A Beautiful Funeral (The Maddox Brothers #5) - Jamie McGuire Page 0,57

ultimatum.

America fell quiet. The America I fell in love with would have raked Abby over the coals for being dishonest, but my wife and mother of three tyrants was wiser and slower to anger. She listened more and reacted less. Their friendship had lasted on the basis of full disclosure. How else could they love each other no matter what? But now we were in a time of our lives when we had to put our spouses first. Marriage made friendship—even old ones—complicated.

“Mare,” Abby began. “I wanted to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” America said. Now that the conversation had started, she wasn’t going to let her off too easy.

“About Travis. I just found out myself a few years ago.”

“When did you stop trusting me?” America asked, trying not to sound hurt.

“It’s not about that. He wasn’t cheating or fighting a drug addiction, Mare. He was undercover for the FBI. He was running with the mob, fighting at first, and then shaking down Vegas strip clubs and making threats. I couldn’t call you about it or text. We couldn’t whisper about it like gossip next to the pool while watching the kids play. Travis was being watched. Why would I tell you?”

“So you didn’t have to carry it alone.”

“I wasn’t alone,” Abby said. She looked at Travis with a small smile.

“That morning in St. Thomas?” I asked. “That was when you were recruited?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Travis said.

I rubbed the back of my head, my thoughts spinning. How had Travis kept this secret all these years? When he was traveling for the gym, and then when he took over Thomas’s job, it was always the FBI. That explained how they bought a house based on his personal trainer wages, but I still couldn’t believe they’d kept it from us.

“So why Thomas?” I asked. “Why did Thomas keep it a secret?”

Travis shrugged. “Mom. She made Dad promise to quit his job as a detective, and that we wouldn’t follow in his footsteps. But Thomas was born to do this job.” He spoke of Thomas with reverence, and I believed him, even though I still didn’t understand the lies.

“Jim would have understood, Trav. Surely, there’s another reason.”

Travis shrugged. “That’s the only reason he’s ever given me. He didn’t want to disappoint Dad. He didn’t want Dad to tell him not to pursue a career he was passionate about.”

America watched Travis speak, her eyes narrowing. She picked up on something I didn’t. “So Thomas knew that you were about to be arrested and talked someone in the Bureau into offering you a job because of your connections with Mick and Benny? Why not Abby?”

Abby chuckled. “Travis was capable of doing things for Benny I wasn’t. And Travis would have never agreed to that.” America nodded, but she still wasn’t satisfied. Something wasn’t adding up. They were still hiding something. “So now Thomas …” America trailed off. She did that with the boys a lot, hoping they would fill in the blanks.

Travis cleared his throat. “Was targeted, yes.”

“And that cut on your head?” I asked.

He traded glances with his wife. “I was, too. That’s why the agents came to Dad’s. That’s why they’re here. That’s why we have to stay together.”

“You automatically assumed they’d be after the rest of the family because they went after you and Thomas?” America asked.

“They weren’t after Travis,” Abby said. “He was in my car. They were after the kids and me.”

America covered her mouth.

Travis’s gaze fell to the floor. “The men who ran me off the road … They were Benny Carlisi’s men. They had pictures of us in the vehicle. All of us, our families, the kids ...”

“Why?” I asked. “Because your cover was blown?”

“I fucked up,” Travis said. “I killed Benny. They’re out for blood.”

“You killed him?” America asked, stunned. “My friend Travis, my husband’s cousin, my best friend’s husband, killed a mob boss? Did we somehow fall into an episode of The Sopranos? How the hell is this happening?”

“He didn’t have a choice,” Abby said. “It was him or Benny.”

“And Mick?” America asked.

“He was in protective custody. He’s disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” America screeched, looking at Abby.

“Keep your voice down,” Travis said.

America stood and began to pace. “So now what? We’ll be prisoners in our own home until they’re all caught?”

“It won’t be long,” Travis said. “I promise, Mare. They gunned down one of our agents—my brother. We won’t stop until they’re locked up or wiped out.” Travis crossed his arms across his chest. As big as he