Keep(Romanian Mob Chronicles 1)(30)

She trailed off, the worry on her face, her furrowed brow telling me exactly what she’d thought.

“How did you find me?”

“Wasn’t too difficult. Fucking cops pointed me right to the door. Said it was my funeral if I dared come here. Pussies.”

Sorin laughed, but then quickly went quiet.

“And my guards? How did you get past them?” Vasile asked.

Esther looked at him briefly, then shrugged. “Wasn’t too hard. I just waited until they weren’t looking.”

Vasile’s face dropped as did my heart at the thought of what might have happened if she’d been intercepted.

“Esther, that was dangerous. You shouldn’t have…”

“I didn’t once, Fawn.” She shook her head emphatically. “Never again.”

Her brow was still furrowed with worry, but her lips were pursed and set into a stubborn line, and I could see her determination and her concern.

“I’m fine, Esther.”

She squeezed my hand and then looked first at Vasile, who stood silent, an indulgence I’d have to thank him for later, and then at Sorin scornfully.

“You sure?” she tossed out, not moving her eyes from Sorin.

“Yes,” I said.

She didn’t look convinced.



Vasile

Sorin stared at the woman, and I could see the calculation in his brain. Fawn would be fine with her. Sorin, on the other hand, who knew how he would react?

“Come, Sorin. Let the women talk.” I headed toward the car, and Sorin looked as if he would protest but then followed behind me.

“Who the fuck is that? And how did she get here? And what makes her think we’ll tolerate her sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong?” he asked.

“She was determined,” I said. “But that’s no excuse. I’ll need to talk to Oleg. I don’t like the idea of anyone getting this close so easily.”

“I like to talk. I’ll handle it,” he said with a grim little smile.

“Just to talk, Sorin. She’s harmless.”

“I doubt it. She was about to take a swing at me.”

“You probably deserved it. She looks tough. Do you think you could have handled her?” I asked.

“Asshole,” Sorin said playfully.

“So where was Fawn? With that woman?” he asked.

I nodded. I’d had Sorin and some of the others quietly searching for her during the day.

“She can’t be doing that, Vasile.”

Sorin was completely serious now, which only reinforced how bad those hours without her had been, how she needed to understand she could never do that again.

“We discussed it,” I said, my words calm and casual and in no way a reflection of how I felt.

Sorin looked skeptical. “Discussed it? That’s it?”

“Should I beat her to prove my point?” I wouldn’t, not ever, but many others didn’t share my reserve.

“Father would have.”

“Good thing I’m not Father then,” I said.

Sorin frowned, but I could see the war in his mind. We’d loved our father, admired him, but there were things that he’d done to our mother that I wouldn’t be able to forgive, forget, and would never emulate. It was up to Sorin to decide whether he would do the same.

“I’m moving back to the house,” I said.

“You love her,” Sorin said.

“No, but she needs space, and I need to keep a better eye on her,” I said.

Sorin smiled, this time genuinely, no trace of anger at all. “Of course, brother.”



Fawn

Esther frowned at me and then shook her head.

“What did you expect me to do, Fawn?”

“Not come here,” I said, still boggled at what she had done, what she’d risked.

“Right. I’m supposed to let that menacing-as-fuck dude walk into my home, bodily remove my best friend from it, and not do a thing?”

“He’s a good man,” I said. “He would never hurt me.” And I knew he wouldn’t, trusted that knowledge in a way that I had trusted little else in my life.

Esther stayed silent, her lips puckered into a tight grimace, and I knew what she was thinking before she even said it. “I’m smarter now. He is…what he is. But I’m safer with him than I’ve ever been with anyone else.”

She looked unconvinced. “Come stay with me. Try something different,” Esther said, eyes imploring.

I didn’t entertain the thought, not even for a moment. Couldn’t entertain the thought of not being with him.

“I’m where I belong. With whom I belong.”

And I knew it to be true. It didn’t make sense, but it didn’t have to. I was where I wanted to be. I could see Esther struggle, knew that she wanted to argue, to try to persuade me. The girl I’d known all those years ago wouldn’t have held her tongue. But she did. And that made me wonder what other changes I’d missed. I planned to find out.