“Like I said,” Emmitt interjected. “I already have.”
She hardly doubted it; the guy really did have a freakish talent for memorization. Something that had helped him coast through school and still get straight A’s. His gift for memory hadn’t hurt him in the woman department either; he never forgot things like preferences or important dates.
Richard shook his head. “I don’t need to have the whole thing memorized to recall what he said.” He put up a finger to count it out while he continued. “He didn’t want Grandma to die alone.Hedidn’t want to die alone. But more than that, he feels the billionaire lifestyle offers a shallow existence.”
Andie bristled from the air of respect his tone carried.
“He wanted us to have experiences like he had in prison,” her older brother continued, “comforting a weeping inmate who’d just lost his wife. Being held by a different inmate when he lost his own son, and his daughter-in-law too for that matter. He did it for us more than himself.”
Seems like Richard memorized a good portion of it too.
“Sure, if that’s what you want to believe,” Emmitt grumbled.
“That’s what the lettersaid.” Richard countered.
“Yeah, but Grandpa’s the one with ties to the mafia.He’sthe one who got caught up in criminal activity. Suddenly he rats out some of the big guys in a plea bargain, and he has what—a measly five or ten years left to live?”
Richard shook his head. “You’re heartless.”
“I’m just saying what the rest of us are thinking, includingyou,so don’t try and say otherwise.”
Andie’s heart dropped like a hot and heavy stone. Her muscles tensed. Conversations about Grandpa and their forced venture into a new life always put her on edge. Or maybe it was the fact that what Emmitt said was true. She resented her grandfather for putting them all in jeopardy. He’d known that the minute he made the plea bargain—a list of inside information and names in exchange for his early release—the mob would retaliate. It’s why that plea bargain came with a relocation package for all of them.
Of course, the youngest two brothers, stubborn and invincible as they were, had refused that relocation option. Memphis and Maverick—the names Andie would know them as from this point on—were a product of Mom’s unintended pregnancy. Twins. Upon discovering Grandpa’s plea bargain, the two opted for a rootless existence, convinced that traveling from one exotic locale to the next would buy them safety, despite the detective’s strict caution that such travel would, instead, make them easy targets.
The fact that her younger brothers were now at risk was just one more reason to curse Grandpa for what he’d done. Aside from that, their family was severed forever now. They’d likely never see, talk to, or hear from the twins again, even if they did live a long life in their alternate escape.
Grandpa had earned his own life sentence away from loved ones and the life he once knew. But was it fair to then take those luxuries away from his own flesh and blood, putting them at risk in the process?
Either way, Richard was right. She’d probably never forget the tone of Grandpa’s letter or what he was, in essence, saying to them all. But she didn’t want to destroy it just yet. Perhaps reading it again could help her to, eventually, forgive him for what he’d done.
Her mind drifted back to Memphis and Maverick. “I wonder if they told Grandpa that two of his grandkids refused to go into the relocation program.”
Richard shook his head. “No way. They would never tell him. He’d freak out if they did.”
“So we should be the only ones who have to worry about them day in and day out?” A cold bout of fear pushed through Andie’s insides. Sure, the twins had moved to the west coast shortly after the helicopter crash that took their parents, but they were still part of the family, and the mob knew that as well as anyone.
“Part of me wishes I’d done what they did,” Emmitt confessed. “I mean, when you have billions of dollars, you can move from one country to the next. Like a permanent vacation.”
“Don’t you think that’s exactly what the they expect us to be doing? Traveling the globe?” Richard retorted. “Heck, guys in the mafia are rich too. They frequent the exact same hotspots that only the wealthy can afford. I wouldn’t be surprised if the twins have already been found and done away with by now.”
Andie gasped and covered her heart. As if the heat of her hand might somehow soften the frigid blow of her brother’s words. She glared at him, furious to see that unrepentant expression that was soRichard.
“I can’t believe you’d say that.”
“C’mon, Andie. You’re the only other one in the family who has her feet on the ground. This isn’t some smalltime crime ring we’re dealing with. Better to accept whatisthan…stay up night after night, being sick to your stomach about something that you can’t control no matter how many scenarios you work through your head.” Richard’s jaw tightened, but it didn’t quite stop the tiny quiver she saw along his bottom lip. “Morons,” he snapped, eyes still narrowed on the road ahead.
And that’s how the— she stopped herself from thinking their last name and focused on the new one instead—theDuranfamily. That’s how the Duran men showed concern—the ever-popular pretense of anger.
“They haven’t been caught and they’re not going to be either,” Emmitt assured. “They’re living it up in the lap of luxury somewhere. The blazing sun, cool drinks, a couple of hot, mindless babes by their side…”
“Mindless is right, if they’re with those idiots,” Richard grumbled.
It went quiet for a blink as Andie shook her head. Ever since Mom and Dad died, their family had fractured. Heck, the kids had already moved into their own private penthouse as they turned eighteen, one by one. But without having parents around to organize family dinners or holiday get togethers, their relationships had just…fizzled out. Maverick and Memphis were the exception. They’d always stayed close.
Of the older two, Andie got along with Emmitt better than Richard. Not because they were alike by any means, rather because theyweren’t.Either way, she liked Emmitt’s take far better than Richard’s no matter how naïve the outlook seemed to be. From here on out, she’d try to imagine Memphis and Maverick living the good life.
“Hey,” Emmitt said, pointing at something ahead of them. “Looks like we really are in the country now, doesn’t it? There’s a real-life cowboy for you right there, Andie.”
