Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
And what did he do?
He started selling to fund his own habit.
That’s how he got into trouble.
That’s how the drug lord he was dealing with found the barn on our property right at the Mexican border that they thought was perfect for a mule stop.
Fucking A.
So I do what I must.
I bail Eagle out every time he fucks up. I keep it to myself. I don’t tell my brother or my sisters, and especially not my parents.
If they only knew everything…
It would kill my mother. It would kill her to find those things out about her baby. She might deny it if I asked her to her face, but Eagle is her favorite. Followed by Raven.
And if she truly had to put her children in order, I would be dead last.
But I’m not bitter about it.
I stopped depending on my parents a long time ago. Right around the time Eagle shot that young cop and Falcon took the fall for it.
I watched it all play out, and I realized there’s only one person in the world I can depend on.
Myself.
My thoughts are interrupted when the elevator doors I’m walking past open.
Daniela, Vinnie’s eighteen-year-old wife, steps out, along with Belinda McAllister, Vinnie’s eleven-year-old foster daughter—and former betrothed.
The mafia world is sure fucked up.
Of course, so is the Bellamy world.
“Is that Raven’s purse?” I ask Daniela, stopping myself from staring at her.
How the hell is she even sexier in a sweatshirt and jeans than she was in that little black dress at Raven’s gala?
Her honey-brown skin looks like it’s been kissed by the sun, and her lips are naturally plump and pink.
“Yeah,” she says, meeting my gaze, her cheeks blushing a touch. “Hi, Hawk.”
“Hi Daniela, Belinda. I’ll show you where my dad’s room is.”
I lead them down the corridor to the room where Vinnie and Raven are still standing outside along with the security guard.
Raven steps towards Daniela and gives her a hug. “Thanks so much for doing this. I owe you.”
“You and Vinnie don’t ever owe me anything,” Daniela says. “I owe you everything.”
It’s difficult for me to think about Daniela. I try to fight my attraction to her because I know she didn’t have it easy in Colombia. I don’t know the details, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to. Plus, she’s a kid. Only eighteen.
Something about her, though…
I wish laying eyes on Grace gave me the burn that laying eyes on Daniela does.
But she is definitely off limits. She’s married to my sister’s boyfriend, she’s barely eighteen, and her father was a Colombian gangster.
Baggage there for sure.
Raven is showing her ID to the security guard when a nurse walks out of Dad’s room.
“He still doing okay?” I ask.
“Vitals are all good. He’s trying to talk, but still not making sense. The doctor will examine him again tomorrow after we get the MRI results.”
I simply nod and then drop my jaw.
My younger brother Eagle comes sauntering down the corridor toward the room. And I do mean sauntering, as if he hasn’t a care in the world.
I resist the urge to grab him and shake him. “Where the fuck have you been?” I grit out.
He scrunches his forehead. “I’ve been on my way.”
“Yeah?” I roll my eyes. “And you can’t be bothered to answer your fucking phone?”
“I didn’t answer it because it goes on automatic Do Not Disturb when I’m driving.”
“That is such bullshit, E. If Scarlett Ramsey—or anyone but me—had been calling you, you would have picked up. You ignore my calls, but who’s the first person you call when you need someone?”
Eagle’s cheeks redden just a touch.
Yeah. He knows he needs to not fuck with me. I hold all his secrets.
“Let’s just see Dad,” he says.
Raven walks toward us. “I don’t know what you two are fighting about, but I can finally go in to see my father. And all five of us are here, so let’s go.”
“Fine,” I say under my breath.
Raven, Eagle, and I walk into the hospital room.
Mom is still sitting next to Dad, holding his hand. Robin is sitting next to her, and Falcon is standing at the foot of the bed. I’m not sure where Savannah went. Maybe she figured this is family time and made herself scarce. Just Mom and the kids.
“Oh, Daddy,” Raven says, cupping his cheek.
“Raven flies,” he says.
The aphasia.
“How’s it hanging, Pop?” Eagle asks. “It’s great to see you awake and alert.”
“Eagle talon,” Dad says.
At least he’s able to get our names out. He knows who we all are.
“It’s okay, honey,” Mom says, squeezing his hand. “You don’t have to talk.”
But Dad’s eyes widen. “Need fences to mend,” he says.
Fences? That’s the second reference to a fence, but I’m pretty sure it means nothing.
He knows all the fences on our property are always in tip-top shape, but if he’s speaking metaphorically…