Chapter 6 #2
Dante parked the car in the hospital lot, and they got out meeting with the rest of the family on the way inside.
Kara flinched as an ambulance drove into the emergency area, it’s sirens were off but the lights were flashing. She remembered holding Angelo’s hand while he’d been fighting for his life. He’d almost died for her, and now he was stuck with her, at least for a while.
“Hey,” Dante seemed to sense her spiraling and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay, Kara.”
She saw that concern in his eyes again, and she managed to smile back. “Thanks,” she said, and she meant it.
They checked in at the front desk, and were allowed to visit straight away because Angelo was doing better. Kara kept herself at the back while the Vertucci clan bustled into the room.
“You look much better,” Matteo said as he carefully hugged his son. Francesca fussed over him, then ushered Millie and Nicholas forward. Angelo smiled as he hugged the kids and kissed the top of Millie’s head. Millie reached up to Angelo’s bandaged hand.
Kara frowned. Odd. Why had they removed his IV and put it on the other hand?
“Are you really hurt?” Millie asked.
“Yes, but I’ll be okay soon.” Angelo stroked a hand over Millie’s hair, and she laid her head against his chest.
“Is it true you have staples in your stomach?” Nicholas asked with wide eyes.
“Yeah,” Angelo said. “But I shouldn’t show them to you right now because they’re under a protective bandage. Maybe later.” Angelo’s gaze shifted away from the children, searching for someone else, then landed on Kara.
Suddenly she felt herself being pulled forward. “Kara! Quit hiding back there,” Francesca said.
“Yes, quit hiding from me, tesoro mio,” Angelo said with a soft smile, holding out a hand to Kara.
That simple act of reaching for him, touching him, and feeling his hand wrap around hers scared her almost as much as the thought of her father’s men finding her.
“So, how was Christmas?” Angelo asked everyone as he slowly tugged Kara closer. She let him pull her right up to his side, and he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.
“Good, but it would have been better if you had been there,” Dante said. “Any news on when you can come home?”
“Maybe tomorrow? They’re still checking my liver and my white blood cell count, or something like that. So far so good, but I still have to get through another day.” He paused for a moment then said hesitantly, “Would you all mind if I talked to Kara alone for a few minutes?”
Francesca ushered everyone out of the room, leaving the two alone.
“We have to talk,” he said softly, still stroking her hand.
“Okay.” She felt like she was standing at the edge of a terrifying black abyss.
What was he going to say? And why did it seem to matter so much?
What if he wanted to break things off? What if he didn’t want her to pretend to be his fiancée anymore, and she’d have to go home and pack up her stuff and return to that awful little apartment?
The endless parade of what ifs terrified her.
“Kara, earlier today someone dressed as a police officer came into my room. They asked questions about you. Then he attacked me.”
Of all the things she had expected Angelo to say, it hadn’t been that. It took her a moment to process.
“Why? Are you hurt? Why would he…?” She searched his face and body but didn’t see any signs other than his bandaged hand.
“I’m all right, but the point is someone came here looking for Kara O’Brien.”
O’Brien... Oh God, no. That name had been the black spot of her life, a spot that had bled out further and further at the edges until it had covered her entire existence.
“I…” Her throat had gone dry and she swallowed thickly.
“Here, have some water.” He offered her an unused cup and she poured herself a glass from the pitcher on the table. She drank greedily, as if the act would somehow wash away the name.
“I... I have to go.” She set the glass down and turned to leave, but Angelo’s grip tightened.
“Kara, please don’t go. I want to help you.”
Kara sagged. Those words were something she’d wanted to hear for so long from someone, and yet… “You can’t. Please, I have to leave.”
“And then what?” Angelo asked, then sighed. “Look, if you want to pay me back for what’s happened, then just tell me the truth. Maybe I can’t help you, but maybe I can. You need to be honest with me. No lies. It’s just you and me in this room, okay?”
She glanced at the closed hospital room door and nodded. He was right. If nothing else, she did owe him the truth. At least then he’d understand why she had to leave.
“My last name isn’t O’Brien.” She waited for him to interrupt her, but he didn’t. Instead, he took the hand he was holding, which was now trembling, and covered it with both of his. Her heart lurched, feeling strangely safe at that moment, even though she knew she wasn’t.
“O’Brien was my father’s name. Sean O’Brien. He died less than a year ago.”
“And Gallagher?” he asked. “Was that your mother’s maiden name?”
“No, it’s her great-great-grandmother’s.
My mother was Irish, so was my father. She met my father at a bar when she was twenty-three.
When she found out she was pregnant with me and realized what kind of man my father was, she fled Ireland.
She changed her name and gave birth to me here in the states.
She died five years ago, but I’m still hiding. ”
“Hide from your father?” Angelo’s warm brown eyes held her face, unafraid of what she was telling him. She envied that bravery, but that would change once he heard everything. Yet part of her hoped it wouldn’t.
She had been scared for so long that she didn’t remember what it felt like to be anything but afraid.
Sometimes she was convinced her fear was the only proof that she was still alive, because she couldn’t feel anything else except when Angelo touched her.
He made her feel so much. It scared the hell out of her, but she couldn’t convince herself to leave.
“So why are you hiding from your father?” he gently prodded. “Did he abuse your mother?”
Kara almost wanted to laugh, because the idea that something so horrible would actually be an improvement on her situation was so absurd it was funny. “My father was a bad man. My mom didn’t realize it until later. He’s…”
She stopped. Sweet as Angelo was, brave as he was, and as much as she wanted to believe he truly wanted to help her, this was the point where he’d realize he was in over his head.
She couldn’t blame him, of course, but part of her desperately wished that it wouldn’t matter.
And another part was afraid it wouldn’t.
“You can tell me, Kara,” said Angelo.
“My father ran one of the most dangerous mobs in Ireland and New York. Have you heard of the Westies?”
Angelo shook his head.
“They deal in racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing. My father had immense power, and he wanted my mother back. And me.”
“But you said he died?”
Kara nodded. “I had hoped they would leave me alone after that, but mom… she said they would never stop looking for me. That they would never stop coming after me. I’d been trying to convince myself for months that she was overreacting, but it seems she was right.
I’ve never met my father, and yet even dead and buried, I’m not safe from his legacy. ”
“But why? Why would his men want with you?”
“I honestly don’t know. My mother said that he wanted a child to take over his empire but he couldn’t have any kids because of an injury.
What if his men feel the same and want Sean O’Brien’s child involved in his business?
Mom always thought he’d want me to marry his second in command, whoever that might be when I got old enough.
That’s probably the man after me now that my father is gone. ”
“So you’ve been on the run your whole life?”
She nodded, tears suddenly escaping her eyes.
“Are... are you in the witness protection program?” he asked, uncertain.
“No. My mother said we couldn’t trust the police or the FBI.
My father had contacts everywhere. It’s impossible to know who to trust. I don’t have a cellphone, I use a fake name, have a low-profile job and live in apartment paid for with cash.
I have to be able to leave at a moment’s notice and leave with no trace. That’s my life.”
“Dante said you basically had nothing but a bed.”
“Yeah.” The word came out as a soft exhale. She was so close to breaking down, but she couldn’t, not yet.
She met his gaze. “That’s why I can’t stay, Angelo. The people looking for me? They’re too dangerous. I can’t put you in danger like that, or your family. I have to disappear.”
Angelo raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles softly, never breaking eye contact.
“You may not want the world to see you, Kara. But I do. I don’t want you to disappear. Let me help you. Let me keep you safe.”
“You can’t,” said Kara.
“You might be surprised,” said Angelo. “I might seem like a humble restaurateur, but I’m not without resources.”
“And just how long do you intend to keep me safe?” As much as she wanted to trust him, it was hard to keep the disbelief out of her voice.
He was silent a moment before he replied. “As long as it takes. Until I’m certain you’ll never be in danger again.”
“What about your family?”
“They’ll be safe. Dante will watch over you and them until I can leave the hospital.”
“Dante knows?” That would explain his behavior earlier.
“Only that a cop attacked me and that the man was asking about you. I won’t tell him anything else unless you want me to.”
“I… I think you can tell him. But just him. I don’t want anyone else in your family to know.”
“Okay. What about Jared?”
She nodded. Weirdly enough, she trusted Jared.
“Then this is what we’ll do: you’ll continue to stay at my home, play the part of my fiancée until we find out a way to stop these men from coming after you. Jared and I have a friend who can send a private security team to help watch over you.”
“You make it sound easy.”