Vendetta

I blanched, my mind whirling frantically. I had all the pieces, I just had to make them fit. “But what are —”

“Talk to your uncle, Gracewell,” Luca cut in. “Or should I say, Persephone?”

Before I could respond, he was slamming the door in one deafening bang, leaving me shaking from head to toe.

I started home, pulling out my phone and dialing my uncle’s number. It rang and rang and went to voice mail. Come on. I could have smashed my phone in frustration. I called four more times in a row and still, nothing. I left two voice mails and finally I sent a text:

I know what the honey meant. We need to talk about the Falcones. Call me ASAP.

I was almost home when my phone started ringing.

“Jack,” I answered. “I think I’m in danger.”

“Sophie, I just read your text. Is everything OK?” His voice was edged with panic, and it was taking hold of mine, too.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you!” I exploded.

“Focus, Sophie,” he snapped. “I’ll explain all that later. Where are they now?”

“I don’t know,” I said. There were so many of them they could be anywhere, doing anything. I told him about Luca’s threats — about the blood debt and the honey, my words catching between breathless gasps as I spoke.

“Where are you now?” he asked once I had finished.

I skidded up my driveway. “I’m home,” I said.

“Go inside, lock all the doors. I’m sending someone for you.”

“Uncle Jack?” I was struggling with my keys. I only had three on the chain, but they kept frittering from my shaky grasp. “Are they going to hurt me?”

“No,” he answered too quickly. “Of course not,” he added after a beat.

“What’s going on?” The million dollar question, and I still hadn’t put all the pieces together.

“There really isn’t enough time to explain, Sophie.” I could hear him barking orders at someone in the background.

I slotted the right key into the lock. The click inside flooded me with relief. “If you knew I’d be in danger, why would you take off like that?”

Now that my fear was ebbing away, I was getting angry. Jack had been avoiding Cedar Hill like the plague for his own safety and he hadn’t bothered to tell my mother and me to do the same. So much for that promise he had made to my father. I made a mental note to call my mom after I was done with Jack. She was in the city at a series of bridal fittings until tomorrow evening, but I knew she’d freak out at being left out of the loop. Especially this one.

“Sophie,” Jack was saying, his words edged with one big, constant sigh, “they’re not going to hurt you. I wouldn’t have left you behind if I thought that. Those boys are just shooting their mouths off. That family love the sound of their own voice.”

“They want revenge, Jack.” I slammed the door behind me and fixed the chain in place. “They want a blood debt for what Dad did. Luca told me himself!” I skirted into the kitchen and climbed onto the countertop. I clamped the phone between my shoulder and my ear so I could lock the windows shut.

The phone line buzzed with Jack’s defiance. “Ignore what Luca said. He’s just trying to frighten you.”

I slid off the counter. “But why?”

“Listen. The Falcones’ problem is with me. Just me. Not you.”

“What do you mean with you?” I jiggled the back door handle to make sure it was locked.

“I can’t go into it now. I’ve sent Eric Cain for you. He’ll keep you safe. You’ve met him before, at my birthday a few years ago.”

“I remember,” I said, vaguely recalling a small, effeminate man with enviable dark-red hair. How exactly was he supposed to keep me safe?

“I’ll meet you somewhere outside of Cedar Hill and we’ll talk about it.”

“What about Mom?” I asked.

My uncle had the audacity to laugh. I balled my fist until my nails dug into my palm.

“They wouldn’t go near Celine,” he said dismissively. “She’s got nothing to do with me. It’s common knowledge your mother loathes the ground I walk on. And they’re not interested in punishing your dad, Sophie. Have you locked the doors?”

“Yes.” I was in the hall again. I took the stairs two at a time, deciding to lock all the second-floor windows just in case. “Why are you taking me away if I’m not in danger? At least tell me something so I can be prepared.”

“It’s a precaution, Sophie.” He labored over the word “precaution” like it would make me feel better. It didn’t. “They would never go after you for what your dad did. The very idea is ridiculous. And even if they did, which they wouldn’t, the Falcone Mafia doesn’t hurt innocents. It’s one of their almighty, crap-loaded, self-righteous rules. And they just love being self-righteous.”

I could practically taste the venom. So Jack knew everything I did, and he had decided to be coy about it. And did that mean he wasn’t innocent? What exactly had he done to make it onto the Deserves-to-Die list? “Sounds like you know a lot about them. Thanks for the heads-up.” You could have saved me a whole lot of time and swooning.

“I did give you a heads-up.”

“Yeah. A crap one.”

I sprinted back downstairs, my feet hammering against the steps like thunder.