Page 50 of The Disputed Legacy
“Good morning to you, too,” I replied dryly. “I’m at someone’s house, recovering from an incident that happened last night.”
“Recovering?”
“Yeah.”
“An incident? What kind of incident? I was with you yesterday and I don’t recall?—"
“An incident such as three men coming to a diner I’d stopped at and them being so stupid as to shoot it up.” I narrowed my eyes as I thought back to those men. They’d come so quickly. Details were few when I was acting on the autopilot goal of protecting Willow and Oscar. Facing a life-or-death threat, I could only observe so much. I relayed to Hugo all that I did remember, stressing that I couldn’t determine whether they were sent by the Romanos or not.
“Hold on.” He grunted. “You’re thinking that they’ve got guys following you all the way out in that neighborhood? Why would you be out there in the first place?”
I hadn’t told anyone about Willow or finding her at the diner. Nor had I told anyone that I would continue to see her in that limited setup. I still wanted to keep her from my secret until I could know if she’d be able to cross over into my family and want to belong with us. Both Willow and Oscar, as a package.
I fudged my answer, explaining that I just happened to be near there and that a waitress was concerned about my being hurt.
“You left before the cops could show?” he asked, not missing a beat with what mattered.
I continued, giving him more replies but nothing that would incriminate myself or Willow. He discussed with me the odds of whether it could’ve been the Romanos, a random incident, or something else. He wasn’t skeptical or dismissive of my thoughts. Like me, it was his first thought, that any immediate danger would be from the Romanos.
“Have you heard any reports about a shooting like this?” I asked. They’d have a hit on the police scanners, which we did have soldiers following, but Tiny’s diner wasn’t part of the Ivanov turf. We wouldn’t normally police the area or be concerned about any crime there.
“No, no reports. But if this was a Romano attempt on your life, we’ll be investigating it. Have you told Maxim?”
I sighed, stretching to work out the kinks in my neck. All this stress was getting to me. “No. I will, though.” He’d called me while I was talking to Hugo and I’d need to call him back.
“Keep me updated,” Hugo said.
“Of course.” We disconnected the call shortly after that and I checked in with one more spy I had been relying on often. He said the same as Hugo, that no reports about a shooting ata diner had come in and that everything was the same on the Romano front. That third shooter was still at large, but many Ivanov soldiers were on the hunt to find him and send Dominic Romano another message about what we thought of them taking out a couple of our spies.
Finally, after I knew that I wasn’t slacking with this long-scale investigation against the Romanos, I called my older brother back. Maxim and I talked daily, since I was the head of the case with our biggest enemies we’d soon take out. But his voicemail to call him back held a note of something else. A tone of worry and urgency I couldn’t ignore.
I couldn’t get ahold of him. The call went to voicemail, which surprised me. If he was trying to get in touch with me, I would’ve imagined him being near his phone and ready to pick up at a moment’s notice.
As soon as I tried again, to no avail, a text popped up.
Nik:Where the hell are you?
Nik:I just left your place.
Nik:Something happened. We need to talk to you.
I heard the gentle hum of the elevator stopping on the floor out in the hallway. That was how attuned I was to my surroundings. It helped that Willow’s apartment was near the elevator, but I knew this could mean she was coming back. I couldn’t call my brother now, then have a conversation with her nearby. I couldn’t leave, either.
Saul:I’m staying with someone for the day.
Even that felt like a lie. If I wanted to stay longer than today, I’d make it work. However long it took me to get on a good footing with Willow and know we’d be moving forward to something together, not more distance and secrets.
Saul:What happened? Is everyone okay?
He wouldn’t be relying on a damn text if someone in the family had been wounded or threatened.
Three dots appeared quickly. He was responding now.
Then they disappeared and he called.
I declined it.
Saul:I can’t call right now.
