AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“In a couple of hours. You want to come find Kristin with me and I can tell her we found her dad?”
We find Kristin sitting at the kitchen table with Kat and Gabriella. In the four days since Max’s sister got here, she’s managed to become friends with everyone. She’s sweet and funny, and although she’s only eighteen, it’s clear she isn’t the naive little kid Max thinks she is. I think she’s fully prepared for the fact that her father won’t come back in the same condition he left. In fact, I think she’ll be super relieved just to hear that he’s alive.
“Hey. You’re back?” she says to Max.
He sits down and angles his chair to face her. “Yeah. I have something to talk to you about.”
Kat stands and holds her hands out to her daughter. “I’ll leave you all to it. I need to get some things ready for later.” Dante must have already filled her in on the Vito situation.
I smile at my niece. “I can watch Gabs later if you’re busy.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She waves Gabriella’s chubby little hand at us as they walk out of the kitchen.
“You have some news about my dad?” Kristin asks. See, not the slightest bit naive.
“Yes, we found him.”
“What?” Her hand flies to her mouth and tears well in her eyes. “Is he alive?”
“Yes,” Max says with a solemn nod. “But he’s not good, Kristin.”
She frowns. “Not good?”
“I’ve only seen his face, but he’s badly beaten. Real bad.”
“But he’s alive?”
“Yes.”
She throws her arms around her brother’s neck. “I knew you’d find him. Where is he? When can I see him?”
“He’s on his way here. But maybe you should wait to see him until after Kat and the doc fix him up.”
“He’s been missing for over three weeks, Max. I didn’t expect him to come home looking like he’d been on a vacation to the Bahamas. I know they’ll have tortured him.” A tear runs down her face.
Max wipes it away and wraps an arm around her. “I spoke to the men bringing him here. He’s in and out of consciousness, so you can see him for a few minutes when he gets here, but then he’ll have to be seen by the doctor. Maybe even operated on. You might not get a chance to talk with him until tomorrow. But Joey will stay with you while he’s with the doctor.”
Max glances up at me, his face etched with guilt. They’re going to interrogate Vito before they let him talk to his daughter, but it needs to be done. We have no idea who took him or why, and they need to know immediately if there’s any ongoing danger to our family. The safety of the people in this house is our main priority, and it always will be. I can’t forget the things Kristin’s father told her about us either. How we aren’t to be trusted. We’re the enemy.
Kristin may be innocent in all this, but I doubt her father is. Giving Max a gentle smile, I communicate that he’s doing the right thing.
* * *
I holdonto Kristin’s hand while her father is brought into the house in a wheelchair. His head rests on his shoulder like he’s sleeping, and his face is a mess of dried blood, cuts, and bruises. One of Dmitri’s men must have given him the huge overcoat he’s wearing because it’s clean.
“Dad!” Kristin lunges forward.
Vito’s head lolls to the side and his eyes flicker open. “K-K…” he croaks, but he can’t say her name.
“You’re going to be okay, Dad. Max will take care of you. I promise. You’re safe,” she sobs.
“B-buh,” he mumbles, and his eyes shutter closed again.
Kristin takes hold of his hand and gives it a soft squeeze. “They’ll take care of you, Dad. I’ll be right here when you wake up. Promise.”
“We need to check him over,” Kat says as she ushers the men with the wheelchair through to the room at the back of the house where she keeps all of her medical supplies. It also doubles as a makeshift operating theater when the occasion calls for it, which happens more frequently than it should.
ChapterThirty-Nine
