Page 25 of Courting Danger

Before they crossed the bridge, I told the driver to pull over on the side of the road. I needed a moment to breathe. Pushing my way out the door, I cursed when I tripped over the curb. Everything felt out of balance, like something inside my head had shifted sideways.

Bracing his elbows on the bridge railing, I breathed deep through my nose, filling my lungs with sea air. The bridge overlooked a marina filled with yachts. People scurried over the docks as they secured their boats against rolling waters.

Clouds covered the sun. A storm was coming. It wasn’t here yet, but it would arrive sooner than people wanted.

Rough weather waited for no man.

Garrison stepped up next to me, posture straight as an iron rod.

“What’s your plan, now?”

I couldn’t watch the churning water anymore. I kept my gaze on the railing, picking at a splinter of wood sticking up from the edge.

“Plan? I don’t know. My family has a house in Mantoloking. My mother is there right now. I need to meet with her and discuss... everything.”

As I spoke, Garrison nodded along, but his gaze never left the waves below our feet.

“Your family. Were you ever going to tell me the truth about your family, or were you expecting me to stay ignorant?”

“Garrison, it’s not...” I started to say, but I didn’t know where the rest of the sentence was going. It didn’t matter. Garrison interrupted before I could finish anyway, grabbing my arm and turning me around so we faced each other.

“Don’t deflect. Tell me the truth. I want to hear it from your mouth. Who are you?”

It was surprisingly easy to look Garrison in the eye. “I’m Alex Mariano. Son of David Russo, who is the head of the Mariano family.”

I squeezed the railing, and the loose splinter I’d been toying with pierced my skin. The prick of pain brought a moment of clarity.

“Or... my father was the head of the family. I guess I’m in charge now.”

It shouldn’t have been such a startling revelation. Technically, I’d been acting as the head of the family since my father’s recent arrest. That was the very reason I’d set up a meeting with our rival families in the first place, so I could establish my authority.

Yet, I’d assumed the position was temporary. Nothing I did mattered because everything would eventually go back to the way it was.

Not now.

Nothing in my life would be the same now.

Thunder rumbled overhead and I jumped. The storm was blowing in faster than I thought.

Grabbing my hand and turning it palm up, Garrison studied the splitter sticking out of my thumb.

“All that and you still won’t say the word.” With one quick motion he plucked the splinter free. “Please, tell me I’m wrong, Alex. Tell me it’s all in my paranoid head and you’re not actually involved with the mafia.”

Blood dripped down my thumb and collected in the cup of my palm. Such a little splitter caused a lot more damage coming out than going in.

I shoved my hand in my pocket before more blood could fall.

“Not just involved. I’m its damn leader now.”

Garrison stared in silence, shocked by my answer.

Hypocrite.

I huffed, and a lock of hair fluttered away from my face. If Garrison couldn’t accept the answer, then he shouldn’t have asked.

More thunder crashed overhead, turning the sky into its personal percussion band.

Snapping out of his shock, Garrison slammed a fist into the railing hard enough to make the wood groan.

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