The Arrangement Anthology (126 page)

Sean’s phone rings, again, stealing him from sleep. I’ve been lying in his arms half awake, thinking. I don’t like this plan. Marrying Trystan does throw everyone off, and I understand why Sean wants to do it—I even understand why Trystan agreed to it—but it’s not fair. It’s not fair to me and it’s not fair to Trystan and it’s not fair to Sean. The three of us are living life in limbo, waiting for the other shoe to fall. Going back to the Cinderella thing, I kinda wish the other slipper would just break.

The phone falls silent once again as Sean snuggles into me tighter. I can feel his warm breath over my shoulder and his strong arms around my waist. It’s something I’ve always wanted, a night with him without pain or regret, and a morning with no remorse. I’m not sure if he’ll give up his old ways and I’m not sure if I want him to. To tell the truth, I was disappointed we didn’t go into his little sex room. I was wondering what kinds of things he would have in there.

Learning how to love and be loved is hard, especially after so much loss. That's something we both know.

The phone rings again, chirping next to my head on the nightstand. I finally lean over to look at it and see who’s calling Sean at this hour, and what I see surprises me.

MASTERSON

I wiggle out of Sean’s embrace just enough to reach the phone and answer the call. “Marty?”

“Avery? Is that you?” His voice sounds weird, almost panicky.

“Yeah. Why are you calling Sean in the middle of the night?” The pit of my stomach drops. Something’s off.

“I can’t believe he fucking did this. You aren’t supposed to be there—”

I interrupt, “I know, but—”

He cuts me off. “There’s no time for it—we’re not arguing. Get Sean up and get out of that house now. I shouldn’t even be calling, there’s no time. Give the phone to Sean.”

I don’t understand what he’s talking about, but the tone of his voice makes me worry. I push up on my elbow and look back at a sleeping, weary, Sean. “Is this about me marrying Trystan? Because I didn’t marry him last night, it’s an epically bad plan. I was going to —”

He cuts me off again, his urgency even more pronounced this time. Marty’s practically shouting into the phone. “Avery, get Sean up now. They know, they’re coming for you.”

By now Sean’s heard me talking to someone and is half awake. “Who is it?” I don’t answer, I just hand him the phone.

He’s quiet as he listens to Marty explain something. Sean makes very little movement and remains expressionless as he listens. The two of them are far from friends, but add in the common goal of protecting me and they seem like old buddies. Sean pushes up on his elbow, pulling away from me as he does so. “That can’t be.”

The way Sean says it sends a chill up my spine. His voice is tight. It reminds me of the times he bought me, to help control the world around him. I’m losing the sweetness, the softness of this man, and I don’t know why. Sean sits up suddenly and glances over at me. His words with Marty are curt and it seems like they’re arguing about something. My heart’s racing and I have a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I just sit there.

“Sean? What’s going on?” My question goes unanswered as he angrily nods, listening to whatever Marty has to say.

“And they’re coming here? He’d be out of his fucking mind, even if he is who he says. The security detail on the property exceeds anything they’d be able to get through. Why do you think I let her stay here all night? I’m not chancing it with her. This is the safest place until we can formalize things with Trystan. We both agreed to it, Masterson.”

Sean goes quiet and I can hear Marty’s voice buzzing on the other end of the phone. Whatever he says is absolutely horrific because Sean’s face turns white as it goes completely slack. He turns slowly, looking at me as if I’m a ghost.

Now I’m majorly creeped out and done with this. I swipe the phone out of his hand while Sean is still in a daze. “Marty, I swear to God I’m going to,” I don’t get to tell what I’m going to do with him because he hangs up on me.

Sean bounces out of bed and puts on a shirt quickly. He flies over the bed to the wall’s intercom button, but no one answers. Normally it buzzes once and then someone replies quickly, but not this time.

“Jacob? Are you there? Come in.” Sean drops his hand from the intercom and swears under his breath. Slowly, he walks toward me and it’s as if time has stopped. Ice drips down my spine with the look that he bestows on me.

“We need to get out. Now.” Sean doesn’t wait for me to answer. He quickly dresses, leaving me stunned sitting in his bed. When I don’t move, he comes over to get me. “Come on, Avery, now.”

Sean takes hold of my arm, pulling me out of bed, and tosses clothes at me. Not a loving gesture, and the way he’s acting is totally freaking me out. “Sean, tell me what’s going on.”

But he doesn’t. Sean races into the other room and grabs the letters that were my mothers. I follow him, pulling on clothes, still asking for explanations that he doesn’t give. Sean sifts through the papers quickly, looking for something. When he finds it, he stops and looks up at me. His jaw drops and his lips part, and he just stares. I recognize the look. It’s a bad look. It’s the
my cat just fell in a trash compactor
look
and I accidentally slapped the button on
.

“Tell me. Whatever it is, I’m going to think it’s a million times worse if you don’t.” I pull the rest of the clothes on and manage to put on my shoes. I’m dressed, but Sean hesitates. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t grab my hand and take me running the way that it felt like he would. Marty kept saying get out. I don’t understand why we’re running or who we’re running from. I thought the running was over.

I prompt him, “Sean?”

“It will be fine.” Sean crosses the room in three long strides and reaches for me, pulling me into his chest and holding me tight. He kisses the top of my head and says, “I won’t let them hurt you.” He holds me like that and in those moments it’s everything I ever wanted. Sean feels like home. He’s the home I lost, the home I dreamed I’d one day have when I was a girl. There’s a promise of protection in the way his arms wrap around me like nothing can hurt me, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. It plays off some carnal need that’s buried deep within, but his actions bring it to the surface.

“Sean, you have to tell me what’s going on. We’re in this together now, remember? Both of us. I’m not leaving you. You can say what you want, but I’m not going to marry Trystan. I want to be with you. I’ve always wanted you.”

Sean’s lips part and the words pour out, melting my heart. “I’ve always wanted you too.”

“It’s time to act like a team then. Marty didn’t tell me crap and you’re white as a sheet.”

“We need to get to the car. From the looks of it, the house is empty. Either my mother gave everyone the night off or someone else chased them off. Probably the latter, since the head of my security team isn’t answering. Either way, it appears that security at the Ferro mansion has been breached. We’re not safe, we need to move.”

“Okay.”

Sean grabs my hand firmly. “We stay together.”

Part of me wants to smile and spin around with glee. He wants me with him. The other part of me is terrified because whatever happens next is a complete unknown. The Ferro mansion has security like Fort Knox. The intercom was quiet and whatever Marty said has Sean scared, and anything that scares Sean Ferro must be terrifying.

We run through the empty house quietly and carefully, not seeing anyone. Sean leaves the lights off, allowing us to slowly slink down the hallway in the darkness. Every time we come to a doorway he makes me stop and holds out his arm, keeping me back until he knows the coast is clear. Then he waves me forward and we continue on like that.

We head toward a back exit, one that’s rarely used. It lets out on the far side of the house where Peter leaves his motorcycles from when he was younger. My heart is thumping in my chest, making it feel like my ribs will crack. Hysteria’s building in my throat, because it feels like someone’s watching us. My skin prickles with the sensation that something horrible’s about to happen. Something is very wrong, that much I know. I thought it was strange, not seeing anyone. Sean doesn’t usually answer the door. He has a butler that does that. I ask him about it.

Sean looks troubled, but replies, “He went with my mother on her business trip. Someone else would’ve grabbed the door, but I saw you coming. I looked out the window. Plus, I may have, sort of, kind of, put a GPS tracker on your things.” The way he says it is so sheepish that it makes my insides melt, at least after the initial flair of rage.

“Technology hates me.”

Sean leads us down a bunch of hallways, we’ve twisted around the mansion so many times. I don’t know where the hell we are.

Sean glances at me out of the corner of his eye, as he releases my wrist. We’ve come to a set of double doors made from thick, dark, wood. They're elegantly carved, but not as ornate as Sean’s. He released my wrist so we can pound on the doors.

Sean’s phone rings in his pocket. He lifts it to his ear and listens, then says, “It’s just us. No, Pete's at Sidney’s and Jon is God knows where, but he's not here. It’s just us. Yeah, bikes. Take the back way out of here and we'll meet up with you.” They say a few more words and Sean disconnects.

“No one else is here?” I ask, confused. “How can that be?”

“Between business and pleasure most of the family is usually away. I wouldn’t come here either, but I thought there was a remote chance you might show up, so I came. We need to move. This is a lot more complicated.” Sean looks over at me and takes my hand, pulling me through the grouping of rooms that looks like one of the Ferro boys' residences. There are books scattered about, and posh, manly finishes on the walls.

Before we know it, we’re at a small door. Sean shoves through and in a second we’re outside in the crisp morning air. Marty is standing there, as is a girl that I’ve not seen before. She’s my height and weight, wearing leather jacket. Long brown hair flows down her back. Marty tosses a set of keys to Sean. There are a pair of motorcycles parked right by the back door.

Marty watches me carefully. “Are you ready to go? I’m going to take her out the front route, you guys go the other way. With the helmets and leather, in the early morning sun, maybe they won’t be able to tell it’s not you.”

This is wrong, it’s so incredibly wrong. Shivers take hold of me and I can’t shake it off. I pull my hand away from Sean’s, demanding an explanation. “You have to tell me. What’s going on? Why are they still chasing us?”

Sean’s chest expands as he sucks in a short breath and glances down at his hands. Our fingers are intertwined, his hand holding mine.

He looks back at Marty, who gives a visual no. “Don’t say it.” Marty looks over at me with so much empathy in his eyes, I can’t stand it. I don’t know how anything could possibly be this wrong, but whatever Sean wants to tell me is important. “Sean, we need to go.”

But Sean remains glancing at his hand that’s holding mine. “The reason why Campone wanted those papers had little to do with the ledger. There was something else in there, something else that your mother was hiding. It meant enough to her that she spent her entire life running and looking over her shoulder. She knew he’d find her one day, and take back what was his. The ledgers were a cover, and the reason why you attracted so much attention. It became less obvious when Campone died. I thought they wanted me. It wasn’t until Marty shed light on things that I realized what we were really up against.”

My throat is dry but I managed to ask, “What do you mean?”

Marty interrupts, “Don’t—”

But Sean doesn’t listen. “During the reading of Campone’s last will and testament, your name came up.”

I stare at Sean, gaping. “What? Why would I be in his will? That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand what you’re saying? The ledgers make sense, but not this. You're saying they want me.”

The two of them seem to understand something that I don’t. Marty waves his hands over his face and groans as he turns around. The woman standing with him says nothing, although I can tell she cares about him.

Sean swallows hard and looks down at our hands. He turns toward me and says the last thing that I expect to hear. “Victor Campone was your father.”

“No, I don’t believe you.” I pull my hand away from his, trying to back up, but Sean won’t let go.

“That’s why he showed up.” Sean explains, jabbing his thumb at Marty. “That’s how Campone’s men know for certain—it was in his will. It was also made known that Victor had more than one child. You have a brother that’s hunting you. He doesn’t want to share Victor’s assets. Things turned on their heads overnight. Victor Junior’s in charge of Campone’s men. The ledgers we have will give us some leverage, assuming we can get out of here before whatever happens, happens. Marty knows that there is a bomb that is supposed to go off around sunrise. They wanted all the Ferros to be in the house, but it just so happened that everyone is away. They thought you would come here because of me. That was part of the reason why I wanted to make the separation between the two of us. We need to move.”

I can’t move though. I feel like I’ve been sucker punched and my legs are failing me. They buckle under and I start to go down. Sean reaches for me and holds me up, smashing me into his chest, hugging me hard. I ramble, protesting, “That can’t be. I can’t be his kid, that’s wrong. I look like my father. Everyone said growing up that I look like my father. They didn’t mean Victor Campone, they meant my dad. Sean, Marty’s wrong, he has to be wrong.”

Marty and Sean look at each other, and then back at me. I can’t fathom this, even the suggestion of being that man’s daughter, having his blood running through my veins, makes me sick. Being hunted for it, that it’s the kind of family I came from, and that it’s the kind of woman I’m becoming. It scares the hell out of me. Sean takes hold of my shoulders and pushes the hair back from my face. Looking into my eyes, he says, “You are who you are. Your father doesn’t matter. We need to go, and I’ll be there for you, no matter what.”

Marty takes action before Sean does. He tosses a leather jacket to Sean and another to me. “Come on, let’s go.” Marty puts the key in the ignition and turns it over.

Sean bounces his motorcycle and turns the engine over before nodding at me to jump on the back. I swing my leg over and hop up. I wrap my arms around his waist. It brings back memories of the night we first met, of me jumping on the back of his old bike as we chased my crappy car down Deer Park Ave. “This will out run anything. Hold on tight and don’t fall off.” I nod, mortified.

“Split up. Let’s go as far from here as possible. Head to Oak Island. It’s a pain in the ass to get to, but we can hide the bikes in the shrubs and take a boat across the water to get there before it’s breakfast time. No one will see us. I think it’s the best bet. The only variable is Black. She’s still random, a wildcard.” The other woman mounts the back of Marty’s bike, and pulls on the helmet, fastening the strap under her chin. When she pulls down the visor, the tinting obscures her face and it becomes difficult to tell us apart.

We all do the same, and get ready to drive away. Marty kicks his bike into gear and flies down the driveway, turning in front of the house to take the main road out of here. Sean kicks his bike into gear and revs his engine, ready to fly out of here when his phone rings. The Bluetooth inside his helmet automatically picks up.

“It is far too early in the day to have to deal with those annoying toys.”

It’s Constance. Sean remains frozen in place. He replies, “Mother, where are you?”

Just as she is about to reply, a deafening sound comes from the back of the mansion. The unmistakable sound of glass exploding and landing on cement fills our ears. A few moments later, a second explosion rocks the mansion, crumbling the walls outside of Sean’s rooms. The area we were just in a few minutes ago is engulfed in smoke. Shrapnel is flying everywhere, as wood splinters and metal torques. There’s a third blast and the front door explodes outward.

Sean and I stare unable to move, wide-eyed. We both heard it, we both know—Constance is still inside.