It took a while before the guy I talked to agreed to call Nino and to give him my number. I was starting to go crazy.
Remo wouldn’t survive if I had to drive all the way to Vegas with him, and I couldn’t take him to a hospital in Outfit territory. What if my family got over their initial shock and decided to get rid of us after all? I needed to reach Camorra territory.
My pulse spiked when my phone finally rang. I picked up after the second ring.
“Is he dead?” Nino asked at once.
I glanced at Remo who was slumped against the passenger door, breathing shallowly.
“Not yet,” I got out.
Nino was quiet for a moment. “Did you call to gloat? To let me hear my brother’s last screams?”
That’s what he thought?
“I’m in a car with him. We got out. We’re on our way.”
“You got him out?” Nino asked sharply. “Where are you? We’re taking a helicopter and meeting you halfway. We’re in Kansas City. I’ll calculate the best spot now.”
I told him where I was heading, and we agreed on a meeting place eighty miles from where I was.
“He’s badly injured,” I said quietly.
“Remo is too strong to die,” Nino said.
Tears stung in my eyes. “I’m driving as quickly as I can.”
“Serafina,” Nino began. “He thought you’d come back. He wanted you to come back on your own free will.”
I swallowed. This wasn’t about Remo and me. This was about my children, and yet my chest ached with emotions as I regarded the man beside me. His dark hair sticking to his bloody forehead. “I need to drive,” I said and hung up.
About one hour later I steered the car toward a deserted parking lot where a helicopter was already waiting. Nino and Savio stood beside it. I’d hoped Fabiano would be there. I trusted him more than these two.
I came to a stop. They had their guns out, not trusting me. And I didn’t trust them either, but Remo was barely breathing. I gripped my gun and pushed out of the car. Nino approached, as usual a blank expression on his face. I had my gun pointed at him like he had his pointed at me. Of course, with his skills I’d be dead before my finger as much as twitched on the trigger.
I lowered my gun and walked toward the passenger door, opening it. Nino still regarded me cautiously. Savio came up behind him, his gun at his side, not pointed at me. “Will you help me? Or do you want Remo to die?”
Nino moved forward and the second he saw his brother, he shoved the gun into his holster and rushed to my side. He quickly checked Remo then gripped him under the arms. Remo groaned. Savio took his legs and they were about to lift him out when Greta woke and let out an earsplitting cry upon seeing two men she didn’t know. Nino and Savio both jerked their heads back then froze. Nevio had also awoken and his dark eyes stared back at them. My small Remo.
“Holy fuck,” Savio gasped. His brown eyes flew up to me. “They are Remo’s.”
It wasn’t a question because one look at Nevio and they knew he was their brother’s. “They are and he passed out before he could see them.” My throat constricted.
Nino held my gaze for a moment and I knew then that I wouldn’t regret my decision because already now I could see that my kids would be Falcones.
“Quick,” Nino muttered, and he and Savio carried Remo over to the helicopter.
My heart thundering in my chest, I walked to the back door and opened it to unbuckle Nevio and Greta. “Shh,” I soothed my daughter. Nevio looked merely curious and a little sleepy.
“Do you need help?” Savio asked close behind me, surprising me.
I looked over my shoulder, hesitating, my protectiveness rearing its head.
“Don’t give me that look. Your kids are safe. They will always be safe, and not just because Remo would kill me if something happened to them.”
I nodded. “Can you take Nevio? Greta doesn’t like to be held by anyone but me.”
Savio moved to the other door, opened it, and bent over Nevio, who regarded him with big dark eyes. “I’ve never held a baby,” Savio said reluctantly.
“Speak to him soothingly and lift him against your chest. He can support his head by himself.”
“Hey, Nevio,” Savio said as he slid his hands under Nevio’s armpits and carefully lifted him. It looked as if was holding a bomb about to detonate, but I was glad he was being careful. I hadn’t thought Savio could be like that.
I turned to Greta and quickly lifted her as well then straightened to keep an eye on Savio. He held Nevio against his chest, and my son seemed content to be held by the unknown man. Savio’s eyes were curious and fascinated as he looked down at my boy. No resentment, no associated shame.
Together we walked toward the helicopter. Greta pressed herself against me from the noise of the rotor blades. Nino was bent over Remo inside the helicopter. Remo was already getting a blood transfusion and another IV with a clear liquid while Nino felt his body.
A man I didn’t know was in the cockpit.
Nino turned to us when Savio held Nevio out to him. He grabbed my boy immediately, a strange look on his face as he regarded him. Savio climbed in and held out his hand for me. I awkwardly got in with Greta still clinging to me for dear life.
I sank down on the bench, and Savio helped me buckle up. Nino handed Nevio back to him and Savio sat beside me. Nino’s eyes kept darting between Nevio and Greta, as if he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. The moment the helicopter lifted off, Nino returned to Remo’s side.
Nevio stared down at his father, then at me, and I swallowed the emotion. What if Remo died before he could see his kids? What if my children never met their father?
I’d never expected Remo to want his children, but now that I knew he did, guilt washed over me. I thought I protected them by keeping them from him, by staying in the Outfit, but I had been wrong. Las Vegas was their home because it was Remo’s home.
CHAPTER 28
SERAFINA
After we landed in Las Vegas, Nino immediately rushed Remo off to a hospital the Camorra worked with, and Savio stayed with me. I was exhausted and emotionally drained. “What happens with us now?” I asked tiredly.
Savio gave me a surprised look. “I will take you to the mansion. Remo will want to have you and his kids around when he returns.”
“You think he will survive?”
Savio nodded. “Remo won’t die.”
I followed Savio to a car and sank down on the backseat with my children.
When I jerked awake, we had arrived and Fabiano was staring through the window as if he was seeing a ghost. He opened the door. “What the fuck?”
“Remo’s got kids,” Savio explained.
“I see that,” Fabiano said.
Savio took Nevio again, and I got out with Greta, who had her face buried in my neck. Fabiano couldn’t stop staring at Nevio, then finally he met my gaze. “You saved Remo?”
I nodded. Fabiano searched my eyes, and I wasn’t sure what he was looking for. “It’s too cold for Nevio and Greta to stay outside. Can you get my bag from the trunk?”
Fabiano nodded and walked to the back of the car. I followed Savio inside the house, a strange sense of familiarity washing over me. This place didn’t feel like home. I’d only experienced it as a captive, and I wondered how things would be now that I had come here freely.
Could this become a home for me and my children?
Savio had said Remo would want me to live here with them, but I wasn’t sure. It felt surreal being here, but there was no going back now.
The realization sank in slowly, and for a moment I felt immobilized by the weight of it. Holding Greta seemed to ground me. “You can give Nevio to me,” I managed, offering my free arm.
Savio’s brows drew together, but he gave me my son without hesitation, and I hugged him to me. Savio and Fabiano watched me for a moment, as if they weren’t sure what to do with me.
“How is he?” Kiara asked, hurrying into the entrance hall. She jerked to a stop when she spotted me with the kids. Her eyes widened.
“Nino took him to hospital,” Savio said.
Kiara only stared at me. Her eyes darted down to Nevio and Greta, and she shook her head in disbelief. A girl with freckles and brown hair followed Kiara and also stopped in her tracks.
Kiara was the first to move. She came toward me, her eyes alight with warmth. “How did Remo react?”
Tears sprang into my eyes, and her smile fell.
“He passed out before he saw them,” I whispered.
“Nothing kills Remo,” Fabiano said firmly.
I nodded.
Greta began crying, and Nevio, too, was becoming increasingly cranky. “I need to feed them and change their diapers. Then they need a place to sleep.”
Savio glanced at Fabiano, who shrugged.
Kiara rolled her eyes. “Would it be okay if I took you to the bedroom you were in ... last time? I don’t want to open the other rooms in Remo’s wing. Or would you prefer to stay in my and Nino’s wing?”
I choked out a laugh. “I’ll stay in Remo’s wing.”
The other girl smiled hesitantly.
“I’m Serafina. And this is Nevio and Greta.”
“Leona,” she said. “Nice to meet you.” Fabiano stepped up to her and put his hand on her waist in a possessive gesture. So she was his girl.
Kiara took my bag from Fabiano and led me upstairs into Remo’s wing. I knew the way by heart, but her company felt good. When we stepped into my old room, my breath caught in my throat at the rush of memories that overwhelmed me, but another loud wail from Greta snapped me out of it. I moved over to the bed and carefully lowered them down on it.