We’d never really talked one-on-one before. I always hovered in the background, letting my father and uncle decide how to handle him. But after he saved my family, all of that hatred had faded away. He was accepted into the Barsetti clan. I dropped my dislike along with everyone else. “Can I speak to you in private? Vanessa can’t know about this conversation.”
“Alright.” His movements turned audible as he excused himself from her presence. They were probably in bed together at this time of night. It was nearly a full minute before he addressed me again. “This should be interesting…”
“I apologize for bothering you. But I have no one else to turn to.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” he said with a chuckle. “We just declared peace with the Skull Kings, and now something else comes up…”
“It went well?”
“Yes. We made the exchange and buried the hatchet.” His baritone reverberated over the line. “They were pleased by the money and the little speech your uncle gave. We parted on good terms. I’m glad that shit is over.”
And I was about to stir up more. “Good to hear.”
“I’m sure your father was going to call you in the morning. He’s probably still talking to Crow right now.”
“In our family, no news is good news.”
He paused a while before he spoke. “What can I do for you, Carter?”
Just because the issue with the Skull Kings was completed didn’t mean saving Mia was a good idea. But it did make it a little easier. “Fuck…it’s a long story.”
His smile was obvious over the phone. “Those are the best kind.”
“So…I did one more deal a month ago. Some guy offered me an insane amount of money to buy a woman from the Underground. Claimed he was her brother. I was greedy and stupid and took the deal.”
“This doesn’t sound good.”
“The woman is beautiful, smart, sassy…very much like a Barsetti.”
“Yep,” Griffin said. “I see exactly where this is going.”
“I realized this man isn’t her brother. He’s her old master. She ran away from him and got captured by the Skull Kings, and he wants her back. He’s a psychopath. The more I’ve gotten to know this woman—”
“And fuck her.”
I didn’t deny it. “The more I’ve come to care for her. She didn’t know I was giving her back to Egor until she overhead my conversation. Of course, she got angry. Felt like I betrayed her…which I did.”
“She thought she was just getting a free vacation with a nice master?” he asked incredulously.
“She was skeptical at first…but eventually believed that.”
“Poor girl,” he whispered.
“Anyway…I told her I had to give her back even though I didn’t want to. I don’t want a war with this guy, not after all the wars my family has already fought. My father and uncle just want peace. I can’t do that to them…”
“I’ve only dated Vanessa a short while, but I’ve noticed a pattern with the Barsettis. They get themselves caught up in a lot of bullshit.”
I didn’t rise to the insult, knowing he didn’t mean it in an offensive way.
“So, what are you asking me, Carter?”
I didn’t give him the last piece of information until now. “I’d already made my decision to give her back even though I didn’t want to…until she told me something else. It makes me sick to my stomach. It fills me with so much guilt, I can barely breathe.”
“What is it?” he asked quietly.
“She has a son…”
Griffin was silent.
“He’s eight. There’s no father in the picture.”
He was quiet longer, obviously at a loss for words.
“I have no idea where the kid is right now. If she knows, she didn’t tell me. But when she told me that…I lost all my nerve. I already didn’t want to give her back, but now…Fuck. All I can do is think about my mom and how devastated I would be if I ever lost her—” I knew I’d shoved my foot in my mouth, but it was too late to undo the damage. I’d forgotten that Griffin has lost his mother…and his father.
“Yeah…it’s pretty shitty.”
“I apologize, Griffin… I wasn’t thinking.”
“No.” He spoke with a firm voice. “No need to be delicate, Carter. I’m not a delicate man. And you’re right, losing a mother isn’t easy. This kid reminds me a lot of myself. His mother is a slave to men, and there’s nothing he can do to help her. I was very young when my mother was killed. I barely remember her face. But I could never forget her spirit.”
I fell silent, unsure what to say to that.
“It’s a pretty fucked-up situation you’re in, Carter.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“You’ve gotta have some advice, Griffin.”
He sighed into the phone. “If this were Vanessa, I’d murder every man in Italy to get her back. I’d risk my life a million times to give her the life she deserves. I wouldn’t even need to think about it. The fact that you have to think about it tells me she’s not Vanessa to you.”