Escaping: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #2) by Tuesday Embers, Mary E. Twomey

you!” He looked up to the heavens in exasperation. “I can’t believe I actually have to say that!”
    Fallyn stayed her arguments, knowing there would never be any reasoning with them. She leaned up and kissed his prickly five o’clock shadow. “Goodbye, Carri. I really do want you to have a good life. You were my best friend in the whole world before you stopped loving me.”
    “You know I never stopped. I’m mad at you, but I’m still your brother.”
    Fallyn shrugged, unable to believe him or indulge in hope that things would ever be good between them again. “I love you, even when your love is ugly and looks like this.”
    “Stop, Fal. Declan called a family meeting for tomorrow night. He couldn’t get ahold of you because your phone’s off.”
    “That’s the thing about not wanting to hear from any of you. I blocked all your numbers, so you can call all you want.”
    Carrigan was frustrated, his words curt. “Can I tell them you’re coming?”
    “Is Vince invited? If he’s not invited, I’m not coming.”
    Carrigan cracked his knuckles. “Sure. Bring him along. But just to Dad’s house tomorrow night, not any night after that. Killian’s sending Vince a message tomorrow night that the D’Amatos won’t be welcome in O’Keefe territory anymore.”
    Fallyn started talking with her hands, incredulous. “Then I’m not coming back to O’Keefe territory, you dummy,” she ruled, cringing at the sacrifice she had to make. “Vince is my fiancé. If he’s not welcome, then I’m not.”
    Carrigan rolled his eyes. “Your house is in O’Keefe territory, brainiac.”
    “Not anymore. Angelo and Tony moved me out last night. I’m living with Vince’s family, who’ve been nothing but supportive of us.” The second the words birthed from her, she wished she could shove them back inside. She backed against her car, recoiling from Carrigan’s vitriolic reaction.
    Carrigan blanched, his face vacillating from enraged to confused to sick. “You’re not serious. You’re not living with your boyfriend!” he ruled, sounding every bit like his father.
    Fallyn ducked into her sedan and locked the door, fumbling with her keys as her fingers shook. She drove off when her brother’s fist pounded on her window, not looking back at Carrigan’s fury.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Fifteen. 
    Keenan’s Sister
     
     
    Fallyn didn’t want to drive to the county jail, but she knew she had to. Keenan was part of the family, and didn’t deserve to be cut off without being given his fair chance at being supportive. She had a monthly standing appointment to visit her brother, but today was a bonus visit. She went through the necessary checks and inspections without a blink, her heart lifting and crashing as the familiar smile greeted her. Surprise colored the smattering of freckles across Keenan’s wider nose. “Fallyn?”
    The two sat at a circular table, fighting back the need to hug the other one, lest the guards take Keenan back to his cell for violating the “no touching” rule. The cold gray concrete walls were firm in their decree that no one should feel comfortable here. The handful of inmates who had visitors held their quiet conversations at tables around them, giving Fallyn no illusion of privacy. “Keenan, how are you?”
    Keenan shrugged. “The same. Not much changes in here. But twice in a month? What’s going on? What’d I miss?”
    She took a steadying breath as she tried to figure out where to start.
    “Whoa. I missed something big, then. Usually you’re talking a mile a minute. Now I’m nervous.”
    Fallyn didn’t feel like beating around the bush. The bare concrete walls felt like they were closing in on her, locking her inside with her brother. She’d had to keep the joy over her grand engagement to herself for too long, and the restrictions had grown irksome. She was happy with Vince, and didn’t want to hide it from the people she loved. “A lot’s been changing,