But Libby wouldn’t hear of it.
I wondered what she would do if I just went on my own and paid off the debt. She would be in the clear and her life would no longer be in danger. The blow to her pride would eventually recede and everything would be fine.
But she would hate me forever. And I could kiss any chance I had of ever so much as taking her out to dinner out the window.
I called up Ranier. He was surprised to hear from me. I explained the scenario to him and he was on board.
“I hate those bastards. Any time I can put the fear of God into them and ruin their day, I’m all for it. I’ll have it done right away.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate it.”
“Sure, what are brothers for?”
When the call ended I sat there staring at the phone for a moment. So, we were brothers again? I hoped that Ranier wasn’t getting any half-baked notions in his head about me returning to the family in some capacity. I knew that he’d always had delusions of grandeur about us operating together and leaving fear and chaos everywhere we went. I saw it as fear and chaos; he saw it as respect.
I spent the rest of the evening a bit on edge. I was delving back into waters I’d left behind a long time ago and I wasn’t sure exactly how I was supposed to feel about it. I cared deeply about Libby and I prayed that one day she would begin to care about me as well. Despite this, I kept telling myself that I wasn’t doing this out of expectation from her that she would somehow start to fall for me. I’d never been the type of guy to try to win a woman over by doing nice things for her. I wanted the feelings between us to be much more organic. My attraction to her was not forced or groomed in any way. It was natural; I wished that she would somehow grow an attraction to me the same way.
Regardless of how she felt about me personally, Libby was a wonderful woman who did not deserve any of this. She needed help and I was happy to do so. But that was the other thing… Was I really helping her? She saw it that way, but I was looking at the bigger picture. What if the Scarlucci’s used this as an excuse to start a war with the Zeffari’s? Families had started wars for much less than that before.
Was I really just using my personal feelings for Libby to open up a can of worms that never should have been opened? If something happened to any of my former brothers because of this, I never would have forgiven myself. The guilt was already starting to eat at me.
But then again, Ranier could have said no. And he might have if I’d made it abundantly clear that I had no interest of returning to the family, but I didn’t mention that, did I? No, I hadn’t mentioned anything that might not have produced the outcome that I wanted.
Dammit. What was I doing? Had I just stirred up some trouble that might result in someone getting killed? Granted, compared to everyone else involved, Libby was completely innocent. My former brothers in the Zeffari’s were not necessarily. I didn’t know what they did or didn’t do, or what major crimes they might have committed in the past twelve years, but I could be almost fully assured that they had walked that line far closer than Libby had.
As I laid down to sleep that night, I found myself tossing and turning relentlessly. The guilt was overwhelming.
What had I done? Was it really the right thing?
I didn’t know, but time would surely tell.
And very soon.
CHAPTER 10
Libby
“So, Mason is going to take care of this?” Marla asked. She paused to take a bit of her burger, and then continued. “How is he going to do that?”
I laughed as she tried to speak with her mouth full. We were sitting around one end of the large picnic table that she and her family had set up. It was time for her family’s annual reunion/barbecue and she considered me close enough to invite me every year. I loved coming since most of my family lived really far away and Marla’s family had always taken me in like I was one of their own. They were just such warm, sweet people.
“From what I could gather, apparently he has some friends who are going to speak to the Scarlucci’s and somehow scare them off.”
Marla’s eyes went wild. “What the hell type of friends does he have that can do that?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But he said he could do it.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t just offer to pay them off.”