Present
My head has been a mess these last few days, ever since Sloane confessed everything that had happened after she left.
We haven’t spoken much, both of us busy with work, but we’ve been texting here and there while we can. I’ve put everything into finding out whether the linked attacks were because of us or because of Sloane. So far, I’ve found nothing.
Not. A. Thing.
And it’s driving me fucking insane.
I also can’t stop thinking about everything she told me. I feel the loss that she feels. Even though I didn’t go through it back then with her, I still feel that missing piece of us that was taken away. I wish I could have been there for her. I wish I could have held her hand, dried her tears, and been there with her.
Would there still have been the same outcome if I had handled things differently? Could the stress of both losing me and moving away from home contributed to what happened? I know she said that she was told it was just one of those things, that they couldn’t determine the reason for it happening, but I still feel like hell when I think about the things I could have maybe done to prevent it.
When she told me, I cried. I haven’t cried since I was a child. Fuck, I didn’t even cry after everything went down ten years ago.
It’s fucking painful, yet in some twisted way, I feel like I don’t deserve to feel that pain. I don’t deserve to be hurt by something that didn’t physically happen to me, that I wasn’t fucking there for.
I listen to the chatter happening around me, but I’m not really taking anything in. It isn’t until Luca snaps his fingers in front of me that I come back to the present.
We’re here for another goddamn family meeting, trying to figure out what the hell is going on with our shipments lately and trying to figure out who’s targeting us.
“Marco,” Luca barks, and I swing my gaze to him.
“Are you even listening?”
I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
He lets out an exasperated sigh and looks towards my father who then speaks. “We need you to find out what the notes Sloane had received meant. I know you wanted to give her space so she’d eventually tell you what they meant, but we can’t keep holding off, son. This could mean her safety being compromised, as well as our own.”
Do they know? They don’t take death of their own lightly.
I can barely hold in the groan that wants to come out as I listen to what he’s saying. There’s no way in hell I can’t not tell them. Sloane did give me to permission to share what happened, I just feel fucking raw right now and I’m not sure I can tell them without breaking down.
Left without another choice, I take a deep breath. “I know what the notes were about,” I murmur. I shift in my seat before clasping my hands together to stop myself from either fidgeting or throwing something at the wall.
“She didn’t know it at the time, but when Sloane left the city ten years ago, she was pregnant.”
I’m silent for a moment while they all blink at me, my words seeping in.
“It was a week or so into her stay with her aunt when she started bleeding heavily, so her aunt took her to the hospital.” My voice cracks and I run my hands up and down my face.
A hand lands on my shoulder as my father’s voice fills the air.
“She lost the baby?” he whispers. I can’t look at them as I mutter, “She was four months along.”
I move my hands to look at them, finding my dad and Luca staring at me with sympathy written all over their faces, while Enzo has something akin to horror written all over his.
Fuck.
I didn’t even think about how he would feel to have to listen to what happened to her. He’s probably running through one hundred different scenarios of it happening to him and Robyn.
“There was nothing she could have done differently. She didn’t do anything wrong, she didn’t even know she was pregnant. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be,” I say with a sad smile.
“I’m sorry, brother,” Luca murmurs with Enzo and Dad joining in to offer their sympathies.
Needing to move the conversation along, I tip my head back and stare up at the ceiling for a beat before returning my attention to them.
“My guess is whoever hired the guys doesn’t know our family. To them, we’re just the asshole filled Italian Mafia who don’t give a fuck about other people. They probably think we would blame Sloane for what happened, that we’d blame her for the death of one of ours. They’re probably hoping they would scare Sloane into coming clean, for us to then declare war on the Irish because of the loss of our blood,” I mutter with a half shrug. “That’s the only possible explanation I can come up with.”
They all nod their agreement, since it’s the only plausible explanation we have right now.
“So, the question is, who wants us to start a war? And who do they want to win, us? Or the Irish? Or do they want us to destroy each other?” Enzo asks the questions we’re all thinking and there’s a terse silence before Dad speaks.
“O’Brien is out of the question. If he had an issue, he would come to us directly. We need to let him know what’s going on.”
“I met with him a few days ago and gave him all the information I had at the time. I’ll reach out and let him know what we’re thinking and tell him to stay vigilant.”
“Can I just say something?” Enzo exclaims with his hand raised.
We all look to him as we wait for him to continue.
“You do realize that if things go the way you want them to, then you’ll be brother-in-law to the head of the Mob? That will make us family, too. So, are we gonna have Christmas here, or the O’Brien estate?” he asks with a chuckle. Luca barks a laugh while me and Dad shake our heads.
Leave it to Enzo to try brightening the mood.
“In the meantime, we all need to stay vigilant. Luca, Enzo, I have extra men placed in your buildings at all times to make sure your wives are safe. There will be more in your building, too,” he says to me. “But they won’t be there unless you are. I know things are still stilted between you and Sloane, but do you think there’s any way you can persuade her to stay with you until we get everything sorted out?”
I have to fight myself from barking out a laugh at that.
“You know how stubborn Izzy can be? Imagine that times ten and you get Sloane,” I say with a raised brow. “There’s no way in hell anyone can get that girl to do anything, and she’ll see it as her backing down from them. She’d much rather be stubborn and get herself hurt than accept help from anyone. Hell, I’m sure Finn has already attempted to get her to stay with him.” I shake my head. “I’ll keep an eye on Sloane and make sure she’s safe. She has a guard on her now, but I think we should place some men around the hospital because that’s where she’s most vulnerable.”
“Finn will need to watch out, too,” Luca adds and Enzo scoffs.
“He has his big guard dog, Kian. I’m sure Finn will be fine.”
My phone rings before we can continue the conversation. A sick feeling forms in my gut when I see Sloane’s name on the screen. She’s at work, so she shouldn’t be calling. She usually only texts me, rather than call.
“What’s wrong?” I grunt as I answer.
She sighs into the phone. “I got another note in my locker.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
I place the phone on speaker and put it on the table in front of us all.
“Sloane, you’re on speaker with my family. Can you tell us where the note was and what it said?”
There’s a moment of silence, as though she’s hesitating before she speaks.
“The note was in the same place as last time, taped to the inside of my locker. Only this time, I was left with a different message,” she murmurs.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” my dad asks and I’m so fucking grateful for him just automatically accepting Sloane into the fold, even though we’re not even together anymore.
“Yeah, I’m fine, thank you. The note this time says…” she clears her throat, “you can keep killing them, I’ll just keep sending them. What do you think they’ll do to you when they find out?”
I scoff.
This guy.
“He clearly isn’t watching you closely, since he doesn’t know that we helped you out with the guy who was in your apartment. He probably thinks you’re too scared to come near us again and he’s using that as a way to keep you in line. My guess is that whoever is doing this isn’t even in the city yet.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t wait to get my fucking hands on whoever it is,” she grunts and Enzo laughs.
“Sorry,” she mutters, seemingly realizing she’s still on speaker with my dad and brothers.
“Just keep your guard close, little warrior, and call me if you need me.”
“Uh huh, I will,” she says before ending the call.
Luca is the one to break the silence. “Little warrior?” he asks with a raised brow.
“Mia regina?” I counter and he flips me off with a shake of his head.
“What are you thinking?” I ask my dad when I notice him still staring at my phone sitting on the table.
“I’m thinking we need to make a statement.”
