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“So where are we going?”
“We aren’t going anywhere.” He opens the car door and steps outside. He holds out his hand to me and I take it so he can help me out of the car.
I hear tires crunching behind us and gasp, spinning around as fear clogs my throat.
“It’s okay, it’s my men. They are here for protection, that’s all.”
I nod, my eyes on the plane.
“We’re here so you can say goodbye to your family. I’m sending them away. They have money, and new identities, and are going to a safe place until all this is over. You can’t know where they are going. I have to protect you from that information. The less you know, the better. Do you understand?”
“They are here? I can see them?”
He pushes my hair out of my face as the wind blows. “You can see them, but this is goodbye for now. I need you to understand that.”
“I do,” I say quickly. “I do. Thank you. Thank you!” For the first time, I wrap my arms around his neck and give him a tight hug. “Thank you, Ari. Thank you for keeping your promise,” I whisper into his ear, pressing a kiss against his cheek.
“I’ll always keep my promises to you, Tesoro.”
I lean away, his eyes at ease as he looks at me.
He takes out his phone and makes a call. “Let them off the plane,” he orders.
I turn my head, my eyes already burning when I see the steps being lowered to the ground.
“This has to be quick. It’s dangerous for this to be happening. Bianchi is on the hunt for your brother, and he thinks your brother killed one of his men. You’re safe, but the longer your family is here, the more in danger they are.”
“I’ll be fast, I promise,” I tell him. “Thank you, again. I appreciate it.”
“Appreciate it enough that you won’t cut the ends from my socks?” he rubs his bottom lip with his index finger.
“Don’t go crazy. Where’s the fun in that?” I smile a genuine one.
“Rosie!” I hear Caplan’s voice calling to me from across the field.
I let go of Ari and sprint to my brother, smashing against him as we hold each other tightly.
“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry,” he chants over and over again, his fists balling the back of my shirt. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far.”
I sniffle, pulling back. His cheeks are wet, and I take his jaw in my hands. “It’s okay. It’s fine. Everything will work out, okay? You guys are going to go on a vacation. You’re going to have so much fun. You’ll finally be able to breathe, Cap. You’re okay. It will all be okay. Then, when all of this is said and done, we can be together again.”
Mom and Dad hobble over to us too. Dad’s hair is thinning, and he seems a bit pasty and pale.
“They will get the best medical treatment too. Ari has all of it covered. You’re finally free.”
“But you aren’t,” he holds back his tears. “What will happen to you? Why do you have to stay?”
“It’s a deal I made. I’ll be okay, I promise. He’s a nice man,” I find myself saying. “He won’t let anything bad happen to me.”
“You aren’t coming with?” My dad asks.
“You’re okay with that?” Mom questions right behind him. “I don’t know how I feel about this. We can’t leave the store.”
“You haven’t been working the store!” I snap. “You don’t give a crap about the store. You’re upset you have to do something for yourself now instead of other people killing themselves for you. Get on the plane.”
“Rosie O’Connor!”
“Mom, I love you, but get on the plane,” I say, my emotions starting to get the best of me.
