Page 76 of Saving Wyatt

“Yeah, we have booked an appointment to talk to a specialist, but we’ll see. It might be that his abusive home stunted his development so much that all he needs is some normalcy to catch up. If not, we’ll be there to support him either way.”

Parker turned around and put my tea in the blender before he spoke again as he passed me my cup.

“Now that you know his circumstances better, do you think there’s a chance of reunification?”

Parker bit his lip. “No. I don’t think so. There would have to be some sort of miracle.”

“I see. So you think you’ll adopt him? When all is said and done?”

Parker looked behind him, at Hwan and pressed his lips together. “We told ourselves we wouldn’t even flirt with the idea until we know for sure he won’t be taken from us, but…yeah. We definitely will.”

I couldn’t help but smile.

It was definitely a good sign for them as parents that they weren’t the least bit hesitant of adopting a child that might have higher developmental needs than most.

“That’s great. I’m crossing all my fingers and toes for you guys. And for little Levi, of course. He deserves a good family.”

Parker smiled and nodded, and when I tried to pay, he dismissed me. “On the house. For the kind words,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know I won’t take advantage of that,” I said. “I’m full of kind words.”

Parker chuckled. “I’m sure you are. Let’s take it on a case-by-case basis and see where that gets us.”

“Diplomatic. Smart.” I winked at him and left with my free bubble tea just as Slade walked in with his boyfriend and their dog, Pixel.

I couldn’t help but stand outside the shop and look inside, look at the men Wyatt had brought to the island and the community he’d helped build here.

Why could he only see the bad stuff that had happened? Why couldn’t he see the good things that had happened as a result? All these men, all these people that had found love on Mayberry Holm. That had found a place and someone to call home. That was his doing. That was all him.

Maybe he needed to spend more time with his old teammates. He needed to see what he’d helped create. Maybe I could help him see all that and so much more. And maybe that would make him realize he didn’t destroy lives. He made them.

TWENTY-SIX

WYATT

“Are you sure about this?” I asked Nino Ferraro for what felt like the hundredth time, and he—for the hundredth time—turned to me with his stiff expression and pierced me with his gaze.

I put my hands up in surrender, and he took a step backwards.

“Trust me. He wants to meet me as much as you want to take him down. This will be quick and easy,” he said.

I somehow doubted the quick—and the easy—but I didn’t say anything. He might’ve been thirty years younger than me, but he’d grown up in a criminal family, so I was sure he knew how criminals operated better than I did.

“Okay, okay,” King said beside me and shook his joined fingers in front of his mouth. “Run through this once again for me.”

Nino rolled his eyes and stood closer to his brother long enough to pat his shoulder. “Would you relax? Both of you? I know what I’m doing. You sit back and wait to reap the rewards.”

He was far too confident for my liking, but what other options did we have? We had no way to bring Salieri down. Nothing I could think of, anyway. Maybe taking him out the old-fashioned way was the cowardly way to do it, but if it got us the end result we wanted, did it matter?

Besides, getting him arrested and in prison wouldn’t achieve anything. He could still control things from behind bars. He wouldn’t be the first or last one to do it. And if we didn’t get all the proof we needed, he’d be out before long anyway.

No, this was the only way out of this mess. With him dead, and if it got Nino in trouble, well, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. One less crime lord out there was always a good thing, even if he was “family.”

“Okay. Fine. But please, be careful,” King said, and I nodded beside him.

Nino straightened his black suit jacket that probably cost more than my car, and he walked to his group of men—an agreed three from both sides—and got into a black SUV.

They didn’t go very far. Just a couple of minutes down the road to one of the many abandoned farmhouses in Hummingbird County, while we stayed back in my car, waiting.