I glance up at the office door, my dad’s figure filling the frame. It’s only then that I hear his voice.
“Emma, enough!”
His words are like a switch; it takes my dad’s intervention to pull her back from the edge of her fury. I’ve never seen her like this with me, only when she’s in the ring does she let this wild side of her free.
“Jax, let her go. She’s calm now.”
He shuts the door behind him, his gaze sweeping over the wreckage of the room as he approaches us. He crouches down and pulls my mom into his arms, and she clings to him wordlessly.
He looks at me over her shoulder, “I’m proud of you, son. You could’ve hurt her, but you showed restraint. She’ll be back to herself soon. In the meantime, let’s move this meeting to her office while the staff clean up here.”
I was sure he was going to rip into me for laying a hand on my mom, for nearly choking her. But he’s calm, composed. What the hell am I missing here?
“I think we should talk first,” I suggest, rising to my feet. Blood trickles from my nose, staining my shirt. Thankfully, Chris and Amelia are here.
I’ll let him patch me up before we reconvene in my mom’s office.
Once Chris has fixed my nose—which now hurts like a motherfucker—and I’ve changed my shirt, I join my parents in my mom’s office. As I enter, I see her on the couch, nursing a whiskey. My dad’s behind her desk, spinning in her chair like a kid, grinning. What the actual fuck?
There’s a fresh glass of whiskey on the desk, waiting for me.
I sit down with a grunt, my ribs aching from where my mom kicked me. My dad bursts into laughter, tears streaming down his face.
I glance at my mom, her eyes softening when she sees the damage she’s done to my face.
My dad finally stops laughing. He laces his fingers together and leans on the desk, giving me a once-over before turning to my mom. “Both of you knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re both going to cut the crap, respect each other’s boundaries, and work together. I can’t be here every time to break up your fights, and this is the only time I’ll let it get physical. If it happens again, I’m out. Because I know one of you will end up killing the other, and I’ll be left having to kill the survivor for revenge. That’s not happening again. I won’t let either of you put me in that position. This ends today.”
I can see how serious he is. He’s scared of losing us both. It doesn’t matter who kills who, he’ll be the one left having to take the survivor’s life. It’s all part of this fucked-up Mafia code we live by.
“Now that you’re both calm, Jax, can you tell us what the plan is? I’d like to wrap up this shitshow of a day and get some sleep. I’m tired as hell.”
“I need to know how to get the other Mafia leaders to agree to let Austin kill Giovanni. If they don’t agree, she’s leaving me. That’s her only condition. I can’t lose her. I need to know what to do.”
I look at my dad, who’s still seated behind the desk. He’s looking at my mom expectantly.
“Well, are you going to talk to your son, Emma, or are you still too worked up?” He never uses her full name. He’s still pissed at her. I can feel his anger radiating off him with every word.
She finally snaps out of her daze, finishing her whiskey before refilling it. “We need to call an urgent meeting. They’ll have to vote. Before they vote, you’ll need to explain why she should be the one to kill him, not you. You knew what Giovanni’s terms were when you accepted them. The decision hinges on what you say to them. If they agree, she gets to kill him. If not, and the vote goes the other way, you need to prepare yourself. You’ll lose her. I know her well enough to know she’s stubborn when she wants to be. And after tonight, I have a feeling this is one of those times.”
I don’t like what my mom’s saying. Because I know if I can’t convince them to vote my way, I’ll lose Austin for good. And that’s something I can’t live with.
“Let’s give Jax some time to think about when and how he wants to call the meeting. We all need to process what happened tonight. We can talk in the morning,” my dad, ever the voice of reason, suggests.
He takes my mom’s hand in his. She pauses at the door, turns around, and kisses me on the head like I’m still her little boy. Her hand brushes my cheek.
“I love you, Jax. Never doubt that,” she says before following my dad out the door.
