The Arrangement 22 (The Ferro Family) Read Free Page B

people, and, with the world thinking you’re dead and buried, he can take his time.”
    She shakes her head. “You can’t take me. He’ll know it was you and your true mission here will be ruined. Sean knows what he’s doing. Leave me. Come back when you’ve slaughtered that son of a bitch.”
    Her request makes my blood run cold. She means it, every word.
    “We can’t leave you behind—”
    “You can and you will.” Constance doesn’t say another word. She arches a single brow at me, a dismissal, my cue to leave.
    I make a strangled sound in the back of my throat and leave the room. I find Sean at the bottom of the staircase, sitting on the last step, his head in his hands.
    I place my hand on his back and lean into his shoulder, breathing in his scent. “So that happened.”
    “She’s alive, but I can’t save her. If I take her, Vic will know we were here. If I leave her, he’ll torture her. How am I supposed to walk away? She's my mother, Avery.” Sean looks at me, his blue eyes filled with pain.
    “I’m not sure it matters what you do—she refuses to leave. I tried to get her to come. She threw me out.” I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”
    The corner of Sean’s mouth pulls up, and he smiles sadly, shaking his head. “Okay, we finish this.”
    “You’re going to leave her? Sean, I don’t have warm, fuzzy feelings for her, but she’s your mom. Sean? Sean!” I whisper-yell as he rushes from room to room, not mentioning his mom again. It’s disturbing how quickly he accepts this change of events, but he does. With newly found focus, he searches the rooms, carefully lifting papers, and opening drawers, sifting through their contents in the dark. Once in a while he pauses and shines his light on something, and then continues.
    I wander into the room with him and rummage through stuff. I find a notebook in a marble nightstand. The front has a list of regular grocery items, but the back has delivery addresses. It’s weird.
    There’s one entry per page:
    Carrots—5th Avenue.
    Rigatoni—Dix Hills.
    Parsley—Upper East Side.
    I frown as I look at it.
    Sean pads over and stops next to me, peering down over my shoulder. He’s close enough for his scent to fill my head. I wish I could wrap my arms around him and never let go. I show him the book.
    “Either she’s nuts, or this is a code.”
    Sean flips through the pages and nods. He takes it, snaps pictures of each page and tells me, “Put it back.”
    I do as he says, and when I place the book in the drawer, I pick up a brass letter opener. No one deserves to be left alone and defenseless with Vic Jr. I tuck it into my pocket and continue searching Black’s stuff. When we finish exploring the upstairs rooms, Sean passes by his mother’s room and closes the door. They don’t speak.
    It bothers me. “You’re not even going to try to get her out?”
    “Avery, she won’t come.” He stops and looks at me, those blue eyes pleading with me not to make a big deal out of this. “The best way to help her is to finish this and come back for her.”
    “But what if he moves her? What if he hurts her?”
    Sean takes hold of my shoulders. “He already has. There was a body at the mansion. It wasn’t Mother, so someone else is dead. If we free her, he’ll know we’re coming for him. I can’t risk it, Avery. If I have to choose who to save, Mother or you, I have no doubts—none.” His hands are on my shoulders, and he forces me to look him in the face.
    “Sean—”
    “Avery, I choose you.” His hands linger for a moment, and there’s an all-consuming sadness in his eyes that breaks my heart. He blinks, and it’s gone. The scary man dressed in solid black is back. His eyes darken, and he turns from me, disappearing down the stairs.
    I swallow hard and glance at her door, now locked again. I pull the letter opener from my pocket and pad toward the room before I kneel at the base of the door. I