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)
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.” Leif says. “There’s a bunch of shit you’ve never told me either.”
“I made a promise a long time ago,” Falcon says. “But I’m wondering… I’m wondering if I inadvertently got involved with your family, Savannah.”
“Drugs?” I ask.
“Yeah, drugs.” He looks over both shoulders and lowers his voice. “I’m trusting you people with this knowledge. Nothing leaves the room. Leif, I assume you checked for surveillance.”
“Checked, double-checked, and triple-checked. You’re good, man.”
Falcon looks at Vinnie then. “Did you ever know a man named Diego Vega?”
Vinnie’s eyes widen. “He’s a bad guy.”
“Don’t I know it,” Falcon agrees.
“All right,” I say. “The two of you are going to have to tell us what the hell you’re talking about.”
13
FALCON
Diego Vega disappeared eight years ago.
No body was ever recovered, and the two men who were with him were apprehended at the border and never heard from again.
I’m about to break a promise I made to my brothers by telling a guy I just met. I trust Leif and Savannah with my life, but Vinnie? I don’t know him from Adam.
“Did Diego Vega work for your family?” I ask.
“He did at the time I left,” Vinnie says.
“If you talk to your father,” I say, “you’ll probably find out that Diego Vega disappeared about eight years ago. Into thin air. Along with a truckload full of merchandise.”
Savannah’s eyes go wide. “Falcon?”
“There’s a lot more to my story than a young rookie cop getting accidentally killed,” I tell her.
“Oh my God,” she says.
The look on Savannah’s face crushes my soul into fragments. Her mouth is agape, and she’s looking at me quizzically. She wants to know the full story.
But I can’t drag her into my history. Not when she’s struggling to free herself from her own.
“Before I go any farther,” I say, “I need to talk to my brothers.”
“Both of them?” Leif asks.
“At least Hawk,” I say. “I’m not sure I trust Eagle.”
“Good enough,” Leif says.
“In the meantime”—I turn to Vinnie—“is there any chance that your family may have decided to get into trafficking?”
“My father always swore he’d never do it,” Vinnie says. “But he’s not the head of the family. My grandfather is. Mario Bianchi, my mother’s father.”
Nausea claws at my throat. “My God, Savannah…”
“Are you saying,” Savannah says, “that Grandpa may have decided to join our two families? That it’s not a simple alliance anymore? They’re going into business together?”
Vinnie shakes his head. “I’m not saying anything, Sav. I don’t know. I’ve been gone. But there’s something I should tell you about Grandpa.”
“What about him?”
Vinnie closes his eyes and casts his gaze to the floor. He pauses for a good thirty seconds before speaking. “He’s not a nice man.”
Savannah’s eyes go wide as circles. “He was always wonderful to me. You and Mikey, too.”
“When we were little, yes. But he did something to me after I turned eighteen. Something that cemented my desire to leave. My guess is he did it to Mikey, too.”
“What are you talking about?”
He inhales deeply and sighs. “Since you don’t know what I’m talking about, that means he didn’t do it to you. And Savannah, I’m very glad to know that.”
Savannah lips are parted, her eyes confused.
She doesn’t have any idea what her brother is talking about.
But I do.
You don’t spend eight years behind bars and not understand what Vinnie is leading up to.
“Man, I’m sorry,” I say.
“Me too,” Leif says.
I do a double take at my friend. How would he know such a thing?
“Fuck, Leif…”
He shakes his head. “Not me, thank God. My buddy Buck. Not pretty. But he’s okay now. Happily married, working for the Wolfe family like I do.”
“Thank God…”
“And you, Falcon?”
“Nope. More than one tried, but never.”
“Could one of you please tell me what you’re talking about?” Savannah demands.
“Oh, Savannah. It’s not pretty,” I say.
“Far from it,” Vinnie agrees. “And it only happened once, Savannah. I was ashamed for a long time, but not anymore.” Vinnie draws in a breath. “There’s a lot to the story. About how I was tied up and couldn’t fight back, because believe me, I would have fought back. I would have taken the old man down.”
“Vinnie…” she says.
He draws in a breath. “Our grandfather raped me.”
Savannah gasps. Then she clasps her hand over her mouth. “No. Vinnie. My God…”
“Not with his dick, and it was only one time. It was a power play. For some convoluted reason, he thought it would make me stay with the family. Show me how much power he had. Thought it would make me want that power so I’d take my place as the true head of the family once he died.”
“Wouldn’t that be Daddy?” Savannah asks.
“No. Dad was always just a placeholder. He doesn’t have any Bianchi blood.”
“God, Vinnie…” Savannah’s eyes fill with tears.
“Sav, I’m okay. Believe me, I’ve hated myself for the last seventeen years knowing I wasn’t there to protect you and Mikey from the same fate.”