“Aerin!” Past Vinnie rushes my mom, still wearing the dress I last saw her in when she kissed my cheek and headed out to shop. She makes it to the desk as I hurry around it and suddenly she’s in my arms. “Oh darling!”
“Mom? What the—how are you even—are you okay?” I stumble over my words, unable to decide what I want to ask first as I cuddle her close and she weeps onto my shoulder.
“Oh, it was awful. It was awful! I thought I was going to die there!”
“How did you even…?”
The floorboards creak and Vinnie moves out of the way so the answer to all my questions can walk through the door.
He’s taller than I remember and the wrinkles on his face sink a little deeper when our eyes meet and he smiles that soft, familiar, slightly crooked smile. His eyes, as gold as the setting sun, twinkle and he stops a few feet away while dragging one hand through dark hair that’s definitely been kissed with a little more silver.
“You really should be more careful who you make a deal with,” he says, and the warm gravel in his voice sends a thrill shooting through me from head to toe.
“Falco?” His name chokes out of me, and I step away from Mom after kissing her cheek. “You…you’re here.”
“I’m here.”
“How? I…I don’t understand.” I briefly glance back at Mom as she snatches up my undrunk Scotch and downs it. “What’s happening?”
“The Cartel? Hernandez, I think his name was?”
My eyes widen. “That wasyou?”
“Of course it was.”
“I… Explain.” Emotion claws up my throat and chokes me slightly. “Right now.”
He smiles and my heart lifts. “When I left, I asked Rex and Bullet to keep an eye on you. They both work for me now, technically. They take turns and shift around depending on what I need. I’m…sorry about your father.”
Tears build in my eyes and I press my lips together, fighting to remain composed.
“I would have been here sooner, but I didn’t want to interfere, then I was stuck in the Middle East on a job so Rex was watching you. He called the second your Mom got taken and Bullet flew back first. I came in after on a cargo plane.”
“How did you find her?”
“It was like something out of an action movie,” Mom says as she pours herself another drink.
“Rex has tracking on everyone you deal with. I check them out when I can and we were suspicious of Hernandez because we couldn’t verify his claims about this new drug. Turns out it was just a ruse to get close to your men without raising suspicion. When your mom vanished, we looked there as soon as I landed and found her. They were trying to sell her to some new general in the Irish.”
Anger warms my gut at the thought of the Irish trying to fuck me over again. This time, I won’t leave enough of them left to attempt a third betrayal.
“You saved her,” I say hoarsely. “And then you came…”
He nods and rubs a hand down his chin, a glint of nervousness entering his gaze. “I…didn’t know if you’d want to see me.”
I step forward. “Why on earth wouldn’t you?”
“I hid. I stayed away. And then your father died and I feared you’d blame me. Or that time would make you resent me for leaving you behind.” His eyes dart down to the locket resting against my breastbone and his lips twitch.
I step forward again and breathe in, instantly dragged back to the night in the cabin with how familiar his woody scent is. “Your actions saved me. Saved both of us. I looked for you.”
“Half thought you wanted to kill me.”
“No! No, I wanted to find you. I wanted you to come home.”
“Home?” Falco’s head tilts slightly. “You still…?”
Before he can finish, I reach out and take his hand, and it’s impossible to keep the smile off my face as I pull him toward the crib tucked in the corner. “If you’re about to ask me if I still love you, then shut the hell up and look.”
