Page 19 of Pocketful of Us

"You sure about this, fullback?" Lucky asked. "This one has killer instincts."

"I'll take my chances," I replied coolly.

If it meant finding Romi…

Whistling softly to himself, Lucky slowly withdrew the gun from Seth's throat. Keeping his gun drawn, he backed all the way up to lean against the closed door.

"Now," I said, eyes locked on Seth. "Start refreshing that memory, asshole."

"Call me an asshole again and I'll put another hole in your chest," Seth countered coolly. "And unlike the man who put that bullet in you, I won't miss my target."

Bristling with tension, I forced myself to keep my temper in check, knowing that he was my best chance at finding Romi. "Where is she?" Trying to keep my tone even, I clenched my jaw when I spoke, "What did he do with her?"

"If you are referring to our piece of shit father, then she is no longer with him," Seth replied flatly, completely unfeeling. "He traded her life in for both his and mine several weeks ago – right along with the life of our mother."

Now my father was the one to speak. "Arabella is still alive?"

"What the fuck do you think?" With a look of pure repulsion etched on his face, Seth flicked his gaze to my father. "Of course she's not alive. He put a fucking bullet in my mother's temple. She bled out on the floor at my feet."

"What about Romi?" I demanded, not giving two shits about this Arabella woman. "Is she de–" I couldn’t say it. Feeling winded at the thought, I dragged in several steadying breaths before asking, "Is she okay?"

"She's on board the Carmella," Seth blew my world apart by saying. "With your father."

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t fucking move.

"Wh-what did you say?"

"Raffaele?" Dad gasped. "He has Ramona?" He turned to look at me. "Jacob, it's okay. He would never –"

"If you are about to say that he would never hurt her, then you have not met the man who kept me captive," Seth interrupted coldly. "He will hurt her. I can promise you that. A man with nothing left to lose has everyone left to wound."

Jesus Christ.

I couldn’t take this in.

I couldn’t deal.

"Well, where the fuck is he taking her?" I demanded, clutching at my chest to stem the pain spreading through it. "What does he want?"

"You think I'm going to tell you that without getting what I came here for first?" Seth deadpanned, looking at me like I was stupid. "Raffaele wants what he has wanted for fifteen years – what I have wanted since my father closed my mother's eyes forever." His eyes darkened. "Revenge."

"Seth, where have you been all this time?" my father asked, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"I've been wherever the wind took me," Seth countered, entirely uninterested in entertaining my father's questions.

"What do you want?" I demanded, trembling. "You said you came here for something. What is it?"

"I can help you get her back," he replied, brown eyes locked on mine. "But only if you help me to kill my father first."

8

Presley

Okay, my mind was officially blown.

The boy who couldn't pass a basic calculus test at school was standing in front of me, holding a conversation in fluent Italian.

---