sleep and tomorrow everything will be like it was all a bad dream.”
The door closes and I collapse on the bed. She’s wrong. I’m not safe and tomorrow things will be the same. She doesn’t realize this part is the bad dream.
chapter thirty-three
pierce
THE MAN WHO killed my cousin is dead. I close the box containing the proof. That sweet feeling of victory doesn’t wash over me like I thought it would. No relief or peace.
“We good?” James asks.
I look up at him. He delivered just as he promised. I toss an envelope at him.
“We are. Inside is your new identification, money, and the keys to your new place.”
“And Harley?”
“No one will find her.”
James looks inside the envelope and nods. “Thank you.”
We shake hands and he turns to leave. He pauses with his hand on the door before turning back to me.
“When you go after her, call me,” he says.
“Who says I’m going after her?”
“If you don’t, then you aren’t the man I thought you were and you don’t deserve her.”
“She left,” I growl. The pain still fresh even though it’s been a week.
“Like I said, call me. We will storm the castle and rescue the princess.”
“She doesn’t want rescued.”
“You just keep letting her save you, don’t you?”
James leaves my office without waiting for an answer. I turn to the ocean. When I moved here, I loved the seclusion, endless beach, and weather. I never really appreciated it until Shiloh. She made the ocean more beautiful when she was in it. I flex my hands into fists at my side. Every day I consider going after her, but then I look at the last thing she wrote me. Her words glare up at me from my desk. A constant reminder that she didn’t love me. I was just a way out for her. An escape and protection from the life she didn’t want anymore. A spoiled brat wanting to be on her own. She didn’t want to fight for what she wanted, and I can’t force her to. I thought I was enough to keep her going. I was wrong.
Another knock comes from my door and they enter before I call them in. Only one person does that.
“Hey, Dad.” I turn around as he comes to sit across from my desk.
“Pierce. You look like shit.”
I laugh and sit down. He took the plane over with James. He wanted to discuss the final arrangements with our customers in Europe. Even with my world falling apart, business goes on. We strive and rise. The Blackards have yet to make a move after the wedding. There is no alliance, but they have Shiloh and Poppy back. We all know the war will go on. The east and the west remain divided.
“The ships leave tomorrow with the first batch of product,” he tells me.
“Good to hear,” I say. I don’t really care.
“There’s a convoy of Hummers and a plane gassed and ready in Miami,” he says.
“For what?” We don’t usually run product over ground.
“For Vegas.”
I stare at my dad.
“No. She left and it’s done.”
My dad smiles. It’s the smile he used to give me when I was younger and he was about to pass on something of great value. I saw it when he gave me my first boat and my first night club. This smile is reserved for when he tells me the most hidden secrets.
“Grace said that too. She left Marcus for me, starting the hatred we have for each other now. Maybe I was in the wrong. I should have kept my eyes off my partner’s girl but there was something about Grace that I couldn’t ignore.”
I lean forward because I never heard the full story. James told me that Marcus kept the girls secret so no one could use them against him because he lost the woman he loved.
“You guys were partners?”
He tells me about how they started a casino and a small drug ring. Grace was Marcus’s girlfriend for just a few weeks when she broke up with him. My dad tells me about the backlash after.
“How did she die?”
“Grace thought she could talk to him. She couldn’t take the blood and death all because she didn’t love him. One morning I woke up with a note from her. She went to Vegas. She never returned.”
Chills run down my spine.
“Blackard doesn’t like to lose. If he couldn’t have her, no one could. Her betrayal was unforgivable. He killed her.”
Would he kill his own daughter? As soon as I ask myself the question, I know the answer. He sent his other daughter to kill her. He gave Shiloh as shot at forgiveness and ultimately she failed because I was still alive.
“She’s not safe,” I mutter to myself.
“No, she’s not.”
I storm out of the office and find Hans in the living room with James and Alonzo.
“Ready?” he asks me.
“We are going to Vegas,” I announce, although it looks like I’m the last to know.
“About damn time,” James bellows. “I was beginning to doubt your wits there, Gallo.”
“The plane ready?”
“Refueling now,” Hans answers.
“Get a hold of Sparks. Have him meet us in Miami.”
“Who the hell is Sparky? A dog?” James asks as he follows us to the plane.
“Sparks. He’s our man in explosives. Are you coming with us?” I ask. I figured he would be headed to New York to see his daughter already.
“Fuck yeah I am. I said I wasn’t done protecting her, and I’m not.”
I nod. I can respect that. James is a man of honor and code. Despite working for someone like Marcus, he has a heart in there. That’s something a lot of us lose in this lifestyle. I wasn’t sure I had one until recently.
The plane takes off in record time. My dad, Hans, Alonzo, James, and I are aboard, yelling plans over the roar the engines.
“We have eyes inside,” James shouts. “He’s in the house and keeping an eye on Shiloh.”
James walks us through the guard schedule and security. Marcus doesn’t live in a home. No, he lives in a damn fortress. No one gets in or out.
I wonder how Shiloh is dealing without the ocean waves to soothe her mind. When she looks outside, she must see nothing but dirt. Does she miss her room here? Does she miss me?
“What do we know?” I ask James. He knows more about the Blackards than anyone.
“The girls never leave. Each have their own room and own guard. Except Melody now lives with Conner.”
“Shiloh is still ali
ve, right?” I hold my breath. I don’t know if I can handle it if she’s not. Am I too late?
“She is fine … for now. Mrs. Blackard, their grandma, is very fond of Shiloh. I think that is probably the main reason she is alive still.”
“What else?”
“Mr. Blackard is very, very, very angry.”
We land in Miami and quickly meet up with Sparks and the others. My dad already took the liberty to gather some of our best men. We board another plane to Reno, Nevada. It’s risky landing in their territory, but we have the shield of nightfall.
In the darkness we land in a small, private airport. We drive through the mountains and desert, finding the fortress on top of the hill. The house is lit up, leaving little shadows to hide us.
I look through a set of binoculars from the Hummer while Sparks’s team lines the wall.
“She still loves you,” James whispers from the backseat.
“What makes you say that?”
“Look the top right window over the garage.”
I move my view around to find the small dark window. There, in the dark, is Shiloh. She can’t see us, but she is looking out.
“The attic window is the only one without an alarm sensor.”
She is still dreaming about her escape. She will have her escape. Shiloh isn’t going to save me this time. No. I am going to save her. I won’t let her sacrifice herself anymore. If she doesn’t want me, then I’ll let her go, but I won’t let her become a prisoner or a pawn in a war that isn’t ours.
We are rewriting the story and it isn’t over yet.
“Ready,” the crackled word echoes over the radio.
“Light up the sky,” I say in the radio.
I watch the wall around the estate dissolve into puffs of smoke and fire. I feel the vibration from a mile away. A ring of fire surrounds the place and our men cross the border, looking like black ants going for a piece of sugar.
Our convoy moves in. Shiloh is no longer in the window but that’s okay. I will find her. I am Pierce Gallo, and I’m a man of my word. I promised to protect her and I promised freedom. She will have it.
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