Page 44 of Possessive Mafia Vows

“I met him at the gallery opening. Something about him was off, and when I did some digging, it was obvious that his people had been doing a shit load of cleaning up behind him. Turns out…”

My pulse is racing. This isn’t the kind of conversation you want to have every day. Or at all.

“…he was born in Chicago and entered the foster care system when his mom was murdered. No father’s name was recorded on his birth certificate, but the man suspected of killing his mom was called Caelan O’Reilly.”

Terry is on his feet, hands wrapped around the back of his neck. “You’re sure about this, Kyle?”

“Aye. I wish I wasn’t.”

“Fuck!” Cash drains his drink and refills their glasses.

“Does this guy, Nick Morris, know who his father is?” Terry’s eyes are distant. He wasn’t around when our father tried to kill our mom, but he knows the score, and he’s been keeping our mom safe, and alive, ever since.

Bash hasn’t spoken a word.

“If he didn’t before,” I say, “I’m guessing he does now. He’s all over Sienna like a fucking dose of the shingles.”

“What does Sienna have to do with any of this?” Bash is working it out in his head, slotting the pieces together, so that he can formulate a plan.

“Jeez, I must’ve gotten more than my fair share of the brains when we shared our mother’s womb,” Cash says. “You’re looking right at the reason Sienna is involved.” He points to me.

“She’s his way in,” Bash says, catching on quickly. “The gatekeeper. He obviously knows our bloodlines are connected.”

“Do you think he’s after your mother?” The color has been sucked from Terry’s face, and his hand instinctively seeks out the gun tucked inside his jacket pocket.

“No, I think it’s me he’s after.” Now that I’ve started, I have to tell them everything. “Mom met him yesterday. He was in a restaurant with Sienna. He knew that I was trailing them, so he came over and introduced himself. Mom said he looked familiar.”

The door opens then, and Caleb walks in. “What have I missed?” He sits on the couch next to Cash and helps himself to a glass of iced water.

“Get yourself back upstairs to your wife and baby, lad.” Terry gestures with a nod of his head towards the door. “Everything is under control.”

Caleb’s gaze slides around the room. “Okay. You like you’ve seen a ghost, Terry. My twin brothers haven’t been this quiet since Cash almost decapitated Bash with a golf club when they were six years old. And Kyle’s worried about Sienna because her scumbag father is back on the scene.”

“How do you know that?”

He shrugs. “Victoria spoke to Sienna last night.” His eyes are puffy with lack of sleep, but an aura of peacefulness and contentment is clinging to him like a fine mist. “He should be easy enough to handle. The guy is a loser according to Victoria. We can make him go away.”

“Oh, it gets better.” Cash studies his empty glass. “Seems our father couldn’t keep it in his pants before he met Mom.”

Caleb’s fists clench. His shoulders stiffen, and he sits forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. He might be two years younger than me, but he was the one who shielded us from our father’s fists before he got arrested. Because of my asthma, Caleb made himself the alpha, and that’s exactly what he’s doing right now. He’s on high alert, ready to strike.

“Talk to me,” he says.

When I’m finished telling him about Nick Morris, he stands up, dragging himself to his full height. “Let’s go speak to him, find out what he wants, and send him on his fucking merry way.”

“Whoa.” Terry raises his hands. “We need to think about this. We already know that he isn’t operating alone.”

“And Sienna knows about his father,” I add. “I had to tell her. Nick has men following her. I’ve allocated her a suite here temporarily, until this is resolved.”

“So, we’ll be doing everyone a favor by getting rid of him.” Caleb shrugs. “Win-win.”

“Sienna will know I’m behind it.”

“She’ll thank you in the long run,” Caleb says.

“I’m with Terry on this one.” I stand up too. “No one wants him gone more than I do, but I don’t want Sienna caught in the crossfire.”

“She won’t be.” Caleb addresses Terry. “The guy at least needs a warning, Ter.”

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