When the sirens began adding up, Carrigan led them forward at a quicker pace. Fallyn held tight to Killian’s hand that was sweaty from fear, adrenaline and sleep deprivation. The three dropped down flat onto the grass in unison when a cop car drove past. There were too many emotions swirling inside of Fallyn as she pressed her face to the ground. She didn’t like the idea of murder. She didn’t want to think of this as their only option. Vince had appealed to the police, but it had gotten to the point where the cops didn’t have the manpower they needed to dismantle the empire Papa D’Amato had set up.
“We’ll never make it out if we don’t go now. They’re going to block off the streets soon.” Carrigan’s eyes were sharp, taking in the patrol cars to see if he would be easily recognized by the drivers.
Carrigan counted to three and then stood with his brother and sister, leading them across the street quickly, their hearts pounding. They broke into a run when they heard the police sirens a few streets over, knowing the cops thought they had only one house to investigate, and not the dozens of bullet-ridden shacks they would discover by morning.
When the three made it into the house, Fallyn grabbed a trash bag from under the kitchen sink and swept the ammo into it. She gathered the bloody rag from Vince’s injuries and any other incriminating evidence. She shoved it all in the trunk, ignoring Killian’s demands that she “get moving, already.”
She threw her purse and cardigan into the backseat for Carrigan to hold. Since Carrigan was a cop himself, he didn’t want to be recognized by his coworkers on their way out of town. He laid flat in the back, his face covered by Fallyn’s pink cardigan.
Killian’s car crawled along at a snail’s pace, taking the circuitous route out of town where he knew no bodies would be discovered. The car’s occupants were completely silent, fearing the sound of their own breath until they crossed over the train tracks and made their way to the safe house an hour north.
Three.
A Prince or Something
Killian broke the silence with a harsh, loud bark that filled the car and made his siblings jump. “What were the two of you thinking? Carrigan, when the only way we can communicate is via cell phone, don’t you dare turn yours off! And Fallyn? At what point did you imagine me asking you to go find Carrigan by yourself? You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” He pounded his palm on the steering wheel as he drove. “You were supposed to be in the car halfway to the safe house by now. Never again! Do you hear me?”
Fallyn didn’t answer, though she had plenty to say. She looked resolutely out the window as she fought to compartmentalize and deal with the night without making her fear the main attraction.
“Sorry, Kill,” Carrigan offered. “My phone must’ve died. I don’t know what happened.” He sat up and pulled his device out of his pocket, firing it up without issue. “Well, I don’t know why it’s working now. That’s weird. Stupid phone.”
Fallyn wanted to scoff, but she didn’t have it in her to make a noise. Even after Killian calmed down, she kept to herself, staring out the window with a blank expression on her face as she watched the city disappear to the quiet of the countryside. They stopped for nothing, making it to the O’Keefe family vacation cottage just before the sun rose.
Fallyn hadn’t been to her family’s wood cottage in years. The expansive green framed by tall pines was breathtaking. The pond on the back of the property had made the perfect beachy getaway, doubling as an ice rink in the winter. Technically the property was under her father’s fake name he’d set up most of his lavish purchases under, but it was theirs, and provided sufficient cover for their many sins.
Instead of moving into the long loft wood cottage, Fallyn ignored her brothers and walked to the back of the property, sitting under the weeping willow she’d read many a book underneath growing up. She stared out onto the water, letting the gentle stillness of the glassy surface soothe her aching and groaning conscience. It had been ages since she’d shot anybody, and most of the time those hits had been to wound in self-defense, not to kill. Fallyn laid down on the grass, determined to make her bed out in nature rather than sleep under the same roof as Carrigan.
It seemed like her eyes had only just shut when Carrigan came out to get her. “Don’t sleep on the ground, Fally. Come inside. We saved a bed for you. Danny put sheets on it and everything.”
Fallyn closed her eyes in lieu of a response, hoping that sent a clear enough message.
“Stop being difficult.” Carrigan threw out his arms in exasperated defeat and sat down beside her head. “I know you’re pissed I beat on Vince a little, and I don’t care. You shouldn’t have kept this from us, and you know it.”
Fallyn refused to be baited. She kept her mouth and eyes shut as she lay in the fetal position in the grass.
“Well, what was I supposed to do? Just sit back and let it happen? Let Vince take advantage of you, like he’s been doing?”
Fallyn bit down on her tongue to keep from opening her mouth and spewing years of venom at her brother.
“You know he’s with Maria, right? I mean, I saw them together not two months ago. He’s not for you, Fally. I mean it. You’ve got no idea what kind of guy he is.” He quieted when he saw his attitude wasn’t making any headway. “No matter how pissed you are, it doesn’t matter. End it. I mean it, Fal. End it today. Let him sleep off his injuries, sure. But as soon as he’s awake, break it off. I don’t care how you do it, just end it.”
Fallyn sat up, brushing stay bits of grass off her cheek as she sat up to face her brother. “Listen good, because I’m not going to have this argument with you for the rest of my life. I’m with Vince. You throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to change that. Vince isn’t taking advantage of me. I’m not some weak little victim. I run my own business, live in my own house and I can date anyone who doesn’t have a problem with those two things. Vince gets me. He knows how hard it is for me, and he’s been there for me.”
Carrigan’s mouth twisted like he’d eaten something sour. “How hard what is for you? We’re always around to help with whatever you need. You don’t need Vince.”
“That’s exactly my point! You’re always around. I can’t go on a date without the poor guy getting scared away by you lot! I don’t want to be sixty, asking you all to leave your homes with your wives and kids to come over and help me change a lightbulb!” She leaned against the tree’s trunk and pounded her free fist to her chest to punctuate her point. “You have to let him love me! You took away James, you ran Jeremy out of town, you…”
“Jeremy cheated on you! We had every right to do what we did.”
“No! I can handle myself, and you should’ve just been there for me. You care about territory too much. All I’m asking you to do is nothing. Just big, fat nothing. Let it play out. If it’s not a good idea, don’t you trust me to know that? Do you really think I’m so stupid that I’d let Vince use me?”
Carrigan squirmed, caught in a word trap. “You know it’s not that simple. No one thinks you’re stupid. But Vince is a bad idea for any woman, especially an O’Keefe.”
“Then do what you should’ve done when things went south with Jeremy. Be there for me. If it blows up in my face, hold me till it stops hurting. And don’t lecture me on choosing the wrong person. Do I need to remind you about Janelle? Theresa? I didn’t run them out of town in your honor. I made you cookies and watched crappy monster movie marathons until you got back on your feet. I was there for you. Be my brother, not my dad. This is the first time I’ve ever been in love, and I can’t share it with my best friends in the world because they want me to be alone.”
“He’s not good enough.”
“Who is, then? Give me a name.”
Carrigan’s shoulders loosened. “I dunno. A prince or something.”
Fallyn softened her tirade, staring at her brother with too many emotions flooding through her. “How about the prince of the west side?”
“An Irish prince,” Carrigan amended.
�
�Okay, then. If an Irish prince stops by, I’ll throw Vince to the curb. Until then, leave him alone. I mean it. This is important to me.”
Hands in his pockets, Carrigan was at a loss. “I can’t promise anything, Fal. I’ll try to not beat him up again, but if he pushes me, I make no promises.”
“Not good enough. Go back inside with the guys if that’s all you can give me.”
“What do you want me to say, Fal? He’s a murderer responsible for the largest drug ring in the county! He spat on Mama’s casket! I can’t count how many crimes he’s committed.”
“Really? Really? I just murdered five people in cold blood. You want to talk about crimes on people’s hands? Take a look at our family’s books, Carri. How many kneecaps have you busted over the years because Daddy told you to?”
Carrigan flinched, knowing he should’ve chosen a better argument. “Don’t expect me to make nice with him. And I’m only keeping your secret because it would break Killian’s heart, and Seamus would murder Vince without blinking. We didn’t go through all we went through tonight just to undo the alliance.”
“Leave him alone. That’s all. Keep it to yourself and leave Vince alone.”
“Fine. But this is on you. If it blows up, I knew nothing about any of it, and I’m not on your side.”
“I know,” Fallyn sighed. “Go get some sleep. I can’t really look at you anymore. You broke my heart tonight.”
“That’s a hell of a thing to say to me.”
“You’re my best friend, Carri, and this is all I get. I’m in love with him, you know. I’m actually in something real for once, and my best friend doesn’t love me enough to be happy for me. I think I deserve more from you than this.”
“Yeah? Well, this is all I can give you.”
“Then go away. We’re done.”
“Just like that? You’ll throw me away over Vince?”
Fallyn kept her eyes on the water, willing its tranquility to lull her warring insides into relaxation. “No, Carri. I’ll let you throw me away. That’s what’s happening here. I won’t fight to be somewhere I’m not wanted. I’m with Vince now. Love me as I am, or go.”
Carrigan stood, turning away after a few moments of contemplation and heading for the cottage, leaving his sister to sleep on the grass with only her misery to keep her warm.
Four.
The Power of Pranks and the Pond
Fallyn awoke to being gently picked up with strong arms she would know anywhere as Declan’s. She kept her eyes shut through her murmured, “Morning, Declan,” and didn’t see the direction they were heading until the last second. She squealed and flailed when Declan launched her into the pond that was the size of two basketball courts.
“We’re going swimming,” Declan informed her, motioning to his swim trunks. “Hope you brought your suit.”
Danny clapped his hands in appreciation at having snuck up on their prey so easily. “That was awesome! Man, you were out, Fal. He got you good!”
Fallyn stalked onto the shore, drenched and cold. The cottage had a long-standing tradition of prank wars that usually got out of hand and ended with something illegal happening or something valuable breaking or being set on fire. “It’s on, Declan. Consider yourself my next target.”
Declan was all smiles, his freckles mocking her with their cuteness. “Bring it on, kiddo.”
Fallyn stomped into the cottage past the gleeful grins each of her brothers wore, announcing that the war had already started. She snatched up her overnight bag and marched into the bathroom. She changed into her swimsuit in quick, snappish movements, and brought out her sopping clothes. Her brothers were all outside with Joey and Tony, but Angelo was sipping his coffee at the kitchen table, separate from the ensuing good-natured mayhem.
“Where’s Declan’s bag?” she asked, and then spotted it. She ripped open his bag and wrung her clothes out over his belongings. Then she tucked her wet clothes under his things so the whole bag’s contents would get a thorough mildew smell. She took out his shaving cream and set to work filling just the toes of his shoes. She turned to the front door where the pile of men’s shoes were stacked. “Stop me if I reach for any of your family’s shoes,” she warned Angelo, who watched her with a small smile. She filled each of her brother’s shoes with shaving cream up to the halfway point so they couldn’t see the mess until they put their foot all the way in. “Declan’s was payback, but it’s preemptive with the others,” she explained. “Family tradition.”
Angelo added more creamer to his coffee. “Carry on. Though you might want to pass on using your lotion this weekend. Something may have happened to it. I’m sure Danny wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“Man! He got me already?” She stood in her pale blue bikini and looked around for more mischief. She set to dripping shampoo into the caps of her brothers’ tubes of toothpastes, calling to Angelo from the bathroom. “How’s everybody feeling today?”
“Vince says he’s fine, which means he’s pretty banged up. He took some of his pain meds so he could sleep off the worst of it. Want to tell me what happened?”
“No. You seem like the type to break a truce the second it gets shaky, so let’s just say Vince got hit by a swarm of butterflies.”
“Which one of your brothers found out?”
“Thousands of butterflies came out of nowhere and just attacked Vince. It was awful.” She swallowed. “I had a talk with the butterflies. Said he’d back off for now.”
“Which one, Fal?” His voice was level, but Fallyn knew Angelo was a planner. He would find out and Carrigan would get a matching bruise for each one he’d given Vince, plus interest.
She came out to the kitchen and searched the cupboard for the gallon of vinegar they kept to fend off pests. “Butterflies,” she repeated. “I’m handling my family as best I can.”
Angelo took a drink of his coffee, studying her avoidance. “Since you and Vince started up, I’ve seen a lot of things change.” He ticked off points on his trunk-like fingers. “The neighborhood’s finally getting cleaned out for real. Tony’s starting to fall in line finally. And Vince is actually happy. Walking around like the weight of the world wasn’t dumped on his shoulders. Never thought I’d put much stock in happiness, but he does more now to get ahead. I see the changes, and I know it’s because he’s taken up with you.” His tone darkened. “I notice all sorts of things. Like Vince being the only one of us who can barely walk today. Like him looking at things he shouldn’t be looking at.”
Fallyn’s nose crinkled. “Huh? What shouldn’t he be looking at? Like porn?”
Angelo choked on his coffee. “Wow, I never pictured that word coming out of your mouth. Glad I got to see it in person. No, not porn. Not childish things. Adult things. He sees what he wants and he goes after it. When he leaps, there’s no going back for him, which is why I’m concerned.”
Fallyn dunked her brothers’ toothbrushes into the glass of vinegar she poured. She took out a Tupperware bowl from the cupboard and then hopped up on the counter, reaching down the econo sized bottle of vodka.
“I could’ve helped you reach that,” Angelo scolded her. “It’s a little early for vodka, don’t you think?”
“Ah, just what I always wanted – an eighth big brother,” she teased him, covering her breasts so they didn’t bounce too much when she jumped down from the counter. She demonstrated her need for the vodka by pouring the entire bottle out into the Tupperware. She grinned at his chuckle when she refilled the bottle with white vinegar.
“Nicely done,” he lauded her. Angelo averted his eyes from her cleavage and bare legs as she climbed back atop the counter to put the bottle back where she’d found it.
“The brilliance is the step one, step two. First they’ll do shots with dinner. We always do on vacation. Then they’ll race to wash their mouths out, brushing it into their teeth. But they won’t be able to tell it’s on the toothbrush because the taste will already be in their mouths, so in the morning, they’ll wake up
to the minty fresh vinegar taste all over again.” She put their toothbrushes back in the bathroom on the white and gold porcelain sink before rejoining Angelo. “You can say it. I’m the Queen.”
Angelo snorted and finished off his coffee. “I’ll let you know when Vince wakes up.”
“You didn’t want to go swimming? The water’s real nice when your brother doesn’t wake you up by dumping you in the lake.”
“It’s not for me. But it’s good to see Tony and Joey laughing. I worry they don’t get to actually live. It’s always about the city and work.” He motioned with his mug out back where, sure enough, Joey and Tony were howling with delight in the pond with her brothers. “Lots of good things have happened since you came into the picture.” His eyes flicked up toward the loft. “Lots of bad things, too. I hope Vince didn’t go through all this for nothing.”
“Well, I’m not bailing on him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not sure what I’m worried about most, to be honest. That you turned down the money he offered you helps put my mind at ease, and frankly opens up the pocketbooks a little. Maria burned through thousands a week just in clothes and jewelry.”
“Gotta love her. I don’t know much about their relationship, only the headlines. You want to fill me in on anything I should know?”
Angelo considered this, mulling over his words before he chose the wrong ones. “I’m sure Vince has told you enough.”
“We’ve never really talked about her. Come on, Angelo, you’ve got the insider track, here.”
He waited a few beats before speaking quietly. “Maria’s bossy, entitled and treated Vince exactly as he treated her. It was never about love or even liking each other. She wanted money, and he wanted sex. It was a good arrangement. I’m sure it didn’t start out like that, but it’s where they were when it ended.” Angelo cleared his throat, studying his coffee as he spoke. “It’s why Tony was so concerned about you taking Vince’s money. It was a slippery slope with Maria. See that you don’t repeat her mistakes. Though, since you turned down his card, I don’t think I need to worry about you – at least not about you taking Vince for all he’s worth. Plenty of other things to worry about where you’re concerned.”
Escaping: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #2) Page 2
