AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When she left, she’d lied and said she’d paid for a sperm donor who looked like me. She’d been trying to keep Everett a secret from Waylon so she could keep Everett as a bargaining chip against me.
Truth was, Everett didn’t need to be my biological son for me to love him.
I’d raised him for five years, watched him take his first steps, taught him how to read, pushed him on the swings, fed him, bathed him, provided for him.
We’d spent five years together, where I didn’t just act like his parent.
I. Was. His. Dad.
And now I knew how to get him back.
I shot a text to Asher to fire up his company jet and meet me at the private landing strip. Then I called Niccolaio, who answered on the first ring.
“Bastian?”
“I need a favor.”
I swallowed down the ball lodged in my throat.
I’d thought Vince’s sacrifice had been for Niccolaio—to fulfill the blood debt, end the Andretti-Romano war, and get the bounty off Niccolaio’s head.
But it had also been for me. Ending the Andretti-Romano war would let me enter Alabama.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that Vince had chosen to turn himself over to the Andretti syndicate days after discovering what I needed to get Everett back.
Niccolaio didn’t hesitate. “Sure. Anything.”
“Asher already has a plane schedule, but I need to get to Alabama.”
“I’ll clear it with the Andrettis.”
“You are an Andretti.”
He paused a beat before answering, “I’ll always be a Romano.”
The silence stifled the air as we both let Vince’s sacrifice sink in. He’d bound us together with his blood, forever family, forever brothers. I didn’t take that lightly.
Niccolaio cleared his throat. “Good luck.”
“Thank you.” And I meant it.
After hanging up, I grabbed two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash from my safe room and tossed it all into an unmarked duffel bag.
Hallucination Vince followed me back to my bedroom. I liked his company. I wanted him here, but I also needed to be on my A game.
I couldn’t risk anything happening with Everett, so I shot a text to Asher.
Bastian: Order me a burger.
Asher: I don’t do your bidding.
Asher: I’ll have one waiting on the plane.
Asher: Only because you look like shit.
Asher: For God’s sake, shower and brush your teeth.
Tossing my clothes off, I hopped into the shower, reinvigorated for the first time since I’d learned of Ariana’s betrayal.
