“How you doing, Yank?” Casper asks.
“Brooklyn,” Ruby says quickly, and I smile for the first time since I woke up.
“Brooklyn,” Casper corrects as he gives his former president’s daughter a once-over before returning his attention to me. “How’s life?”
“I feel like I got shot.”
“You did.” General walks into the room with a white lab coat on. The eyebrow raise I send him earns me a shake of his head. “Don’t start. Just because we’re here, don’t think I won’t make you hurt. There are a lot of things I can orcan’tgive you to make your stay here comfortable. So do yourself a favor and try to keep that Yankee sass inside that head of yours.”
I fold my lips together in a show of keeping them sealed, but I also cross my fingers. Something Ollie sees as he readjusts to sit beside me and less on top. Looking up, hesmiles at me before he snuggles down deep. I breathe in his scent as I look at the good doctor.
Before he can even do more than open his mouth, a roar erupts down the hall.
“Where the fuck is my sister?” That voice is something from my dreams. There’s no way it’s from who I think it is. “Get the fuck out of the way.” But the more he speaks, the more tears slowly flow down my cheeks.
“Fuck you, mafia boy. I don’t take orders from you.” I recognize Chains’ voice as he barks at my brother.
“You either take the order or you take the bullet my brother is about to put in your head.”
“If it’s Tommy holding the gun, make sure the safety’s off this time,” I say loud enough for everyone to hear as I rub my eyes with the back of my hand that Ollie isn’t leaning on.
A face I haven’t seen in years pops through the open door enough for me to see him. “Low blow, sis. I was sixteen.”
“Mama always said excuses were like fathers—everyone has one, but only a few really matter.”
The youngest of my brothers, and only two minutes older than me, walks in the room. He and I were the only ones who got Mama’s dark brown hair. The rest of my brothers took the dark black roots like our father. True Italians, they used to say, while me and Tommy just played at it. Not that you can tell the natural color on either of us. I dyed mine, and he did the same, but he was always more colorful than me. And this time is no different, with his blue mohawk on full display.
“Well, that one counted and was true. How goes it, nugget?”
I cough a few times before answering. “No one calls me that, and I’m just dandy. How about yourself?”
“Shut it.” Vinny pushes Tommy out of the way, walking in and taking all the air from my lungs.
I knew seeing my family, my brothers, again would be hard. Didn’t know when it would happen, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But seeing Vinny? The head of the family since Dad died when I was seven and he took control of the familia at age twenty-one?
I’ve looked up to him all my life. He’s been more father figure than older brother. But he never crossed the line withtellingme how to do things. He showed me options, pointed out what he would do, but he never forced the decision I chose. Even when it came to Ollie and Mia, he told me he would be there when he could, but he wasn’t going to risk everything. I got it. I really did. But seeing him here, coming after all this time of me being on the run, getting shot—repeatedly—and almost losing Ollie… well, I might just love the big fucker a little bit more.
“What happened?”
“Nice to see you too,” I say with a smirk that has him smirking, too, and his shoulders visibly sink back to normal. Vinny is many things, but one thing he will never be is a man able to watch his baby sister cry and not crumble. My sass eases some of the worry around his eyes as well.
He looks me over, no doubt noting every bandage he can see, and then he looks at Ollie. They’ve never met before. He heard about him, but when the whole thing happened, Vinny was running the syndicate. He didn’t have time for shaking hands and kissing babies. He dealt more with those hoping to take charge ’cause they thought he couldn’t handle it. All ofthem are probably dead now, since Vinny was never dethroned—and with my brothers at his back, he never will be.
He holds out his hand, offering it to my kid. Ollie takes a second before he shakes it. “Thanks for watching my sister. I owe you.”
Ollie has no clue who or what my brother is, not in the grand scheme. I might have talked about my family, but I didn’t go into details about what they did. Some things just don’t need to be shared. Like the fact that what my family does and their connections brought Ivan around and led to him to my bestie, Mia.
“Okay.”
The group chuckles, and it’s only then that I notice the room is packed with the Leone family and the Hounds. Well, a few Hounds. I notice a certain one missing, but I say nothing about it. Don’t want to come off needy when I’m not. Or at least I don’t think I am.
“What’s the diagnosis?” Bobby asks, always the one to get to the point, as he adjusts his glasses on his face. The only tell that he’s worried about me. He only messes with his glasses when’s there’s a problem he can’t fix by working the numbers out.
While Vinny might lead, Bobby, the second oldest, is all about the facts and numbers. He gathers the data for Vinny to use to decide how things will go, while Danny is the one who makes the examples of anyone who gets out of line. And Tommy? Well, Tommy and I were the two who usually caused problems. But we helped pick up the mess… most of the time. Before I left, Tommy was doing PR for the familia—meaning he was talking to everyone, putting his ear to the ground. Everyone trusted Tommy and usually told him more than he should know. Which Vinny used to his advantage, of course.
“Why not ask me? I am the one lying in the bed, after all.”
Bobby looks over at me and rolls his green gemstone eyes. They always remind me of a bird’s with how bright and big they are. Of course, the kids back home used to tease him mercilessly until Danny started knocking heads. Even at six, it was clear he would be Vinny’s enforcer, even though he was the third oldest and nine years his junior.
