“They set us up,” Colm said, a muscle working in his jaw. “Fed us bad information, let us think we had the green light to move on a shipment that turned out to be a sting they’d arranged themselves. By the time we figured out what was happening, they had proof that we’d stolen from them and the Murphys. Real proof. It gave them exactly the excuse they needed.”
“Excuse for what?”
“Old man Rossi’s been trying to swallow our territory for a decade,” my mother said. “He finally had a reason the other families would support.”
“So the bounty on my head is just about a territory dispute?” I asked. “That doesn’t explain Donny.”
My parents exchanged a look.
“Rossi and the Murphys have been in an alliance for years,” Colm said. “When Donny started making noise about wanting an heir now that his first wife’s out of the picture, Rossi saw a way to get two things at once. They could cripple us, and hand the Murphys exactly what they’d been asking for. Bring you back, marry you off to Donny, and Rossi gets to play peacemaker between two families while we’re left with nothing.”
“Well, this isn’t at all complicated,” Marilee muttered.
“Now everyone’s racing to see who delivers you to Donny first,” my mother added. “The Rossis, us, whoever else has heard there’s a reward. It’s going to be us. We won’t get the bounty of course, but it’ll get us back into the good graces of the Murphys so we can prove to them what the Rossis did. Then the Rossis will be ruined.”
“I’m not going back to Donny,” I said, exasperation thick in my voice. “I don’t know why he would even be interested in me after everything that went down between us.”
I resumed my pacing.
“Ego,” Marilee supplied. “He wants you to prove he’s got the upper hand again.”
My father might be older now, but he hadn’t lost his strength. He had his arm around my neck and a gun pointed at my head before I even realized that he’d moved.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother pointing a small handgun at Marilee.
“Stay right where you are, vampire,”Mamhissed. “I’ll burn you to a crisp.”
That’s when I realized that she was holding a wooden cross in her other hand, brandishing it at Marilee like a second weapon.
“That only works in movies,” I told her, rolling my eyes.
My father tightened his grip on my neck and hissed in my ear, “Be quiet.”
I knew how to get out of this hold. I’d escaped a similar hold in training dozens of times. But for some reason I was frozen in place, my mind going back to that scared little girl who would agree to anything to keep her parents off her case.
Fortunately Marilee had no such baggage.
She jumped forward, grabbing both the gun and the cross from my mother. She tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans, then rolled the cross between her palms.
“Oh no!” she fake wailed in a high-pitched voice, “The cross is burning me. It hurts! Save me, I’m turning to dust.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I rolled my lips in, suppressing a laugh at her theatrics.
“Maybe if you add some holy water it’ll help.” Marilee continued mocking her. “We can do it on the balcony where the sun can hit me and then I’ll totally be dust, don’t worry.”
My mother huffed in annoyance, moving behind my father for protection.
By this time I’d had enough of both of them. I sent Marilee a look, signaling my intent, then sprang into action. I tucked my chin to protect my windpipe, then wrapped both hands around my father’s arm, pulling it downwards as I bent my knees to add more weight. As his balance shifted, I reached one arm back, slamming my elbow into his midsection, then rotated my body until I slipped from his grasp. Once I was free, I slammed my foot down on his as hard as I could.
He stumbled back, bellowing a string of Gaelic curses.
“You’re lucky she didn’t go for the balls,” Marilee told him. “I’ve seen her do it, and it’s not pretty. At least for people with balls.”
WhenDajust continued cursing, she turned her attention to me.
“Where’d you learn that?” Marilee asked, her eyes flashing with amusement.
“I told you, I’ve had a lot of self-defense training.”
