CHAPTER 13 #2
“It wasn’t before. There was too much unrest between the families.
Had I pulled out back then, there would have been a power vacuum that would have ultimately destroyed everything and likely led to our deaths.
But I have been playing a very long game, and I have made deals that have led me to this point.
Kean is finally ready to agree to the terms needed to maintain peace for the acquisition of the docks.
I just need to settle this matter quietly, and take out Mikhail Kozlov in order to ensure the Russians aren’t going to come back on us, then I can sign everything over and concentrate on our legitimate interests. ”
“And that’s what you want?” I asked, though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
Rafe had been raised to be a stone cold, brutal leader of his family empire, and he was good at it.
But it wasn’t who he really was underneath.
He was nothing like the stories I had heard of Marcello – his father.
Rafe was a good man with a big heart and a business mind that had already built him a multimillion pound leisure business.
But still, to hand over the docks was to lose a lot of income, I was sure.
“Absolutely. I never wanted to be mixed up in the criminal underworld. It was my legacy though, and I ended up with no choice but to take my father’s place.
But it has taken so much from me and from this family.
Losing Gia, and what happened to Cara…that was just the final straw.
I was already close to the deal anyway, but after that, I’ve been racing to push it through. I want out. I want my family safe.
“Our legitimate concerns earn more money than I will ever need in my life time – more than all of us will ever need. Pulling out of the docks and everything associated with that world can only bring us all more safety. We need that. I need it, and most of all, Cara needs it.”
“So you’re all going legitimate?” I asked with a smirk, looking pointedly between Arran and Dario. I worried what they would do without the violence, which they seemed to crave, in their lives.
“I’ll be expanding the business. Dario will be our CFO.
Arran is going to become our head of security, dealing with staff in our offices, our resorts, and the personal protection staff we’ll maintain for the protection of this family.
If Dante ever decides to return with a suitable explanation for being completely AWOL, he will work alongside your brother. ” Rafe explained.
“Wow,” I breathed on a deep exhale. “Okay then.”
It would be a huge change, but one I welcomed.
Not only would it mean Cara would be safer, but all of my family would.
I’d no longer have to worry my brother was dead in a ditch somewhere every time he didn’t answer my phone calls the first time I rang.
I wouldn’t have to worry about losing Rafe, Dario, and Dante – the only family Arran and I had ever truly known.
“It’s good, lad. I’m gettin’ too old fer all the action anyway. Ye willnae have to worry when I head out to work anymore. I’ll just be a regular nine to five guy. I’ll have to get a hobby,” Arran joked as he clapped a hand firmly on my shoulder.
“I’ll order you some knitting needles right away,” I ribbed him.
“Cheeky wee shite.” I ducked to avoid the cuff around the back of the head I knew would follow those words.
CARA
Cal was gone when I woke up in his bed. I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I had woken naturally and didn’t remember any nightmares, so it had been a good sleep, even if it had been short.
I stood, relieved to find I was a lot less shaky than I had been that morning.
Cal had brought me porridge with fruit and honey for breakfast, and basically stared me down until I had eaten at least half.
After that he’d suggested I keep him company while he caught up on his studies, and I must have passed out on his bed.
It was obviously what I needed though, because I felt better than I had for a while.
I remade Cal’s bed, straightening the duvet and positioning his pillows the way he liked them, then grabbed his hoodie from the back of his office chair and pulled it over the t-shirt I was wearing with skinny jeans.
As always, I felt chilled, but I also just loved having Cal’s smell close to me, the sweater tinged with his after shave and body wash.
I was pretty sure Cal had to have bought new sweaters by this point, because my own closet was at least half filled with the ones belonging to him that I had claimed, and there were also several sweatshirts of Arran’s and Dante’s.
and a couple of Dio’s button down shirts in there too.
I was like some insane hoarder stealing their clothes, but I just felt closer to them and less alone when I wore them.
I’d give them back if I were discovered, but I was pretty sure the guys were all happy humouring me for the time being.
The house was silent as I left Cal’s bedroom and started down the stairs.
The office door was closed as I bypassed it, so I assumed the voices coming from within signalled a meeting I hadn’t been invited to, not that it bothered me.
I wasn’t ready to hear the details of whatever catastrophe was creeping up on us all next.
It was taking everything I had to hold my own messed up head together without the aid of those magical little pills I’d been relying on.
With no real purpose in mind, I headed into the second living room which was on the second floor, adjacent to the office.
It was like the ‘posh’ version of a living room, with no TV or games systems cluttering it up.
Instead the room was filled with floor to ceiling shelves of books, a luxurious sofa, and several comfortable looking high backed armchairs.
The central point was the historic looking fireplace against one wall.
It looked like a real log fire in an old style grate with a vast mantle, marble surround and cast iron, intricately carved fender.
I looked for matches to light it, but then realised it wasn’t an actual log fire.
There was a switch on the side, and when I flicked it, real flames immediately came to life amongst the artificial logs, heat blazing from it instantly.
It looked so realistic and cozy, that I just stood watching it for a while, realising I had found my new favourite spot in the house for sure.
Curling up on the thick pile rug that lay before the fire was all I wanted to do now, so I grabbed a blanket and cushion from the sofa then started to peruse the bookshelves for something to read. Sleep wasn’t a good idea, but maybe I could get lost in a good book.
I picked up a crime novel that looked interesting, but before I settled on it, I noticed leather bound albums on the bottom shelf below me.
I dropped down to pull one out and smiled when the first photo I saw was Rafe, Gia, and I all sat on a blanket in the gardens of our family estate when we were younger.
Rafe was sat between us, an arm protectively around both of us, and we were all pulling ridiculous faces.
Gia was still a toddler, and Rafe still looked like a kid himself.
I abandoned the novel and picked up the album, eager to see more pictures of us all together, in good times. I needed happy images of my sister in my head, to push out the only thing I saw since that night, her laid on that cold floor, bleeding out and hating me.
I settled on the rug before the fire, the blanket wrapped around my shoulders and the photo album laid out before me as I lay on my front, my head resting against one hand while the other flipped through the pages.
Rafe must have created the albums, or maybe Terza. They certainly took the pictures, maybe Dio too. Not our parents. They never took the time to look at us, let alone felt the need to capture happy memories to look back on.
But they were happy memories. Images of Gia and I playing, building forts, racing in the gardens, even playing in a huge paddling pool I didn’t have any memory of us having.
Rafe and Dio were in a lot of them, the both of them just teenagers themselves.
Gia and I looked so happy and care free in the images, laughing and smiling, having fun like kids should, as much as we possibly could, considering the home we lived in and the life that surrounded us.
Rafe and Dio were smiling too, but their smiles weren’t free and innocent like mine and Gia’s.
Even as teens I could see the life they had been dragged into was weighing them down.
I could see the shadows in their eyes, the haunted looks behind those smiles, the strain of seeing and doing things kids their ages should never have been forced into, or been immersed in.
Tears filled my eyes as I flicked through the pictures of Gia.
She was around two or three years old in most of them, and she was exactly as I remembered her in all those years I was parted from her.
Smiling most of the time, but incredibly sullen and grumpy in others.
She used to laugh with her whole body when she was little, her mouth wide open and her head thrown back, and that had been captured in a few of the pictures.
And in so many of them we were hugging each other or hand in hand.
We loved each other then, so very much. And now Gia was gone and so was my chance to prove to her that I had always felt just the same, and always would.
I sat up, looking away from the images as I swiped at my cheeks, not wanting to ruin the photographs by crying all over them. They were all Rafe and I had left now.