Page 21 of Played By the Fool

Ciarán: Fuck. We’ll be there tomorrow. We don’t know how many of us are coming yet. But I know it’s at least four. Tell Frank what’s going on and that we’re coming tomorrow. And please, I’m begging you. Don’t go anywhere alone

Emilia: I promise. After I tell Frank, I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t stay at my house till you get here

Ciarán: I’m not opposed to him staying with you

Emilia: I wish I knew who was doing this and why

Ciarán: Me too. I’ll be there tomorrow

I hate that Ciarán is taking time away from being with his family to come here. At the same time, I’m relieved that I have him.

Ciarán

I’m usually not a violent person. But I want to rip the head off of whoever is doing this to Emilia. So far, Sebastiano and Francesco haven’t been able to figure out where the texts are coming from. All they know is that it’s a burner phone.

“I’ll be going back with you. We’ll take Celestino, Keegan, Lorenzo, Carmelo and Hollis. And when it’s time to come back, if we need to, Carmelo has volunteered to stay with Emilia as long as he’s needed,” Zio Giacomo says.

“I’ll come too,” Enea Mancini says.

Enea is the head of the Chicago Mafia. I’m in awe of how all of them are willing to step up and help us.

“I really appreciate everyone’s help. I just wish we knew who it was.”

“Are you sure it’s not her ex? I know she said he’s been around when she’s gotten some of the texts…but there are ways to delay messages.”

“I’m not positive it’s not John. My gut says it is. But I’m just not sure because he’s still going after Kali, so why would he need to threaten Mia?”

“I’m going to do a deep search on this John guy. Sometimes it’s the person right in front of you, hiding in plain sight” Sebastiano says.

“And I checked Frank out. He’s a good guy. Marine veteran, he served ten years before getting out on a medical discharge. He’s been in Starlight Bay for five years now. Only child, no family left,” Francesco adds.

“I liked Frank when we met him. He seemed like he really cared about Emilia,” my da says.

“It’s faster if some of us fly and the others bring two cages,” Zio Giacomo says.

“Cages?” I ask.

“Cars.” Francesco chuckles.

I laugh. They have such odd words to describe things.

“We can fly out tonight and the others can leave in the morning,” Celestino says. “I know Ciarán will fly. I’ll join him. Two more with us and the other four can head out in the morning.”

“I’ll fly with you two,” Carmelo answers. “I just need a few minutes to go home and pack. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll fly too,” Enea says.

While we wait for Enea and Carmelo, I pack a bag as well. I’m not sure if I’ll be coming back to Lake Renegade before I have to head back to Ireland. I have started my paperwork to move here and open our dentist office. I haven’t told Emilia yet. I want to surprise her when I have the papers in my hands. I text Mia to let her know the plan.

Ciarán: Hey, love. We’re flying in tonight. Don’t worry about picking us up. We should be in before you close Pi

Emilia: I can’t wait to see you

Ciarán: I’ll be there soon. Be safe

I have such a horrible feeling and I don’t like it. Zio Giacomo comes over and sits next to me.

“Hey, Ciarán, I wanted to talk to you about something. I already talked to your da about it and he’s agreed to it. But he wanted me to talk to you and your siblings before we have the final word. As a family, we all have tracking pieces in our arms. It’s not to keep track of where we go all the time. It’s in case something happens to one of us. Like when my Isabella was taken. We were able to find her because of that tracking device. So I talked to your parents about getting them for you before you go back to Ireland. Now that you’re a part of the Cimaruta, there is some danger involved in it. Liam may not be the president ofthe Galway chapter anymore, but people know him and some of them won’t hesitate to use you to get to him.”

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