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

She was tired of hiding things from her brothers. She was tired of being a stranger to her father. She was tired of being quiet. Deep inside of her, she summoned the voice that she hadn’t been able to access and shouted above the chaos. “Enough!” She clapped her hands twice and then moved to the coffee table, pointing to the wood surface. “Guns on the table, all of you.”
    Declan waved off her demand. “What? Fally, you’re being dramatic. We’re pissed, but…”
    “On the table!” she ordered. “It’s my pound of flesh from each of you. You want to know my fiancé’s name? I want your guns. Now!”
    Carrigan sunk to his knees in anguish, barely holding back his rage. “No! Tell me you didn’t. Tell me this isn’t. No, Fallyn! No! Anyone but him!”
    “Guns on the table!” She met Angelo’s eyes, who nodded in solidarity. “Angelo keeps the guns until I say so.” This brought about more arguments, but Fallyn kept her mouth shut until she counted six guns from her brothers on the coffee table. “I’m finally happy, which you all want for me, right?” She glared at each of her brothers until they nodded with varying degrees of hesitance. “I’ve lived on my own just fine. I run my own business. I have two degrees. I pay my own bills. I don’t want anyone questioning my choice. Any of you messes with my future husband, and I’ll elope so fast, you won’t know what hit you. You won’t hear from me until you get our couple’s Christmas card in the mail, with no return address.”
    Joey and Tony both snorted at the notion of their intimidating older brother grinning out at them from a cheery Christmas card. Angelo smacked them both upside the head. “Guns stay on the table,” Angelo ordered, standing to enforce Fallyn’s rule.
    Killian waved Angelo off. “Look, this is family stuff. You all want to step outside and give us a minute?”
    Vince stood next to Angelo, and then slowly moved beside Fallyn, stopping them all short when he reached out and held her hand. “This involves our family, too. We wanted to tell you all sooner, but Fallyn was afraid of how you’d react. She was sure you’d try to break us up, or beat on me, like I let Carrigan do when he found out a couple months ago.” Vince smirked at Carrigan, glad to feed him to the wolves to distract from them ganging up on Fallyn.
    Seamus whirled on Carrigan, angry he’d kept them all out of the loop. “You knew?”
    Declan and Killian were beside themselves with what looked like food sickness. Killian held his stomach and jabbed his trembling finger at Vince. “You! Explain yourself!”
    “Don’t hold her hand like that!” Declan shouted, looking like he might throw up on the carpet.
    Vince’s voice did not waver, nor did he let go of Fallyn’s hand. “When I first started coming around the bakery for our weekly meetings, Fallyn and I got to talking. One thing led to another, and here we are. Nothing more complicated than that.”
    “I said get your hand off her! Fallyn, get away from him!” Declan didn’t just appear upset, he was choked with something Fallyn couldn’t place. It was a deeper level of disgust than a sentiment of the typical rage displayed on Danny, Seamus, Finn and Carrigan’s faces.
    Seamus took the lead and threw the first punch, narrowly missing Vince’s jaw. Vince pushed Fallyn behind him. “Get in the car,” he ordered. “I’ve got this.”
    “No!” She ran to her father’s recliner, taking in his glazed expression that looked mildly perplexed by the ruckus. “Daddy, tell them it’s okay. They’ll listen if you tell them Vince and I should be together. Please, Daddy!”
    “Vince?” Patrick questioned in between lucidity and not. “Vince D’Amato? Papa D’s oldest boy?”
    “Yes!” Fallyn was on her knees, both her hands wrapped around her father’s large mitt. “Yes, Vince and I are in love, and we’re going to get married! Daddy, I’m getting married.” She tried to force a