Page 81 of Shield and Savior

Fuck.

“We saw Rita’s ex-husband at the wedding. Mike attacked the apartment the next day.” Izzy rubs her temple. “Adding more insult to injury, I was doing a job for my dad at that wedding. A job Rita’s own kid couldn’t get.”

Delta had access to Izzy’s files.

There’s a long silence before Joey speaks. “So you killed Delta Cunningham, which is going to give Rita even more of a reason to hate us.”

“Well I didn’t kill him, he blew himself up,” I grumble, but details like that won’t matter.“Hmmm, kinda feel bad about making fun of your cousin a few minutes ago.”

Izzy sighs, “Normally my Catholic guilt would crush me, but fuck that guy.”

Joey exhales and rubs his face. His shoulders slouch with the weight of an empire. “Shit…it’s a good thing we like you, otherwise this would suck.”

ChapterForty

Izzy

It’s been almost a month since the fire. When Lance got out of the hospital, he stayed with me. Lena Goodlove refused to leave Alana’s side until she was forced to go back on tour. But none of us like the idea of Alana staying alone, so Lance’s bedroom has a rotating occupant list between himself, Waverly, and Macie.

I stand in the doorway of Alana’s room. She’s allowed exactly two hours of active thinking a day. And she’s spent an hour and forty-five minutes of it talking with Olivia. Five-year-old Olivia Harper Olympian has the dark hair of her father and light eyes of her mother. I think they played an epic prank on their child, because her initials are O.H.O. I don’t know why I think that’s so funny, but I do.

It’s weird to see one of the richest and most powerful men in the world standing in this two-bedroom apartment with three huge black dogs taking up most of the space.

It’s even weirder that he knows my name. Well, maybe not. Between the wedding cake incident and running into a burning building, plus parts of my ex’s body washing up on various beaches on the East Coast, my street cred is off the charts. I am officially the biggest badass in all of the Four Families.

I probably shouldn’t be in the room, but time with Alana is limited, and I need to speak with her after Hadeon and Olivia leave.

Olivia has that cute little kid voice, like Maria. I think that’s why Alana lets her talk the whole time. Right now, she’s describing some cartoon she watched on a private jet on a trip back from Tokyo. Her dad grabs the nail polish bottle out of her hand and tightens the top as she animatedly exclaims. “And I didn’t think they were going to save the dog, because it was really high and scary.”

Alana leans in, completely enthralled with the story. “What happened?”

Olivia throws her arms up in the air and slams them on the bed, next to Alana’s legs. “They saved the puppy.”

“Thank goodness!” Alana says as she wiggles her toes. The pink and purple nail polish glopped on them makes it almost impossible to tell where her nails end and her toes begin. “I love my pedicure. Very professional.”

Olivia shimmies her shoulders. “I want to be an astronaut, vet, dancer, hacker, nail polish putter-on when I grow up.”

“And you should do all those things.” She motions for Olivia to come closer for a hug. “Do you have any questions about what happened?”

Olivia bites her lower lip. “I didn’t like that you missed my show.”

“I know, sweetheart, but being held at gunpoint was the only reason I would ever miss your show.”

Olivia nods and sighs, “It was a scary day. Maria said someone took her cousin, but Uncle Lance got them back.” Olivia traces little circles on Alana’s arm cast and looks up at Alana. “What would you do if something happened to me?”

Alana’s voice is sweet, very Mary Poppinsish, as she strokes her goddaughter’s head. “My love, I would burn every city to its foundation searching for you. We would be legends for hundreds of years, and generations would laugh about the foolish monster who tried to hurt one of my kids.”

“Do you think they’d make a movie of it?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

I believe every word Alana says.

And from the panicked expression on Hadeon’s face, he does too. “Why don’t you start packing up your things? Aunt Alana only has a few more minutes of brain time, and she still needs to talk to the grownups.”

Alana blows a raspberry and objects with a loud “Booo!” Then makes an exasperated frowny face, which makes Olivia giggle and fall over on the bed laughing.

I’m not sure if I should leave, but there’s nowhere else for me to go. And I really need to speak to Alana.