AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My parents have twisted in their seats as best they can to see Enzo and me. It’s difficult with seatbelts and Mario between them. My dad’s gaze is riveted on Enzo when he speaks.
“Do you know who this is?”
“We believe we do. One of the men basically confirmed it.”
My dad doesn’t like Enzo’s evasiveness and presses him.
“Who is it?”
“A mercenary who’s known in our world as a ghost. He’s difficult to track.”
It’s my mom who speaks next and stuns Enzo.
“Robert Simms.”
I feel Enzo tense. His voice is a whisper, but it’s as cutting as a steel blade.
“How do you know that name?”
“He’s been around a long time. Calling him a ghost reminded me of a conversation I overheard my dad having with my grandfathers. It was a couple months before I found out I was pregnant with Chelle. I’d been chasing after her brothers and sister. My grandfathers wanted my dad to contact The Ghost. I guess that was his official name among them. Apparently, my dad knew the man personally. My maternal grandfather made it sound like that was unusual. I don’t know if Dad and Simms were friends or what, but Dad said he would. I knew I was hearing things I shouldn’t, so I walked away. It was the only time I ever heard my father talk about anything connected to the mob.”
“That conversation stuck with you for you to remember what they called him. How’d you know his real name if they called him The Ghost?”
“Because I asked my father. I didn’t want anything to do with the mob within even a hair’s breadth of my children. He said if I ever met or heard about a man named Robert Simms, I was to call him immediately and say, ‘found it.’ He would know I meant I’d found The Ghost — or rather, he’d found me.”
I lean forward and rest my hand on the back of the seat between Mario’s left shoulder and my mom.
“Did you make that call?”
“Yes.”
My fingers dig into the seat as I wait for her to say more, but she’s not forthcoming. This is not the time for her to clam up.
“Why, Mom?”
“I grew up with Killian DoyleandDonovan O’Rourke. Donovan was several years younger than us, but I knew him because his dad led the mob back then. Donovan approached me out of the blue about six months before he died. He knew my dad wouldn’t talk to him, so he tried to corner me and pressure me to relay a message to Dad. I told him no. I didn’t want to be involved, and I didn’t want to get Dad involved. Donovan wasnota reasonable man. He wouldn’t have hurt you or your siblings or me, but he would’ve hurt your dad and mine. He never believed no is a complete sentence unless he was the one saying it. He gave me a phone number and address and told me we didn’t have to play hide and seek anymore. At first, I had no idea what he meant, but the paper he gave me had R.S. written on it.”
“What did Grandpa do?”
“I don’t know, but the next time I ran into Donovan at a wedding, he wouldn’t look me in the eye. When your grandpa came to stand next me, Donovan left the entire event. I haven’t thought about this in years.”
“Oh, my God. Was that at Kelly Collins’s wedding?”
“Yes.”
“They paired me up with Dillan O’Rourke because I was a bridesmaid, and he was a groomsman.”
My dad scowls at me. He’d been watching Enzo the entire time, but now he focuses on me.
“And I told you more than once to stay away from him and his cousins. He called and asked you out the next day.”
I keep myself from flinching. Enzo’s going to think I kept that from him, but I just didn’t think about it. It was just over ten years ago.
“And I said no. I knew you didn’t approve and didn’t want me anywhere near their family. If you and Mom hadn’t been Kelly’s godparents, we wouldn’t have gone. I’m certain you didn’t imagine Kelly would marry an O’Rourke when you stood up at her baptism. I haven’t thought about that wedding in years. Not the ceremony, not the reception, not anyone I saw there. You basically cut ties with her parents after that because of who she married.”
Enzo’s voice is still unwavering when he chimes in.
“Who’d she marry?”
