“We only talked business.”
“Work on him please.” I know it’s months away, but we’ll need months to convince him to join us, because Dieselnevertakes a break. “Mom and Lincoln are coming here to celebrate with us, and I’d really love him to come. I miss him.”
Saint harrumphs, and I slap his thigh in warning.
“I’ll do my best,” Theo says, cutting his steak into even pieces. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up. He’s a total workaholic.”
I’m so proud of Diesel, and his promotion was well-deserved, but I hate that I never see him anymore because he’s so busy. He makes the effort to keep in touch by phone, but I really hope he can celebrate Christmas with us.
I’d love Bry and Howie to join us too so it’s a real family affair, but Saint vetoed that idea the second I suggested it. While he’s made an effort to bond with Bry and he’s in regular phone contact with him, he’s still on the fence about Howie. I’m hoping, in time, Saint will be able to find it in his heart to forgive him.
Howie wants to make it up to Saint, and, according to Bry, he craves a relationship with his nephew, but he’s realistic enough to know he hurt him by abandoning him as a baby and that he can’t rush him.
Bry graduated high school by the skin of his teeth, and he’s now working at a tattoo parlor in Prestwick. Emmett and Sean both got football scholarships, and they’re now happily settled in the dorms at the University of Southern California. I make a point of checking in with all three regularly, and I hope we never lose contact.
“How is the lovely Giana?” Caz asks, interrupting my thoughts.
I focus on his wolfish grin, already knowing where he’s going with this. Caz is in a playful mood tonight, and it’s a manifestation of the happy place he’s in.
“Still denying her and Lincoln have a friend with benefits thing going on?” he adds.
“The official line she’s still feeding me is they are best friends.”
“It could be the truth,” Theo says, always quick to defend.
“So pure,” Caz teases, and Theo stabs him with a dark look. Caz chuckles. “They’re bumping uglies, for sure.”
“She says she wants to help him set up his new law practice because she feels responsible for the fact he’s in a wheelchair now, and maybe that’s true, but she’s happy, and that’s all I care about.”
Mom and Lincoln moved to Arizona six months ago, because that’s where Lincoln and Diesel’s family lives. Mom is setting up the law office they bought together, as business partners. When it’s open, she will manage it while Lincoln will provide legal services to the local community. Mom sold our family home, and she’s bought a new sprawling mansion in a nice, exclusive, gated community in Arizona, which Lincoln shares with her.
“Shit, I forgot to mention this,” Galen says, setting down his silverware. “I saw a report online today. Finn Houston and his sidekick Brooklyn Robbins were arrested on drug-trafficking charges in Texas last weekend.”
“So that’s where they were hiding out,” Saint muses, finishing his food and shoving his plate away.
“I’m not surprised they were arrested. Neither of them is smart enough to sell drugs and not get caught.” I take a sip of my wine.
“Let’s hopetheymake it to trial,” Galen supplies.
“I doubt there are higher powers who need to silence those two idiots,” Saint says.
Silence descends as we remember how Randall Solice was found hanging in his cell just before he was due to stand trial on multiple charges.
The FBI didn’t have enough evidence to charge the head of Homeland Security, but the doubt it cast on his reputation was enough for him to retire early under a cloud of suspicion.
Commissioner Leydon was sent to prison, convicted on multiple counts of treachery and murder. He’ll spend the rest of his days behind bars.
Diesel says he was the scapegoat, because someone had to publicly pay, but they buried half the stuff that happened in the process, which I fucking hate. It means the man who ordered my father’s murder is walking around with a generous pension and not a single care in the world. I could go after the ex-head of Homeland Security, but there has to come a point where you draw a line under something, and we made a call, collectively, to let it go.
Maybe, I’ll feel differently in the future, but right now, we’re enjoying our new lives and the freedom we have to choose our own path.
Diesel says the new head of Homeland Security is a good guy and together they are hoping to clean up both organizations, but it’s a tall order because corruption is hard to completely weed out.
_______________
Caz and Theoenjoy beers on the patio while the three of us clean up after dinner. Then we join them outside, taking a few quiet moments to appreciate all we’ve fought so hard for.
Although nightfall is creeping in, the weather is unseasonably warm for September, and it’s still suitable for swimming. Something we indulge in regularly, thanks to our own private beach. I stand, pulling my cotton sundress up over my head and tossing it on the lounge chair. “Last one in the water gets cockblocked for a month.” I giggle as I race toward the shore in my bra and panties.
