Page 39 of Stolen Vows

18

Max

"Are you sure she can handle this?”

Veronica’s words are far from unfounded. I know she has every reason to doubt Cara, but I need her to trust me right now, if not the woman whose father has been involved with some of the bleakest shit I’ve ever heard of. I nod slightly, glancing towards the bedroom where Cara is changing.

"I know she can. Just talk to her, Veronica. She’s serious about this. I know she is."

Veronica stiffens her jaw slightly, shifting in her seat. No matter the conversation they shared the other day, there is still a part of Veronica that doesn’t want to believe it could be this easy, and I can’t say I blame her. She has spent a good portion of her life doing everything she can to bring down the Leone family, and now, she is being asked to believe that one of them has her best interests in mind. I don’t know if I would be able to approach it with a clear head, either, but that’s exactly what I need right now, as we enact the plan that is going to bring Lucio Leone down for good.

Cara emerges from the bedroom, and the two of us glance towards her. She stiffens, likely able to tell at once that we are in the middle of a conversation about her.

"What’s going on?” she asks, her voice a little shaky, as she makes her way over to my side. I hand her a cup of coffee, and she takes a long sip, her lips brushing along the edge of the cup in a seriously distracting way.

"Just talking about what’s going to happen today," I reply.

She shivers slightly, and I can tell that she has been doing everything she can to put that part out of her head.

"It’s going to be alright," I assure her, and she nods, gritting her teeth slightly, as though she is trying to convince herself as much as us.

"I know," she replies, and her eyes dart over to Veronica. She seems distinctly aware of the fact that I’m not really the one she needs to convince. Veronica is.

"So, run me through it again," Veronica tells her, lifting her chin and raising her eyebrows.

After Cara and I came together for the first time last night, we lay there and talked for what felt like hours—about her father, about everything she has been through, about where she stands now that she knows what he is involved with. And in the midst of it all, we put together a plan, a plan that I have since run past my father and a few of his men—a plan that will bring everything to an end, if it plays out exactly how we want it to.

Cara takes a deep breath and lowers her head.

"Okay, so," she begins, "I’m going to leave the cabin. Look as much of a mess as I can, so it looks as though I managed toescape. You guys are going to come after me, at least make it seem as though you don’t want me out there, and I'm going to head towards the road so one of my father’s men will find me. I’ll insist on being in a car alone with him, say that I can’t trust anyone else, and we’ll drive out of the forest and right into Max’s guards. And then...."

Her eyes dart back and forth between us.

"We’re going to take him in."

That’s one way of putting it. I know that she isn’t ready to contend with the fact we are going to do more than just slap a pair of handcuffs on her father and be done with it. No matter how much she understands about what he has done, that is still the man who raised her, and she is not ready to accept that she will help bring him down. But after all we have been through, after all that we have seen from him, I know that none of us will be willing to stop at a slap on the wrist.

"And you know where you’re going?” Veronica demands. "To the main road, I mean?”

Cara nods.

"I have a map," she replies, patting her pocket. "I’m not great with directions, but Max walked me through it this morning. I know where I’m going."

I grimace. I wanted to take her out there, trace her journey so that there would be no doubt about where she was headed, but I know if anyone spots us walking together, it’s going to be obvious that this is nothing more than a set-up, and the last fucking thing we need is to be busted. Because now, it’s not just us I have to worry about. It’s her, too. And I have no doubt thather father will turn on her with just as much brutality as he would anyone else who betrayed him.

"Good," Veronica replies, though she is still not quite looking Cara in the eyes.

Cara watches her for a moment, chewing her lip. I know everything that Veronica represents to her, all the guilt she still feels for what happened all those years ago. I wish I could lift some of that from her shoulders, assure her that she was nothing more than a kid and that she has nothing to feel bad about, but I doubt that I would be able to cut through the weight in her head.

"I’m going to make this work, Veronica," she tells her firmly, the certainty in her voice catching even her off-guard, by the looks of it. Veronica locks eyes with her, her gaze impassive and hard to read.

"I promise," she continues, and her breath hitches slightly in her throat. I notice that she is clutching the coffee cup so tight it looks as though her knuckles are going to burst straight through her skin. I put an arm around her, steering her into the kitchen.

"You need something to eat," I tell her firmly, though really, I am just looking for a chance to get her alone.

Veronica seems to sense this, and she rises to her feet and heads to the porch, putting some distance between us.

"I don’t know if I can eat anything," Cara mutters to me, shaking her head. "My stomach’s a mess. Worse than it was when I was meant to get married to Mario..."

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