22. Caleb
22
CALEB
“Why didn’t you tell me about Sienna?” Kyle barges into the Rinse’s boardroom and leans over the table, his chest heaving as he tries to fill his lungs, his face pink and blotchy.
“Kyle, breathe.” I stand up, pushing my seat backwards, but he raises a hand, palm outwards, warning me not to come any closer. “Where’s your inhaler?”
He fumbles inside his jacket pocket, and his hand comes back empty. His breaths are shallow, his chest caving as he tries to get enough oxygen to keep him upright.
I’m by his side before he can protest. I check his other pockets but draw a blank. It’s been years since he has had a full-on asthma attack, so maybe he’s given up carrying an inhaler around with him.
“Cash, pull some strings and get an inhaler here.”
The twins both leave the room.
Terry helps me get Kyle onto one of the sofas, plumps up the cushions behind him to keep him upright, and loosens his tie while I fill a tumbler with iced water. I hold it to Kyle’s face and tell him to breathe. I don’t know why, but it used to help Kyle when he was younger, just breathing in the air surrounding a glass of water. Or maybe it was just an illusion, something that I convinced myself was a mystery cure when I was just a kid trying to keep him safe from our father.
“I’m fine.” Kyle tries to stand up and then slumps back in the seat. “Don’t fuss.”
I sit down and nod at Terry to give us a few minutes alone.
I can hear Kyle’s breath wheezing through his restricted airways, but at least he’s calmer than when he first came in.
“I wanted to find Sienna before I said anything. I needed to be sure that it was the same person who was in the car with you that night. I didn’t want to get your hopes up only to crush them again.”
“You still … should’ve told me… I can help … you find her.”
I breathe in through my nose, hold it, and breathe out through my mouth. Watching Kyle struggling to fill his lungs always has this effect on me, like my own lungs start shutting down in sympathy.
“I saw how you were after the accident. I tried to find her.” He listens, his eyebrows lower making his eyes appear even more sunken with his labored breathing. “I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to admit that I’d failed. I failed you that night. I should’ve been there for you.”
“This … doesn’t change … anything. When was you … going … to tell me? After you let … Victoria go?”
I rub my hands across my stubble. It’s been a long twenty-four hours. Victoria was asleep when I went back to the apartment to shower, and as tempting as it was, I didn’t want to wake her. It isn’t until Kyle talks about letting her go that I realize that I didn’t get to finish what I was about to tell her on the Byway.
“Letting her go is no longer an option.”
The corners of Kyle’s mouth twitch into a smile. “I thought … it would take you … longer than this … to realize.”
“I’m learning.” I sit forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “Now do you understand why I was against you and Olivia?”
“Because of … Sienna?”
“Kyle, there must’ve been something in the air that night five years ago because you fell for Sienna almost as hard and as fast as I fell for Sandy.”
“And now…?”
“And now there’s Victoria. She reminds me so much of Sandy it’s uncanny.”
“You should try … keeping it in your pants.”
I smile. At least we’re good again. “It’s more than that. She’s … I don’t know.” I’m not used to expressing my emotions, so I’m struggling to find the right words. “She’s everything I ever imagined my future wife to be, I guess.”
Kyle nods. “You look good … together. I’ve never seen … a woman … eat so much toast before.”
I can’t help laughing. “You had breakfast with my wife?”
“Someone had to … keep her company.”
“How do you feel about Sienna now? I mean now that you know she survived the wreck?” I watch him closely. Even now, it’s still my job to look out for him. Perhaps it always will be.
“Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe you’re right … maybe there was something … in the air that night … because I could hardly … take my eyes off her. But now…” He coughs into his hands, his eyes filling up. “Have my memories … made her into something special … because of what happened?” He shakes his head. “What if… What if she doesn’t … live up to the images in my head?”
“Then it’ll be time to let it go. Just think yourself lucky that you get a second chance.”
“We have to find her first.”
The door opens again, and Cash and Bash come in, closely followed by Terry and our mom. She comes straight in, sits beside Kyle, and hands him an inhaler. His breathing eases a little almost immediately.
“Thanks, Mom.” Kyle looks sheepish, like a little kid again, and my chest swells with love for him.
“I’m not going to remind you to carry an inhaler around with you.” Mom sits demurely beside him, legs crossed at the ankles. “You’re old enough to make your own mistakes.”
“It hasn’t happened in a while.” It isn’t an excuse; Kyle is just stating a fact.
Mom inclines her head. “Now, about Sienna…”
Kyle snaps his head towards her; she has his full attention now that his lungs have some respite. “What about her? What have you heard?” His eyes hop between Mom and Terry, his breathing growing shallow again.
I place a hand on his arm. “Relax. Breathe. We’re still looking for her. Right?” I address Terry.
“Let your mom speak.” He doesn’t make eye contact, and my gut starts twisting.
“This revelation doesn’t change anything.” Mom glances at me and back at Kyle. “I’ve spoken to Victoria, and we’ve agreed to go ahead with the wedding reception at the Titan as planned. Of course, Dragonetti’s health problems will make life a little more difficult, but we’ll find a way around it. He needs to know what his daughter is, and we need to be the ones to show him.”
Kyle shakes his head slowly. He uses the inhaler a second time, and we all wait for it to take effect. “I can’t do it. Not now. Not with Sienna in the picture.”
His eyes lock onto mine, and it’s as if he’s transferring his anxiety to me. I feel his heart racing, the shallow breaths, the gut-crippling spasms when he thinks about what might have happened to Sienna.
“But you’ve already taken the first steps.” Mom shrugs. “That’s the hardest part out of the way.”
“Leave it, Mom.” I step in. Little brother Caleb to the rescue . “Olivia will receive an invitation. She’ll be at the party with or without Kyle’s participation.”
“But we won’t have her exactly where we want her. We won’t have convinced her that she still has a chance of winning you back, and without that, she’ll just be firing bullets in all directions, hoping to hit a target.”
Nice metaphor. But she seems to have forgotten her eldest son’s fragile mental state.
“Okay, so we’ll find another way to convince her. I’ll stage a public argument with Victoria.” My fists clench at the thought of dragging Victoria even deeper into this, but having seen her at the last family meeting, I know that she’ll understand. “Olivia is so deranged that she’ll believe it because that’s what she wants to believe.”
“This won’t work.” Mom’s voice is firm. “It will jeopardize the alliance with Don Dragonetti. Whatever anyone thinks of him, he believes in strong family units, and your wife has already introduced herself to him privately. He won’t look favorably on a public tiff.”
I recall Victoria suggesting that she should speak to Olivia, and the way I shut her down without listening to her reasoning. But I already know that I won’t put her in that position. I don’t think anyone fully understands what Olivia is capable of.
“It’s fine.” Kyle sucks on the inhaler and holds his breath. “I’ll do it.”
“No!” I’m on my feet. “Fuck the alliance. We’ve come this far without it. It isn’t going to hold us back now.”
Terry’s eyes narrow, and he shoots me a look that says I’ve crossed a line.
“Sorry, Mom, but if Kyle doesn’t want to see this through, I think we should respect his wishes. Think about it. There’s a reason why Victoria came into our lives and brought Sienna with her. I’m not going to destroy Kyle’s chance to put things right because of an alliance that may or may not happen anyway if Don Dragonetti doesn’t recover from his heart attack.”
Mom arches an eyebrow. “Family comes first, Caleb. You know that. I’m surprised that you would risk this family’s future for a woman your brother met once in a nightclub.”
I’ve always known that my mom can be cold, determined, ruthless even. But I never truly believed that she would put family before love. She got lucky when she met Terry—without him, we wouldn’t be where we are today—and I always thought that she wanted the same for her children. Right now, listening to her talking about alliances and doing what’s right for the family, I know that I would walk away from it all if it meant that Victoria would be safe and happy.
“What if I said that I would risk it for Victoria? I’ll cancel the reception and deal with Olivia myself.”
Mom stands, her lips stretching into a wide smile. “I would say that I believe you. Honestly, I thought it would take you longer to work out your feelings for Victoria, but I’m glad that you have.” She winks at Terry, who smiles in return.
“But this is precisely why we should proceed as planned,” Terry adds.
“It’s fine.” Kyle’s breathing is finally starting to regulate, and some color is returning to his cheeks. “I’ll do it. On one condition.”
We all wait for him to elaborate.
“You keep me updated every step of the way regarding Sienna. I want to know where she is. Who’s holding her. How we’re going to rescue her.”
“Done.” Terry nods. “There’s an old abandoned cargo airport outside of Lake Placid. My sources intercepted comms between Ivan Petrov and a private aircraft flying into the country from Russia.”
“You think he’s holding Sienna there?”
His alliance—if that’s what it can be called—with Olivia, must’ve been going on in secret for way longer than any of the other families realized. I’m impressed. I never knew that Olivia Dragonetti was capable of guarding a secret, but this potentially makes her even more deadly.
“If she was in the city, I’d have heard about it,” Terry says.
“Okay, what are we waiting for?”
“A distraction.”
“The wedding reception.” That sinking feeling is back.
It all slots into place. Mom knew the party had to go ahead, but she wanted her sons to commit to it before we found out why. She wasn’t putting family before love; she was guiding us in the right direction. She knows us better than we know ourselves, and she wanted to be sure that we accepted our emotions before this went any further.
“Can’t we bring it forward?” Kyle asks. “I can’t wait until next week. What if… What if they’re torturing Sienna?”
“Unlikely,” Terry says. “Ivan was sent away for dishing out justice for his girlfriend. Okay, so perhaps his methods could’ve been a little less violent, but he did it for all the right reasons. He doesn’t kill for pleasure.”
“A nutjob with a heart,” I say.
“Unlike his current partner in crime.” Terry stands, bringing the meeting to a natural conclusion. “Ivan might want Olivia on his side, for now, but I don’t believe that he sees it as long-term, and he will draw the line at senseless violence to satisfy Olivia Dragonetti’s itch.”
“He hasn’t ruled out an alliance with the Murrays,” I add. “Killing Sienna will send that up in flames before it has even left the ground.”
“I hope you’re right.” Kyle stands, pocketing the inhaler.
The urge to see Victoria and hold her in my arms, to finish what I started the evening before, is too great to ignore. “Is Victoria still at your house, Mom?”
“No. After I convinced her that going ahead with the party was the right thing to do, she went back to the Wraith.” She stands up and entwines her fingers with Terry’s.
She looks older. Still immaculately groomed, but it’s almost as if her body is finally telling her that it’s time to let go of all this, to find some peace, allow the next generation to take over. Has she been waiting for her sons to fall in love and find their own family unit before she and Terry hand over the business? She’ll have a long wait for the twins to settle down, but perhaps she sensed all along that Victoria and I were more than just a mutual agreement.
I smile at them both. Couple goals right there. “I’m heading home to catch up on some sleep.”
“Yeah, right.” Cash’s eyebrows dance independently. “Someone should warn Victoria to get out the baby oil.”