Page 8 of My Solemn Vow (The Mafia Arrangement #1)
VALOR
THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
“Dad!” Kerrianne giggles as she jumps up and down on my bed, pulling me out of the half-hazy sleep state I was trying to cling to. “We’ll be late. Get up, sleepyhead!”
Making a big show of it, I moan and groan, then stretch and immediately regret it when I feel the tug of the freshly healing skin on my side. I hide the pain with a big yawn that I talk through. “What time is it?”
“Time to get up!” Kerrianne repeats. She drops to her knees next to me, bouncing.
I push myself up onto my elbows before reaching over and tapping my phone screen.
It lights up and shows five thirty in the morning.
Kerrianne’s school starts at nine. Sure, we may live under an hour away from it, but it only takes her an hour to get ready and eat.
Bloody hell, child. You got being an early bird from your mother.
I flop back down and look at her. “No chance you’re gonna let me go back to bed for at least another hour, huh?”
She shakes her head. “Nope.”
“Alright.”
I push my blankets down and make like I’m getting out of bed, but then I dart up and wrap her in my arms. Holding her against my chest, I pull her with me back down to the bed.
She fights back, little arms pushing and knees curling up to press against me. One of her bony knees hits last night’s bullet wound on my side, and I let out an ‘oof’ before rolling to protect it from her.
“Daaad,” she groans. “If we’re late, I’m not gonna be a happy camper.”
“I thought you were going to school not camp.” I tease her, tickling her sides.
She giggles and shrieks. It’s loud and fills the room despite all the noise-dampening measures I’ve installed. I’d hoped if I got her to lie back down, she’d be tired enough to fall back asleep. But I was still at work at bedtime, and at my mother’s insistence, Kerrianne went to bed early.
Last night was a fucking mess. My hunt to determine how the Italians are getting information came back with a good quarry. That prey, before it died, led us to hit an Italian storehouse. We came out victorious, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t without problems.
The Italians had significantly more firepower than they’ve ever had before.
Russian firepower. It’s a new development, and one we’re not pleased with.
Beyond that, had I not been shot during the raid, I would have been home and could have dictated her bedtime myself.
Well, isn’t this the consequences of my own actions .
I let my little girl free, and she scrambles out of bed. Waiting by my door, she’s hoping for a chase. She’s fast and, for seven, keeps me on my game at all hours of the day.
I remember a time, nine years ago, when I could come home, flop down into bed, and sleep for twelve uninterrupted hours. But I wouldn’t go back to those days, not if it meant losing her.
“Alright, go downstairs, feed Captain, and you can have thirty minutes of tablet time. I’ll be down soon. ”
“Okaaay. But if I come back up and you’re sleeping.” She eyes me and must be practicing her stink eye with Grandma again because she almost looks intimidating for her forty pounds.
“I’m up. I’m up.” I nod, waving her away because I’m starting to feel wetness spread on my side.
Kerrianne closes the door behind her, and I wait a minute to make sure she doesn’t storm back in before rolling out of bed.
There’s a small red mark on my white sheets, and the tank I wore to bed has a larger red spot. I pull it off over my head and look at the sutures, finding one popped open.
The bullet would have killed a human. It was a clean shot, straight through and punctured a lung.
Our healing is faster, but that doesn’t make us invincible. From this morning’s light exertion, I’m out of breath, and when I try to inhale deeply, the pain is sharp. I cough, and blood comes up, but that’s not unusual for it only being four hours since it happened.
I need two large raw steaks, a painkiller, and the grace of God to heal my body and get through this morning.
Little mercies for being wolves. The fuel for our body is simple.
Raw proteins, mostly red meat for the blood loss, fish for omega-3s for inflammation, and lamb for help with muscle healing.
Of course, as a father, I firmly encourage eating other things besides proteins, which is a struggle, but for myself, I cut a few corners.
Gunshot butterflied closed, cleaned up, and dressed for the day, I carry my suit jacket downstairs to where Kerrianne is messing around on her tablet.
I try to keep her screen time to a minimum, but if it’s a little bit of extra screen time or explaining why Dad’s bleeding, well, I’ll take her up north to our property in the woods on an extra-long hike this weekend and pray I’m doing a good enough job.
I toss my suit coat over the back of a chair, and Kerrianne is quick to close out of her game and close the case without argument.
I don’t deserve such a well-behaved child.
“Let me guess. You want a big plate of soda bread French toast, two pounds of bacon, and a bowl of fruit for breakfast?”
“It’s tradition, Dad.” She gives me snark.
I raise an eyebrow at her. The sass can only go so far because, Lord help me, I’m not having that as a teenager.
“Yes, please.” She smiles, and it’s too cute to even scold her any further.
This is the part I hate. Kerrianne is fed and dressed, hair braided and backpack put together. I have to say goodbye. I hate goodbye. We always do it at the house because it’s safer. I can get all the hugs before she goes.
Kerrianne reassures me she’ll be fine.
I threaten Sean within an inch of his life to keep her safe, at all costs.
He nods, knowing how serious I am. It’s a risk bodyguards like him take when agreeing to work this closely with the pack alpha’s family.
The risk is magnified when the pack alpha is so predominantly involved in the darker parts of society and his granddaughter’s life.
Kerrianne spends the drive hypothesizing what school and her class will be like, based on the info packet from Mrs. Neidermeister detailing what second grade will bring.
I half listen while reminding myself that I’m not the only parent who sends his kid to school with a bodyguard.
Half of the students at Rothschild-McClintock Magnet School have one.
If I could get away with it, I’d hire private tutors and lock her away from the world to keep her safe.
But she thrives in a classroom with peers, and I won’t take that from her.
How do other parents live with this?
We pull up in front of the school, and Kerrianne ambles out the back of the vehicle. Sean is right by her side with his head on a swivel, cataloging the world around them.
On the first day, bodyguards are allowed to stay the full day and report back with any potential security issues.
They’ll be able to report any deficiencies in the school’s security — not that they’ll find any — directly to one of the few legitimate businesses I run.
It made the parents happy, given the new security system, to have an input in its execution.
But it’s flawless. Between my eye for weak points and Royal’s expertise in state-of-the-art technology, there’s very little anyone could do to compromise the school and the safety of the students.
“You okay, boss?” Jack, my driver, asks.
I’m sitting in the front seat, dressed in a suit and sunglasses, matching Jack. I don’t look any different from any other security professional escorting a child to school.
Kerrianne has always gone to school under a pseudonym. To the outside world, she’s Kelsey Clark, the daughter of a faceless tech mogul and nothing more. If my enemies were to find out she’s Kerrianne Cavanagh, daughter of Valor Cavanagh, next head of the Irish Mob, she’d be dead.
Keeping my pup safe while letting her be a pup is a constant balancing act.
She doesn’t completely understand the importance of the fake name while she’s at school.
But we’ve done it for so long now that it’s normal, and we made a small concession by keeping her initials the same to help ease some of the transition for her in the beginning.
And I prayed it wasn’t too obvious, but it’s served us well for this long .
“I’m okay.” I watch as she and Sean stand in line to enter the school.
Full-body scanners and infrared technology are hidden in the entryway. Nothing is visible, to make the kids feel like they’re entering a normal school all while providing state-of-the-art security.
It was an important upgrade to me. The school board loved the donation and that they could now market the school as ‘a normal, everyday experience for children of the elite.’ I don’t care how they market it so long as she’s safe every time she walks through those doors.
It’s not a perfect system, but it’s better than ninety-eight percent of the schools in this country. Her bodyguard should make up for the other two percent.
“Ready, then?” Jack asks after they’ve disappeared through the doors.
It’s a formality because he’s already got the gear shifter moving to drive.
“Yeah. It’s a whole new day of bullshit to deal with.” I tuck my heart away.
There’s no room for me to be soft. I have an empire to run, a legacy to build, and a rival family to destroy. Not exclusively in that order.