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Ciara Gilroy
I wasn’t sure if it was on his own accord or at Viktor’s order, but Andrei insisted on driving me and Sean to his school in Brooklynn, and he waited in the car as I walked Sean inside the building. He did thisafterI signed the marriage license, of course. Something that Viktor wouldn’t let me leave without doing.
“Buddy,” I said, unsure of how to broach the topic. “You’re going to be safe in school, but you have to follow a few new rules.”
His face fell. “I can still be friends with Brody and Jay, right?”
“Of course, baby. That’s not it at all. Do you know how you used to wait outside with your friends after school was out and wait for me to pick you up?” He nodded. “For now, I want you to wait in the cafeteria. You’re only allowed to leave the building beside me, Mr. Andrei, or Viktor. Nobody else is allowed.”
“What if they say they’re your friend?” he asked.
“Absolutely not,” I said pulling him to a halt. “Only us. Nobody else.”
“But what if something happens and you can’t make it on time?”
I knew the previous night’s events had given him a lot of anxiety, so I thought on my feet. “How about this: We can have a secret password you can’t tell anybody else. If the person knows our password, they can take you. If not, you wait for me.”
He perked up. “A password?”
“Anything you want, but you have to whisper it so nobody else can hear. It’s only our secret.”
He nodded excitedly, looking around and thinking. “Can it be a bad word?” he asked in a low tone.
I wanted to say no, but I took a deep breath and nodded with a smirk. “You’re only allowed to say it this one time, though,” I told him.
He nodded excitedly and leaned forward, whispering in my ear. “Bitchy loser face,” he whispered, and it took everything in me not to laugh at the absurdity of his request. I supposed nobody in their right mind would ever think that was the password, so I nodded and pulled away.
“Fine,” I said. “But you better not say that to anybody else. This only works if it’s a secret.”
“Deal,” he said, jumping with a manic laugh. I wondered briefly as we continued the last few yards to the school if the password would make him feel a little better about the situation—a little bit safer.
As we made it to the doors at the front of the school I bent and gave him a large hug and a kiss on both cheeks. He whispered in my ear “I’ll remember bitchy loser face. I promise,” he said with a wide grin before rushing the rest of the way into the building, greeting one of the teachers with a high five. I rolled my eyes exaggeratedly as I realized I’d likely hear that passcode from him a lot. My eyes moved to the bulletin board beside the door. It was the same one I stared at each day—the one that advertised openings for an English and science teacher for the middle school and a few elementary school teachers.
My heart dropped as I realized I’d never be able to do it. I had the degree, the training hours, the qualifications, and the licensure, but as soon as they ran a background check—as soon as they saw that my father was a mob boss—they would never hire me. For that reason alone, I’d been turned away from a dozen schools, and the rejection still hurt.
All I wanted was to be a teacher, but I was instead stuck as a bartender—one of the only jobs I could get with my familial ties.
In my distraction, I didn’t notice someone coming behind me until he spoke, startling me from my thoughts. “Anyone can find you here.”
I jumped, spinning around. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at the tall, lean man with his hands in his pockets. He’d been under my father—working closely with him for years. I’d called him Uncle Erin, and he’d been kind to me as a child. Even as a teenager, I always thought I could go to him for my problems, but when my father turned on me and I left, I hadn’t seen him since.
He hadn’t bothered to come and see me for years—not until now.
And now, there was an order to kill me.
“I’m not alone,” I said, looking toward where Andrei had parked. But he was around the corner and out of sight. He wouldn’t know to come and look for me until it was too late.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, shaking his head as hurt flashed in his eyes. “Do you really think so lowly of me? I was there when you grew up. I gave you presents for your birthday for your entire life.”
“And you were standing beside my father when he said he was sending me to Chicago to be married to a man I’d never met.”
He exhaled deeply, shaking his head. “And I was also by his side when he sent out a do-not-touch order for all the other mob bosses in the surrounding area. I was there when he executed men for arguing with the order. Do you know how many people wanted you dead for screwing with the alliance he’d set between you and the boss in Chicago?”
I shook my head. My father hadn’t even tried reaching out to me, so to think he’d protected me all these years felt impossible. “He didn’t.”
“Hedid,” Erin said. “And I was loyal to him, not this new boss. I’m here to tell you that you need to get your son and get out of here. Nobody is here to protect you anymore, and I can’t be that person. I have my own family now, Ciara, but I have to warn you that you’re in great danger. More than you know.”
“The guys who showed up at my apartment with guns the other night told me all I needed to know,” I shot back, mouth tight with frustration. “Why are you really here?”
