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“You know if I’m asking, I can’t, Mamma.”
I hear her sniffling. “I won’t lose you to that life, Hawk. We got out once before and you did on your own when you went back even as I begged you not to. I know you had things to learn by yourself that my words could not satisfy, but I knew you’d open doors which wouldn’t ever fully close. Please, tell me why. I can’t think of any reason you need to go back now after all this time.”
I glance down at the damning words of the contract, and squeeze my eyes shut. “Matteo. He came for me, like I knew he would. What he thinks I did, what I let him believe…he wants revenge.”
“He can’t make you do anything,mio figlio.Pappi assured me he took care of it. He promised me, and of all the things my father is guilty of, breaking promises isn’t one of them,” she says quickly.
“Mamma, I know Marco hasn’t ever broken a promise to you, but this may be something even he can’t control. That’s why I need to talk to him. I need to find out what he knows and see what my options are.”
“Before I give you his number, youwilltell me why you can’t just ignore this. What’s happened, Hawk?” she demands in a tone I always yielded to as a child.
“It’s Brittney,” I reply. She may as well hear it from me.
I hear the sharp gasp on her end of the connection. She fires off in Italian, so quickly I don’t catch what she says. “Is she okay?”
“She will be. I’ll make sure of it. You were right. I think I did love her all those years ago. Matteo’s done his homework and he knows that,” I admit.
“I’d say he knows more than that, Hawk. Answer me this…is your love for her only in the past, or does it live in the present too?” she asks, but she knows the answer. I haven’t told Mamma anything about us in the present, but she knows we’ve been in touch from time to time. I think part of her would like to question Brittney herself about matters from the past, but a bigger part sees past the murky waters of that time and acknowledges the connection we’ve always had. For that reason alone, she’ll do whatever she can to help Brittney. She knows without me telling her—Brittney is important to me. I won the lottery in the mother department. Mamma loves me and Wren fiercely and will stop at nothing to ensure our happiness.
I could never lie to her. She’d know, first of all. She’s the one person I can trust without fail. “Yes, Mamma. Heaven help me, but I’ve fallen for her again. I’ll do anything to protect her from this, even if it means taking her place.”
“No one is going to be going anywhere. That’s a promise I’m making to you. I’ll give you Pappi’s number. Trust me,mio figlio,there’ll be hell to pay when he finds out the Leones have pulled something new on this family,” she says in a way that tells me she means it. She rattles off Marco’s number to me, and I thank her. She makes me promise not to do anything Marco wouldn’t advise. I make the promise, but even as I utter the words, I’m afraid I’ll break it anyway.
I punch out the number she gave me and let it ring. “Hello?” I didn’t expect to hear my grandfather’s voice again. It’s deep and thick with an Italian accent much stronger than Mamma’s.
“Marco. It’s Hawk. I need your help.” I waste no time with pleasantries. This man knows I wouldn’t be calling if I didn’t need something. He helped get me out and shield me from the aftermath once before.
“I’m listening.” It’s all he gives me.
I highlight details of what’s happening. He grunts occasionally in response. When I’ve finished my explanation of past and current events, he finally asks a question. “Tell me this, grandson…I helped you leave one woman you claimed to love, now you want me to help you save another you say you love. Do you make a habit of loving someone so easily and finding trouble with them? Where I come from, you recognize lust for what it is, but you only ever truly love one person. So, which one is it? The one you left here or the one you’re willing to cause war over?”
There isn’t a moment of hesitation. “It’s always been Brittney, even when I didn’t think it was. She claimed my heart the moment she said hello when we first came to Greendale Valley as kids. There were things—people—who divided us before. But we know the truth now. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”
“Very well. This family picks its battles carefully. Love is the best reason to fight for anything. I must warn you; it won’t be so easy this time around. There are things I will expect from you too. You are my firstborn grandchild. I’ve let that go up until now. Your sister doesn’t even remember us…a sad fact I’ve had to live with. But you, Hawk, you know it all. You’re a full-grown man now. Your mother had you when she was only eighteen. Your uncle Vincent is forty-nine. Only one year older than your mother, my precious Valentina. But you and I both know he didn’t marry and has no heirs. And my poor Victor…” He trails off. “It’s up to you to carry on this family’s legacy one day,” he says in a pressing way.
I clench my teeth. It’s not that I don’t want anything to do with my family, but I don’t want to keep up the “family legacy” as he calls it. When Marco caught wind of my presence in Nashville, I’d already been there for close to a year and was under my father’s spell of lies, which had me believing the Leones were on the good side and my own family, the Rossis, were the menacing powerhouse of Nashville. Little did I know it was only partially true. The Rossisarea powerhouse to be reckoned with in Nashville, but they are a force of good coloring in shades of gray at times. Not everything is black and white in their eyes.
The Leones, however, want the power and status my family has. They fight dirty and live closer to the dark side than anything pure and good. For them, as long as they get what they want, there is no wrong or unacceptable way to get it. My own father, Kieran Abbott, was sucked in when he was bitter at my mother’s family for shunning him. My father may have once started out as a decent man, but greed and power became his mistress as he abandoned my mother and his children.
I won’t ever feel sorry for him again. I did once upon a time before I knew what he did. It’s surprising he’s still breathing. But by the grace of my mother’s love, he was spared. If he ever dares to contact her again, he’s a dead man. My sister and I weren’t totally off-limits, because as a child who might want answers, it was left open to interpretation. But my mother is a different story.
As bad of a man as my father turned out to be, I can’t help but believe he still loves my mother the same way she still loves him. It’s just sad he chose everything else over her. Some choices have unredeemable consequences.
“I understand. But I need you to understand I don’t want to be involved in anything criminal,” I say matter-of-factly.
“You know as well as I do, things can’t always be the way we want them to be. This family doesn’t do anything criminal if it can be avoided. But we rule with an iron fist when the occasion arises. Your law degree will serve this family well,” he says.
“You know I’m not an attorney. I have my degree but that’s it,” I remind him.
“I know. But the knowledge you have will be useful to us. You can still offer legal counsel, just not in a courtroom. If you want to go all the way and become an attorney, we’ll make it happen,” he surmises aloud.
“I don’t want that,” I answer quickly. I want no part of being in a courtroom or a stuffy office for that matter. I want the freedom and open space of being on the Valley B. I want a simple life, but I know it’s not the one I was destined for.
“So be it. Tomorrow, bring Brittney to my house. You remember where it is, I’m sure. I need to meet her and see for myself the woman you say you love. Is she worthy of all you’re about to do for her?” he asks with the slightest hint of concern.
“She’s worth it all. But I won’t chain her to me and the life I’ll have to live by taking my place with you. She deserves the world…her freedom most of all. No matter how much I love her, I won’t take it away,” I tell him solemnly.
“I don’t think you should make that decision for her, Hawk. If she loves you the way you say you love her, don’t you think she should be able to choose?”
