Page 5 of Cassio

I stood up, ready to leave, watching in the mirror as her mother crouched next to the girl with tears streaming down her face.

“I got you, baby,” she murmured softly to her daughter, wrapping her arms around her daughter.

Her mother didn’t see her daughter wince upon receiving the hug. I wouldn’t have caught it either if I wasn’t watching their reflection in the mirror. Despite the pain, she leaned against her mother. Maybe it was good that her mother came. This kid would need her now more than ever.

Upon entering the main cabin, I saw Luca gulp a glass of whiskey down and then pour himself another one. Seeing me, he poured another glass and handed it to me. I needed it; we both did.

“Fuck,” he muttered as he gulped another glass down.

Callahan sat stiffly, his eyes focused out the window. I bet he was going down the list of items he’d make the prime minister do for him.

I pushed the intercom. “Get us out of here,” I told the pilot.

“Roger that,” he retorted and the engines roared to life.

“You good, brother?” I asked him. We’d both done and seen plenty of fucked up shit, but certain things were harder to see than others. Seeing this girl today was definitely one of the harder things. I knew the same was true for my brother.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “I will be. But will she?”

Loud sobs broke out in the other room, and I wasn’t sure if that was the answer. I heard Callahan’s teeth grind and his jaw clenched, ready to snap.

There is a story there, I was sure of it.Who is this girl to him?

“It’s okay, my baby,” we both heard the mother soothing her daughter. “You are safe now.”

The wretched, soft sobs that followed were a hard punch in the gut. My heart twisted for her and the pain she undoubtedly felt. Her cries echoed through the plane, and I could see it was hitting Luca and Callahan in the worst ways.

“Callahan, did the prime minister give you this job?” I questioned him. His jaw might snap at any moment.

“No, the girl’s mother did,” he answered after a heartbeat of silence. I was surprised to hear that answer. So where was his leverage?

“Does the prime minister know that she reached out to the head of the Irish mafia in the U.S. to retrieve her daughter? It is career suicide.” We all knew it was. If this got out, regardless of the reason for it, his opponents would bring him down.

Callahan shook his head in response.

“Why do it then?” I questioned him. “Save the girl, get indebted to me, and get nothing out of it?”

“Her mother and I grew up together,” he replied, his voice tired. “She should have been my wife, and that girl should have been my daughter. That is reason enough for me.”

Another heart wrenching sob tore through the plane and Callahan winced. The tough fucker actually winced. People feared him, cowered in front of him, ran from him, and he looked like he was being torn in half now. I couldn’t blame him though. Hearing those sobs cut deep into my heart too. And I had barely any heart.

“I-I didn’t say anything, Mum,” the girl stuttered through her sobs, her voice shaking with fear.

“Don’t worry about that.” Her mother’s voice was shaking too.

“Mummy, I-”

Her sobs got harder and my hands curled into a fist. I wanted to punch something. The pain I heard in her voice was gutting me from the inside. Luca refilled all our drinks without another word.

“Listen to me, my love,” her mother’s voice was like a leaf in the wind. “Whatever happened, you shove it away.”

I heard gagging and some shuffling, the sound of glass crashing. Instantly, all three of us ran to the back of the plane, into the bathroom suite that was part of the bedroom.

I got to the suite right first, on time to see the kid getting sick into the toilet, her body convulsing and shaking. Her mother was a mess while her daughter’s body retched, trying to dump the contents of her stomach but probably not having much in it.

“Baby,” her mother was rubbing her back, her voice a whimper. The woman was trying hard to remain strong for her daughter and failing miserably. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” The whispered, broken reply was barely audible, her ember-flamed hair covering her face as her forehead lay on her forearm leaning against the toilet seat. “I didn’t say anything.” Her small body shook, and she repeated. “I didn’t say a word.”