First Love Only Love (The Life 2)

“Thanks, Unc; I’ll walk you out.”

“No-no, you stay with her. I’ll go see your Pop.”

I walked over to the window to look out while she lay on the bed watching me. “Gabriel.”

“Yeah, babe.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem…different.” I walked back over to her with a smile.

“I’m fine, Gianna, but I need you to go to sleep and get some rest like my uncle said.” I fixed the covers around her with that smile still in place.

“Where’s your iPod? I want to listen to our song.” She got settled in until she was comfortable, probably not realizing what she’d said, our song.

I got her the iPod and put the song on repeat for her before climbing onto my bed with her, which is where I’d brought her when we got home. “Go to sleep.” It took her ten minutes. By the time she fell out, the sun had already set, and though it was still early in the evening, there was something I needed to do, and it couldn’t wait, or I’d jump out of my skin.

“Lance, meet me at the quarry outside of town in an hour.”

“I’ll be there.” He didn’t ask any questions, which means the girls had probably already called him. I haven’t even seen them yet, too busy taking care of Gianna.

I slipped into my closet to change and grab what I needed before sneaking out my balcony door. Everyone was on high alert, as is the norm when something like this happens, but they’ll be concentrated at the front of the house, which works perfectly for me.

I stayed low and close to the wall before coming up on a blind spot. I could hear the men moving around not too far from me and remembered to hold my breath in places before making a run for it once I hit the perimeter.

It was a good fifteen-minute jog to the Fontanes residence, three and a half minutes to hotwire Victoria’s car, and another half an hour to the quarry. By the time Lance pulled up, the car was completely engulfed. “Let’s go!”

DRACO

“Have you found my son?”

“Sorry, boss, we’re still looking.”

“You have the nerve to say that shit to me, Tommy?” He took a small step back. Keep your temper down Draco, remember, your daughters are in the room.

“We looked everywhere; he’s just….” I held my hand up because if he said that shit to me one more time, I'm going to lose one of my best men.

“You two know where your brother went?” As if they’d tell me if he asked them not to.

“Nope!” They looked at each other as if for confirmation. Not even the threat of the guillotine will get them to talk if they know the answer. But I can’t fault them for that; their mother and I raised them to be that way. Then again, Gabe would never involve his sisters in anything that might bring them harm.

“And Lancelot’s not answering his phone. I wonder why.”

“You may leave Tommy; I’ll deal with you later for what went down with these two.” He didn’t seem too worried about it. Probably proud. “The four of you can follow him. I won’t hold you responsible this time but make it the last. I told you, never forget he knows everything you do, and he’s better at it. Go on, get outta here!”

I waited for them to leave the room before turning to my daughters, who looked like somebody’s idea of the innocent. They didn’t have a scratch on them, so I guess their brother will let the Fontane girl live. “You two are grounded.”

“Pop!”

“Don’t Pop me. Since when do you behave like that? Since when do you get your hands dirty? You couldn’t wait for your men to get there?”

“Well, that’s because she messed with our brother.” They were still pissed, I see, which means their thirst for blood has not yet been quenched.

“How do you know what happened? What were you doing there?”

“We got a call from one of our friends who was having brunch and saw the whole thing go down. Add the fact that you drove out of here like a bat out of hell without saying anything to anyone; what did you expect us to do?”

“Yeah, Pop, Ma was in the kitchen freaking out; nobody knew what was going on.”

“Yeah, then Nana started calling on a tear.”

“Hello, Pop, you were in the parking lot of our restaurant surrounded by all our people who were making phone calls while you were driving. What did you think was going to happen?” They were doing that tag-team thing they do when they want to confuse me, but it’s not going to work this time because I’m clear on the facts.

“So, you hit her in public before getting the whole story.”

“What story? We know she hit Gianna, and that’s all we needed to know. Think about it, Pop; that’s blatant disrespect to the Russo family.”