“Can we talk about something else? It’s not a big deal. I’m just his date for the evening. Nothing more.”
Kelly’s belligerent glare says she’s not done just yet, but at least she lets it go—for now. For a while, we drift to safer topics—work, weather, a neighbor’s new puppy. But Kelly, ever relentless, circles back as she and I are cleaning the dishes after dinner.
“I really can’t believe you’re going through with this plan, Sonya. Even one night is one too many with a guy you know is connected to the mob.” Kelly flicks soapy bubbles onto me as she gestures with her hand.
Having the same drive as a dog with a bone is what makes her such a great officer and someday will help her make a damn good detective. But it’s also what drives me absolutely insane sometimes.
“Samson was connected to the mob.”
“But you didn’t know that until later,” Kelly points out. “You didn’t go into that relationship knowing he was connected.”
“I didn’t go into it knowing he was an asshole, either,” I counter and roll my eyes, focusing on drying the plate in my hand instead of my sister.
Kelly’s green eyes narrow again. “Oh, so you’re saying you know for sure the Volkovpakhanisn’t an asshole?”
I nearly slam the plate down but stop myself at the last second, placing it carefully on the counter. “Seriously, Kelly? You don’t give me any credit at all, do you?”
“It’s not you that I don’t trust Sonya. I mean seriously, the man’s a killer.”
There’s a crash behind us. Kelly and I turn to find Mom standing at the entrance to the kitchen while Dad picks up the trash can he just knocked over.
“Who’s a killer?”
Kelly and I look at each other, suddenly back in high school with the knowledge that we’re about to get into huge trouble.
“Sonya, what is Kelly talking about?” Dad asks carefully, his usual playful demeanor gone.
I tell them, but only to explain what’s really going on, that this is a single night, a single date, a single moment before it’s over for good. I didn’t expect Mom and Dad to love it, but I also didn’t expect their faces to pale or the look they exchanged to cause a prickle of warning up my back. They had a whole conversation without saying a word. Mom purses her lips as Dad sighs, rubbing his hands together like he does when he’s nervous.
“What’s going on?”
“Come on. Let’s go to the living room.”
Dad turns, and Kelly and I follow. We sit facing them, just like we did when we got into trouble as kids and teenagers. Something about this time, though, causes a chill to settle in me.
Mom finally draws a deep breath, her shoulders rising and falling with the effort, and meets my gaze. “Sonya, there’s something you need to know,” she says softly.
The air around me gets colder, and I bite back a shiver. “What do you mean?”
“It’s about your parents.”
The room seems to shrink around us, everything else fading away.
“What about them?” I whisper.
When Mom reaches across the space between us, I nearly jerk my hand back. “Sonya, sweetheart, your parents worked for the Irish Mob.”
The words hit me like a punch in the gut. Kelly gasps, and I can barely manage to squeak, “The Irish Mob?”
Dad takes Mom’s other hand in his, and she seems grateful for the support. “You know I’ve told you that your mom and I were best friends growing up, but we lost that closeness once she met and married your dad, going down a path I didn’t like. We never wanted you to know, but you’re an adult now, and, well, I guess it’s time.”
My hands tremble as flashes of my earliest years light up in my brain—a late-night phone call, my mother’s nervous glances, my father’s mysterious absences. I don’t remember very much, and what I do remember is vague. But the circumstances around my birth parents’ deaths had always rubbed me the wrong way. They didn’t quite match my own memory of that night.
Could this be the reason why?
“I know we’ve told you about your adoption. But what we didn’t tell you is we were contacted out of the blue, that your mom, who I hadn’t heard from for several years, put me as your guardian if something happened to her.”
Yes, I remember that story. The story of how the Prestons had been trying to have another child without success, and I’d come along out of the blue. A beautiful miracle who became part of the family.