“Talk soon, Cain.” Mom leans up and grazes his cheek.
I nearly soar out of my skin when someone’s phone rings. Salvatore reaches into the pocket of the jacket he retrieved off the porch then holds the phone up to his ear, leaning up against his car.
“John.”
We all listen intently at the sound of my dad’s name.
“What the hell does this mean?” he growls into the phone.
Something’s not right. Is my dad hurt? What’s happening? The thought of him being hurt has my heart racing. I grip my mother’s arm for support. Everything was under control when he left.
“Fucking find her. God damn it. She’s a stupid bitch. Where the hell could she have gone?”
“Oh, no,” my mom whispers.
“Motherfucker!” Cain roars.
Salvatore hangs his head and shoves his phone back into his pocket. When he lifts his head back up, his ice-filled eyes scare me.
“They can’t find Emerald. The whore never showed up for work. You all know what this means?”
Everyone acknowledges him but me. I have no damn clue what this means.
“It means we have another goddamned snitch. Cain, it’s up to you to find out who the fuck it is and bring that motherfucker to me.”
“Don’t worry. They’ll find her,” Mom says to me comfortingly.
Knowing now everything is all right with my dad, I’m not worried at all. In fact, I’m the opposite. For the first time in my life, I see blood. Blood dripping from that bitch’s mouth as I pummel her to death.
“Salvatore,” I call out.
“Yes?”
“When they find Emerald, have them bring her to me.”
At that statement, he studies me closely. Then, without saying a word, my uncle, the leader of this family, the man I had no clue existed until a few hours ago, folds his tall frame into the passenger’s side of the car, which pulls off with my cousin at the wheel and my mother in the back. Fifteen minutes ago, no one would have been able to convince me to kill anyone. Now I’ve come to one conclusion. I truly am my parents’ daughter.
***
“You’re staying, then?”
I feel him behind me. So close, his breath caresses the back of my neck.
“Do I have a choice?”
His lips graze the hollow of my nape.
“Yes. You always have a choice.”
“Then I choose to stay. Under one condition,” I rasp, angling my neck the way he likes it.
“Anything.”
“We’re reconnecting, Cain. For now, there will be no touching and no sex. Absolutely nothing.”
He spins me around in his arms, his handsome face dropping.
“Nothing?”
“Well, you can kiss me. Hold me. Talk to me. I want to know everything about what it is you do. If I’m staying here, it’s time I learn exactly what my husband does.”
“I’ll do whatever you want me to do, as long as you’re by my side. And as long as I keep hearing you say, ‘my husband.’”
Chapter Fifteen
Cain
I’d be a bigger asshole than I already am if I didn’t say the past five days have been miraculous with all the bonding Calla and I have done.
We’ve laughed, talked until both of our jaws hurt. She hasn’t left my side once. Things around here have been relatively quiet since the news of the disloyalty of both Emerald and Monty spread like a wildfire.
Everyone is looking for her. Everyone. Yet we are all stumped as to her whereabouts. She has no connections, nothing. I’ve wracked my brain to the point of exhaustion trying to figure out who in the hell would help her. Everyone around here hates her, except for Coon Dog. Fuck, my knuckles are still raw from beating his ass trying to see if he’s the one. He stood there and took it.
Dumbass. I know it’s not him. Of course, I never expected that Emerald had it in her to turn on me, either, even though I treated her worse than the slut she is.