Page 106 of The Mafia Marriage Contract

"I need data from the street cameras around my building. Every feed you can access for the last four hours."

"Slow down. What's going on?"

"Livvie's gone."

Silence on the other end. And then he says, "Gone how?"

"She left. On her own. Middle of the night. I need to know where she went."

"Shit." I hear him moving around, probably walking from his bedroom to the computer setup. "Okay, give me twenty minutes. Maybe thirty. These city systems aren't exactly user-friendly, and we’ll need to hack through firewalls."

Twenty minutes. Thirty. She could be anywhere by then. On a plane to Ireland. On a train to fucking nowhere. Or bleeding out in some alley because the Red Tribunal found her first.

"Make it faster," I growl.

"I'm doing what I can. But K…" He pauses. "Why would she run?"

I think about the note, about the look in her eyes lastnight when I promised to protect her. "Because she's trying to saveme."

"From what?"

"I'll explain later. Just find her."

I end the call and start pacing again, the necklace heavy in my palm. The tracker that could have led me right to her, useless now because she was smart enough to leave it behind.

My phone buzzes. Reign, probably wondering why Bronx is awake and hacking city cameras at dawn. I ignore it.

Then it buzzes again with an unknown number.

I stare at the screen for half a second, hope flaring in my chest. Maybe it's Livvie calling from a burner phone. Maybe she changed her mind.

"Livvie?"

"No." The voice is female, older, with a thick Irish brogue. "This is her mother."

Fiona O'Callaghan. Fuck. Why is she calling me?

"Where is she?" I say, the phone tight to my ear like I’m afraid to miss a single syllable.

"I don't know. But I know why she left."

"Tell me what the hell is going on, Fiona."

"I've never involved myself in my husband's business, Kingston. Thirty years of marriage, and I've kept my mouth shut about every decision he's made. Never interfered with family matters or asked questions I didn't want answers to."

"I don't give a shit about your marriage. Where's my wife?"

Her voice is icy when she continues. "But when my daughter falls in love with the man who protected her instead of using her…" Her voice cracks slightly, and for the first time, she sounds like a mother instead of a mob wife. "I can't stand by and watch her sacrifice herself for selfish bastards who don't deserve it."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"The Red Tribunal gave her an order to kill you or watch her entire family die. Every O'Callaghan in Ireland, including their children will be murdered."

I drop onto the mattress, my head falling into my hands. “I know. And I told her I’d handle it.”

Earlier, everything had clicked into place. Her conflicted behavior. The way she pulled away from me sometimes, like she was fighting herself.

Livvie was never planning to kill me. My wife was trying to find a way to save everyone she loved, including me.