Page 16 of My Solemn Vow (The Mafia Arrangement #1)
VALOR
THE PHONE CALL
The wheels of the jet touch down in the middle of nowhere, Brazil, and I’m ready to get off the plane. It’s been four days and six cities of stalking this asshole who claims he can sell off information about our organization for the right price.
We’re inching closer, and now we know for certain they’re trying to sell information on our gun-running operation directly to the D’Medicis, with the intent to strengthen the Bratva and Russian arms dealers.
It will ruin my carefully laid plans. Revenge is on the line. It feels like every year, I get closer and closer to figuring out why Holly had to die.
But the problem is, I can’t focus on it.
It’s midafternoon, and my burner satellite phone hasn’t pinged through with the updates I’m expecting.
I double-check the time.
Sean hasn’t messaged me that my little raptor has been returned to the nest. Okay, if there was traffic... No, they should have been home at least thirty minutes ago, even if traffic was an extra half hour.
Fuck the mission, fuck this asshole, I need to make sure Kerrianne is home safe. I’m headed back to the plane when the burner phone rings in my hand.
The ringing, followed by my mother’s name on the screen, puts my hair on end. My whole body locks into place, but I force myself to bring the phone to my ear. The worst-case scenarios run through my head. “What’s wrong?”
“Calm down.” Mom is calm, her voice steady.
“What’s wrong?” I repeat, feeling no less tense.
“So much like your father,” Mom muses, but with a deep breath, she levels with me as only my mother can. “I wanted you to hear it from me that there was an incident at Kerrianne’s school today.”
My blood runs cold, and I clench my fist. Don’t crush your only communication device . “What happened?”
“We’re not entirely sure. Not yet. Ambushed by the looks of it. Kerrianne is fine. Sean is dead.”
Sean is dead. He was trained by the best of the best. How the hell did this happen?
Mom’s reassurance soothes the worry but sparks my anger.
She’s not giving me details, and I don’t know if it’s because she really doesn’t have them yet or she’s keeping them from me.
Dad tells her everything, but I get left in the dark when I’m out of range to help.
Frustrating. I hate not being there when my girl needs me.
“I didn’t want you to panic and do something ridiculous like fly back home.
We’re keeping Kerrianne home for the rest of the week as a precaution.
So, there won’t be any more updates on the school trips.
She’s a little flustered, and she complained that Captain must be lonely and that Jack doesn’t feed him enough.
So now the three of us are at your house.
Royal came with. There’s no harm in being at your place, but I wanted you to know.
You can check in on the security cameras at any time. ”
“I’m coming home.” I bang on the door for the pilot.
“Valor. Go about your work. Kerrianne is currently learning to count cards with Royal,” Mom tells me, knowing that mentioning my brother will calm me some. “Go get your job done and come home.”
The pilot opens the door and looks at me with a raised brow.
“Yes, Ma,” I answer, gritting my teeth while thinking about whatever happened at my daughter’s school.
It was bad enough that her bodyguard is dead but not bad enough that I need to come home. It’s a massive gray area.
Kerrianne is my world, and I’m on the cusp of throwing off the whole mission to run home and be with her. To protect her.
Kerrianne’s safety overrides any logic, but because there isn’t any arguing with my mother, I shake my head at the pilot and deplane again.
Dad may be head of the crime family and the pack, but Mom is head of our house. While we may not live under her roof, my mother’s reach extends to me and Kerrianne anyway. I trust her judgment, and since she does the caring for my little velociraptor while I’m away, I let her make this call.
Royal isn’t the best in close-quarter combat if the house were invaded, but no one, absolutely no one, can outshoot him.
“I agree, keep her home.” Anger fuels me. I was exhausted and sick of being on the road before, but now it’s a rage-fueled rush to the finish line. “I’ve got to get going. The car’s waiting.”
“Go with God,” Mom says and hangs up before I can even tell her I love her too.
Getting the last word in and refusing to say goodbye is how she deals with us doing such dangerous work. Her faith that God wouldn’t let us die if she didn’t get to say goodbye hasn’t done her wrong yet.
I trust that whoever tried to get to Kerrianne will pay with their life. My father won’t make it a swift death.