"What the fuck do you want?" I growl in a low voice as I answer the phone. I take a sweeping look around the side of the house before stepping out the side door.
"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news brother, but I believe you would place me on your hit list if I didn't call you with the information I have." Nick's voice vibrates through the speaker.
I pull out a cigarette, light it, and take in a long drag, "What do you need to tell me, Nick, this isn't the best time to talk." I speak as the smoke respires from my mouth.
"Caine has given me orders to bring you home at any means necessary."
I truly am surprised by that. How would my coming back benefit him any? "Why now?" I ask, taking a drag from the cigarette. "Why wait two years before he orders me back?"
"Dante," Nick says. "I told you he fucked up, and now he has a target on his back." He reminds me. "I'm here in town. Let's just grab a drink and I can fill you in so we can figure out what our next step should be." He sighs.
"In town? Where the fuck are you?" I ask, leaning against the side of the house. No one knows where I am.
"You may be able to fool your clown of a father and his minions, but it's me, Damien. I've known every place you've been in for the last two years." He chuckles. I feel uneasy, knowing that Nick has always surprised even me in the past when it came to his ability to locate someone. I shake the feeling. Bullshit, I've covered my tracks. He's bluffing.
"Oh, dear brother you're good I'll give you that, but I'm not fucking stupid." I laugh, tossing the cigarette.
I hear him laugh, "Look to your right, down by the red beach umbrella." He instructs. My body stiffens, as my head whips to the right. Spotting the red umbrella first, I grip my phone tightly as I spot Nick, standing off beside a couple, waving.
"Son of a bitch." I breathe.
"How the fuck did you find me?" I growl, turning as I look back to the house. If Ray finds out one of my father's men is here, she'll run from me again.
I have to speak to her about my past and give her hard truths that she might not like, but it's best that she finds out now and not later. This week with her up in limbo has been fucking torture. I'd fucking go insane if it was further down the road!
"I told you, I've kept my eyes on you. You'll thank me once you hear what he's been plotting." He quips. I roll my eyes at the fucker. He's always been a cocky asshole. That's why we've been best friends since our training days. Until he chose to stand with my father.
"You think I trust you?" I spit. "You stood by that cock sucker. You could've left with me. Instead, you chose to stay and place yourself on Dante's hit list. Why would any smart man stay? Who would be willing to take over a big pile of shit? You know just as much as I do that is exactly what he would have left me." I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "He had his chance, he could step down, or I would leave." I walk closer to the beach, watching as he ran his hand through his blonde hair.
"You know the life we were born into doesn't allow for those decisions. You're full of yourself if you think that you could leave that easily without reason. If your father wasn't happy about your decision to leave back then, it would've never been accepted. He didn't send after you or put a hit out on you for breaking the oath because he was scared you would spill his secrets. If I'd left, I would have never made it out of the state, and you fucking know it." He growls. I can hear hurt in his voice. I don't let that change my trust, remembering how I never thought he'd stay with my father but he proved me wrong.
"That's the question, isn't it Nick? Why now? What does the target on his back have to do with me? How the fuck am I supposed to save his dumb drug-addicted ass?" I sigh. "Let the minions he calls family defend him."
"Look, come down the road to the bar, and we can talk more. I have a bad feeling Damien. And that pretty thing you've been chasing has something to do with it." He admits. My blood boils. Is he saying what I think he's fucking saying?
"Does she know who she's being chased by?" Nick asks, his voice sounding hesitant.
"Give me half an hour to slip out," I tell him, ignoring his question. "And Nick?" I grit, "If you're deceiving me, just remember I'm not Caine. I follow through on my threats." I glare towards the man staring at me from the beach.
I watch as he nods, "Boss." He says and quickly ends the call. I should have known this was too good to be true. Why should I expect Caine to just let me leave and not come for me eventually? He hasn't been able to lead that family since he got hooked on drugs. My guess, he's desperate and my question is why does he think I would be able to help?
Walking towards the door, my thoughts go to Ray. Now, the task is getting out of the house without being too suspicious. If Nick is telling the truth, then is it safe to leave her here without my protection? Fuck. I've never had to worry about someone other than my mother. I didn't have to worry much when it came to enemies even then because she was fully trained and knew what she should do in situations like this. Ray is a perfect target for any of the Heart's enemies.
Does Caine know about her? How much does he know about the past two years since I left? Can I trust Nick to tell me the truth or is this all a setup to get me away from Ray so Caine can kill the first woman I've felt more than desire for?
I can't trust it, not with Ray's life on the line. I'll just have to meet Nick and bring Ray with me. This means I'm going to begin my hard truths and it's starting now. If she leaves, it may be for the best. Of course, I'll put protection detail on her, but I'd rather suffer this life without her by my side than live my life knowing she's not alive.
I quietly step through the house, making sure to keep attention off of myself. I need to speak with Ray and get down to that bar and find out what's going on. My father is a fucking idiot, but he has other minions helping him run New Orleans. I won't take a chance on anything with Ray near me.
I open the door, and my eyes land on Ray. She's outside on the deck. She left the sliding glass door open, as she sits on the wooden rail. She's watching the last bit of the sun disappear. If anyone lays a hand on her, they'll be begging for death by the time I'm through with them.
"I need to tell you something," I say, stepping outside. I close the glass sliding door and watch her turn around.
"Is everything ok?" She asks.
"I'm not sure. That was a close friend from New Orleans on the phone. He's here and wants to meet up and tell me something." I inform her. Her face scrunches as she digests what I've said.
I grab both her hands and bend down so we're at eye level, "I told you I wouldn't keep big things from you, and what he has to say is big. My father wants me back, and I'm not clear on why or what he has planned to get me to come home. I need you to come with me, so I know that it doesn't involve you getting caught in the crossfire." I admit, watching her face pale.
"He knows about me?" She says softly, as she begins to stand from the rail.
"I'm going, to be honest, yes, it's a possibility. I'm not sure what he knows. My friend will fill us in when we arrive."
"Who is this friend?" She asked, pulling her hands from my hold, then running them through her hair.
"He's one of my best friends. Out of everyone in New Orleans, he would be the only one I'd trust. I'm not trusting him enough to leave you here alone." I pull her body towards me, kissing the top of her head. The coconut shampoo fragrance fills my nose as I inhale. "I won't let anything happen to you," I promise.
"Are you going back?" She asks, wrapping her arms around me.
"I'd never go back to work under him," I admit. "I left because he was ruining everything our family spent decades building. I won't watch him have my brothers killed because he'd rather feed his habits." I pull my lip up in disgust.
She looks up and smiles. "While I was gone this week, I kept thinking about what kind of man you were in New Orleans. That's exactly how I saw things in my mind." She laughs.
I smiled, "what did you see?" I ask, curiously.
"I didn't see what most movies paint the mob as. I didn't see what the internet painted your father as. I saw a man struggling to bring good into a world of bad."
I sigh, "Ray, I need you to know, I was no saint. I'm still no saint. I've got a lot of blood on my hands. I'm no hero. I don't want you to get the wrong idea of the life I've lived." I watch as she tilts her head to the side. "I was trained day and night to be smart and strong enough to lead the family one day. In the last few years, Caine's loyalty to his own family has changed because of greed, drugs, and whores. I gave him a choice, step down or I'm out. I don't want to lead dead men." I enlighten, pulling her to the chair sitting next to the sliding glass.
I sit and bring her down to lay across my lap, "I won't lie, I miss the life. I do, it's all I know. For years, I worked to try to re-build the family's name, but in a matter of months, it all started to crumble. All because of that bastard's greed." I fight back the memory of my mother's face when I said goodbye. I told her this exact reason when she sobbed asking me why. If I knew it was the last time I'd see her face, I would have said a lot more. Hell, I would have taken her with me.
"So, you can leave a life like that?" She asks as she studies my face.
"No," I admit. "I knew he wouldn't stop me. I have a lot on him, and he doesn't want to step down from the role." I explain. "Once you take that oath, no matter the rank, you're in until death." I watch her body stiffen as she starts to rub her arms like she was cold.
"So, if you refuse to go home, what will happen?" She breathes. I notice her voice has a slight shake in it.
"Don't you worry about all that baby. Let's just get down to that bar and find out what's going on before we start to worry." I console as I rub my hands over her arms.
"What about the others? Are we going to tell them?" She asks.
"Not until I know more. We just tell them for now that we are going to grab a drink and talk. They should be fine baby." I smile. "Are you ok?" I ask her. I can't read her body language like I usually can. I'm not sure if she's still digesting or if she's in shock. I hadn't expected her to be this calm if I'm being honest. Yet again, she's done the exact opposite of what I predicted from her.
She nods her head, "I may sound crazy, but I trust you. If you say everything is ok for now, I believe you." Her words send a warm tight feeling to my chest. This is why I can't stop falling in love with her.
It's as if she was made just for me. I don't know if I'm happy or mad about that. Keeping her in my life would be selfish of me. I refuse to go back home and that puts a target on my back, as well as hers and her family.
Should I leave after the meeting with Nick and take the focus off her? Make it seem she wasn't important to me? Goddamn it, the REAL question is, will I be able to leave her?