My gaze landed on the bathroom window, and I didn’t even consider the repercussions of my decision. I climbed up to the windowsill and used my shoulder to push the window open. The school grounds were pretty secure, but Ciana and I had spent hours examining all the holes in the security. It was something Mom had taught us to do from the time we’d started school. Always look for the holes, so that no matter what happened, we could have a plan to escape if we needed to.
Back then, neither of us had really understood what she was talking about, but over the years, we’d started to realize just what it meant to be part of the Vitucci family. We’d noticed that not everyone had guards shadowing their every move outside of their houses like we did. It was a dangerous world outside our compound walls, something the two of us had come to understand all too clearly in recent years.
Once I was off school property, I took off running in the direction of home. This time of day, with Papa in Chicago and all of us kids supposed to be in school, only one guard was on duty in front of the compound gate, and he was so into his phone that he didn’t notice when I climbed the fence.
As my feet landed on the other side, the growl of two dogs greeted me. I gave them the German command I’d been taught, and the dogs instantly came to attention. I whispered another command, and they took off running in the opposite direction. Inside the house, I went straight up to Mom’s room, hoping that she was sleeping if she was still feeling unwell.
Instead, I found the bedroom empty, but her shower was running. Hurriedly, I sent a few texts from her phone, requesting for the pilot to get the second jet ready since Papa was using the other one. Then I texted a car service we used sometimes before arranging for one to meet me when I landed.
I was out of my parents’ room before the shower even turned off. After stopping in my room to grab the present I’d already wrapped for Nova’s birthday, I rushed back out and left the compound the same way I’d snuck in.
The car service met me a few blocks from the house and drove me straight to the airport, where the jet was already waiting on the tarmac. The flight attendant greeted me with a bow of his head as I boarded.
“Mr. Vitucci,” he said as I took a seat. “Would you like a snack?”
“No, thank you.” I took my seat and waited for the pilot to get us in the air. No one questioned that it was just me, even though I never flew anywhere without Mom or at least three guards with me. The text I’d sent the pilot had simply told him it was an emergency and to get me to Northern California as quickly as possible. No one ever second-guessed Mom, which was why I’d made all the arrangements from her cell instead of my own.
I knew, without a doubt, that I was going to get into trouble for what I’d done, and I was prepared to deal with that.
What I couldn’t handle was Nova hating me for thinking I’d lied to her. For breaking a promise.
Promises were special. I knew people had to break them sometimes, but I wouldn’t do that to Nova unless there were no other options. Whatever punishment I got for making another option this time would be worth it.
The jet had Wi-Fi so I tried to call Nova a few more times on the flight, but she still had her iPad turned off. The longer I spent unable to speak to her, the more the pressure around my heart increased.
Once we were on the ground and I was only a short distance from Nova’s home, the pressure started to ease, but only a little. With each mile closer to her, it eased a little more. It was dinnertime for the Hannigan family by the time the driver pulled up outside of Nova’s house in Creswell Springs. I signed the receipt the driver gave me and told him he didn’t have to wait for me before getting out.
Making sure her gift was in my pocket, I walked up the driveway and climbed the steps to her front porch. Heart pounding, I rang the doorbell and tried to wait patiently.
It was a few minutes before the door opened, and Felicity stood on the other side. I wasn’t as nervous around her these days as I had been the first summer I’d met her, but I wasn’t exactly happy to see her either. Still, I smiled up at her, knowing she was just one more barrier I had to get past before I could see Nova.
“Hi, Mrs. Hannigan,” I greeted when she just stood there with a bewildered look on her face. “Can I speak to Nova, please?”
“I… Umm…” When she shook her head, my stomach dropped. She couldn’t keep me from seeing her daughter. I had to make Nova understand that I didn’t mean to make her cry. “Ryan, what are you doing here? Where are your parents?”
I shrugged, my shoulders aching from the tension they had held all day. “Mom wasn’t feeling well because she’s having bad morning sickness, and Papa is in Chicago on business.”
“Then how did you get here?” she demanded in her soft, kind voice.
“We have two private planes,” I explained, trying to be patient. “I used Mom’s phone to have the pilot get the one Papa wasn’t using ready by text, and then called a private car company to take me to the airport. A second car service was waiting when I landed.”
“Does your mom know you’re here?” Her voice lost the softness, becoming strained and a little strangled.
“I didn’t want to worry Mom.” She would have felt bad if I told her everything, and I didn’t want her to feel guilty. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t feel well. My little brother or sister was growing inside her, making her sick. She needed the rest, and I needed to learn to handle things on my own.
“Oh my God,” Nova’s mom whispered and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me into the house. I tried not to flinch at her touch, but I still wasn’t completely comfortable around her. She’d proven to me that she wouldn’t hurt either of her children, and I wasn’t nearly as scared of her as I once had been, but that didn’t mean I could turn off my body’s natural reaction to the possibility of an adult woman hurting me.
As she ushered me inside, she lifted her phone to her ear, and moments later, I faintly heard Zio Ciro’s deep voice. “I don’t have time to chat, Felicity. I have a problem here and—”
“Ryan,” she interrupted.
“Yeah…” he answered, surprise thick in his voice. “How did you know?”
She shook her head, causing her dark hair to swish back and forth. “Just a guess. Oh, and by the way, I have a new houseguest. Ryan just showed up at my front door.”
“Thank God,” I heard him groan. “Anya is going ballistic. We thought someone kidnapped him. Cristiano is in Chicago, and he was about to blow up the world.”
“What should I do with him?”
“Just keep him there,” Zio instructed. “I’ll let Cristiano know, and he can fly over to pick him up instead of coming home.” There was a pause, and I just stood there, waiting. “Can I speak to him?”
I took the phone as soon as she offered it, knowing what to expect. The harshness of my uncle’s voice, the worry and stress and actual fear I heard in it, made me feel bad, but not enough to make me regret what I did.
“Your mom is beside herself!” Zio roared. “She practically collapsed when you weren’t there to be picked up from school! Your teachers nearly got a bullet between the eyes.”
“I’m sorry Mom was upset,” I told him honestly. “I didn’t mean to make her worry. That’s not what I wanted. I just didn’t want Nova to be sad.”