Her voice became softer, filling with an almost a wistful tone. “My parents…they weren’t perfect, but they loved me.” She smiled. “My mom used to take me on walks in Central Park. On the way home we’d stop for ice cream and talk. God, I miss our talks. And my dad…”
Her voice cracked, but Coop remained silent, giving her the time she needed to regroup.
I wonder if she even knows she’s crying.
“My dad was my whole world. And the way he looked at my mom, his love for her was so obvious.” Mac’s sad smile grew a little wider. “You’re a lot like him, actually. He was this fierce protector but also one of the sweetest men I’ve ever known.” Her chin quivered, a set of blue, watery eyes lifting to meet his again. “I was devastated when I lost them. It only got worse after I went to live with Tony.”
“What happened?” he asked quietly, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“I learned what Tony really did for a living.” Mac swiped angrily at her tears. “I also found out the truth about my dad.” She hugged herself.
“Your dad?”
Her smile turned bitter. “Turns out, Uncle Tony wasn’t the only criminal in the family. My dad was in the business, too.”
Ah, hell.
“Why did you run away at sixteen and join the Army?”
Licking her dry lips, Mac began to share her story. “The night before my sixteenth birthday, Tony left with Luca. They were always doing that, running off at odd hours. My uncle’s excuse was always the same. Work.”
“You didn’t believe him?”
“I wanted to. But, no. I didn’t. So I followed them.”
Coop’s brows formed two high arches. “You did what?”
“It wasn’t hard. I knew the keys to the other cars were in Tony’s desk, so I picked the lock and took a set. It was dark, and I stayed back so they wouldn’t spot me.”
She was acting like an operative, even back then.
“I followed them into a neighborhood. He was in real estate, and I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe it really was work. So I got out and peeked through the window of the house they’d gone into.”
“What did you see?”
“Luca was holding a gun on a man inside his own living room. He was about to shoot him on my uncle’s order. I couldn’t let that man die, so I hit the emergency button on the car’s fob to spook them.”
Jesus.“And?”
“It worked. They left the man alone in his house and took off. The second they rounded the corner, I sprinted back to the car and got the hell out of there. I knew a shortcut, so I was able to get back to my uncle’s house before Tony and Luca. I put the keys back, locked the office, and went to bed. I was confident they had no idea what I’d done.”
“But they knew.”
Mac nodded. “Yeah. They knew.”
Terrified of the answer, Coop had to ask. “What happened on your birthday, Mac?”
She turned and walked to the other end of the room. With her back to him, she stared out the window at the city below.
“That next morning my uncle surprised me by saying he was letting me skip school to go car shopping. When we got to the dealership, Luca was waiting for us.” Mac swallowed. “He wasn’t alone.”
“The man from the house?”
“His name was Michael Shaeffer. He was on his knees, hands and ankles bound together. Duct tape covered his mouth, and he was crying.” Hugging herself, Mac turned to face him once more. “Luca had installed a tracking device on my phone without my knowledge. That’s how they knew it was me who’d set off the car alarm. Tony said since I was so interested in what he did for a living he’d show me. Up close and personal.”
“What happened?”
“I was crying and screaming. Begging him not to do it. That’s when he told me about my dad, andhisdad. Said the business was in my blood. When I told him I wanted nothing to do with it, Tony put a gun to my head and made me get down on my knees in front of Shaeffer. I thought…I thought he was going to kill me, too.” Her voice cracked but she cleared her throat and kept going. “Rather than shoot me, he made me look into Shaeffer’s eyes while Luca put a bullet through the man’s brain.”
