Stolen Kisses

by Gray, Khardine

  It pained me to my soul to see this happening to my friend.

  “Don’t piss me off Christina, you won’t like it. I’ll send for you later.” He released her arm practically shoving her.

  Creepy man was right there waiting to usher her back in the direction they’d come.

  They left and Elliot stayed.

  Great. He was here and I couldn’t leave. I could have tried to make some kind of escape, but my heart was beating so fast now I didn’t know if I could pull it off without being seen.

  He looked like he was waiting for someone else to come by.

  Two minutes later they did.

  I covered my mouth and tried to hold in a gasp, as I stared on in complete disbelief.

  I didn’t know how many more shocks I could take in this night. But who I saw next was a man who was supposedly off grid. A man who I knew by picture and definitely never on a personal level.

  Barabbas Antonella, don of the Antonella family strolled up with three guys. Two were holding up the one in the middle who had his hands bound and mouth gagged.

  I never watched the news when I was younger. Never did until a year ago when Luc practically called me stupid, because I wasn’t aware of some stock price change, as if that was the sort of thing everyone knew.

  I’d started watching the news in the evening when I got home from work.

  That was the only reason how I knew who was whom on a wider level. Elliot Granger was a man I knew of from local news and various other community things. I knew he was also in the run for States Attorney which I had no doubt he’d get, because his father was the fucking governor.

  He, the guy who was bound and gagged, was a guy I’d seen on the news.

  His name was Todd Parker. He was the district attorney and was currently prosecuting a murder case that had been highly televised. Brian Matterson was an ex-football player with a lot of influence. He was charged for shooting his wife and her lover after finding them having an affair. He claimed he didn’t do it. I was so engrossed with the trial that I made sure I didn’t miss any footage. For me it was close to watching the OJ Simpson trial, because it was a similar sort of case and had a lot of media attention.

  The difference was Brian was sent to prison. It looked like things were going well for him and he might have been acquitted and then suddenly things went left.

  What were Barabbas Antonella, Todd Parker, and Elliot Granger doing all here together?

  Fuck, I really should have gotten Dante tonight.

  Elliot smiled when he saw them all coming.

  “Wonderful, finally something I can smile about. Fucking wonderful.” Elliot said spreading his arms wide like he owned the world.

  “What do you want me to do with him, boss?” Barabbas asked.

  Boss?

  My mouth fell open and I blinked several times, trying to process what I was hearing.

  Seeing Barabbas was a rare sight for a girl like me.

  I had more chances of seeing a leprechaun.

  What was even more strange was hearing Barabbas call Elliot boss. Granted he did do it in a sort of exaggerated way, but I didn’t figure a man like him to joke around.

  “Kill him,” Elliot ordered. “Fucking kill his ass for messing with the case.”

  Oh my God … the case.

  Tears streamed down Todd’s cheeks and he started squirming around trying to break free of the hold the men had on him.

  “Didn’t you say you wanted to teach him a lesson first?” Barabbas chuckled.

  “Yes, I did didn’t I.” Elliot sighed then pulled out his gun and pointed it at Todd. “Todd Parker, all you had to do was one simple thing and you couldn’t do it. The hair sample, you should have really gotten rid of it. Now there’s nothing I can do for Brian. Guess what, jokes on you though. Tonight you get your punishment. I’m taking your wife. I’ll cut her pretty little face off after I fuck her, then I’ll kill her. And there won’t be a damn thing you’ll do about it. You know why?”

  Click-clack. That sound, it echoed through the room and through my body.

  “You’ll be dead.” Elliot roared, then BANG!

  He fired the shot straight through Todd’s head and blood splattered everywhere.

  All over Elliot’s face, all over the men carrying Todd and on Barabbas.

  Tears rolled down my cheeks and I had to clamp down hard on my mouth to stop from screaming, screaming, and screaming.

  I’d just seen a man get killed. Shot. Shot just like that … as if he meant nothing.

  I couldn’t stop shaking and trembling. Quivering in my soul. I squeezed my eyes shut willing the nightmare to go away, but knowing it was all still there unfolding before me.

  What had I just seen?

  God, what had I just seen?

  What the hell had I just seen?

  Elliot’s laughter rumbled through the room.

  “Clean up the mess.” Elliot said to the men. Then he turned to Barabbas. “We have things to discuss. I hope you brought the documents.”

  “In the car, it’s going to take a while. So, you better put your lady friend on hold.” Barabbas said.

  “Already taken care of. She won’t be around until later, so I have time.”

  Christina. They were talking about her.

  Jesus Christ. Why had she gotten herself involved with people like this?

  It was my fault.

  This was all my doing. I’d ruined a sweet girl like her who had a family that cared about her. I had pushed her to this shit.

  And … Dante. I couldn’t tell him what I’d seen. It was too dangerous. No one would be able to protect him. Even the hardest guys we knew couldn’t protect him if it came down to it and he got on the wrong side of Elliot, and Barabbas.

  I couldn’t tell Dante. I’d have to find some way of telling him Christina needed to be tamed without saying too much.

  The two left and damn it I had to wait until the men cleaned up the place and took away Todd’s mangled body.

  I had to wait.

  I must have waited for hours in that little cupboard too scared to come out, too scared to move. It was the worry of staying past the time the function ended that made me move, because I’d have a whole other set of worries to think about and lose my cover of the crowd.

  I managed to get up and move, sneaking past everything then blending in when I got upstairs to everyone else.

  All these people and no one knew what had happened just downstairs.

  Nobody knew, just me—alone.

  * * *

  I got home and curled up in my bed.

  I didn’t know how long I stayed there, but I didn’t sleep. Morning came and still no Christina. I got up and went out to the kitchen to make some coffee.

  Lunch came and no Christina.

  Dinner passed too, no Christina and she wasn’t answering her phone.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  Would she be okay?

  The man she was seeing had just killed Todd Parker. How could I think my best friend was okay with a man like that?

  A murderer. A killer.

  I’d always heard Luc say no mindless killing. Men like him only killed to protect themselves and the ones they loved. That was the difference with the Antonellas and Manellos. It was a really big difference.

  Christina, where are you?

  The doorbell rang and I ran to it thinking that Christina must have forgotten her keys.

  I opened the door to see Luc standing there.

  “Doll, what the hell happened to you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He stated looking me over.

  I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The tears came rolling down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them from falling.

  “Fuck, what happened?”

  What happened? Chances were if I told him he’d get involved too and he’d be in danger. So, I just told him part of the problem.

  “Christina didn’t come home last night.”

  “Come here,” he said pu
lling me in for a hug. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  He came in and sat with me holding me in his arms as I cried myself to sleep. I cried for all of the horrific things I’d seen and my worry over Christina.

  I woke at the sound of glass smashing. Luc was gone and a blanket was spread over me.

  It was dark outside and it felt like it was early morning like one or two o’clock.

  A scream made me jump— Christina. She was in her room.

  I practically ran up the stairs and burst into her room to see she’d smashed the place up.

  “Christina, what happened to you?” I gasped.

  She was crying and in complete distress. She looked at me and shook her head.

  “Everything is fucking shit!” she cried.

  “What? What happened, tell me please? Just tell me?”

  She covered her mouth and cried harder. “I’m pregnant.” She winced. “I’m pregnant and he wants nothing to do with me.”

  Oh God …

  “Who?” Did she mean Elliot? Or one of the other men? Fuck, it could be anybody with the rate she was going. Those were just the men I’d seen. There could be someone else I didn’t know about.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Her shoulders shook as she cried.

  “Is it Mr. Mystery Man?” I was pretty certain the events of last night told me Elliot was more than likely Mr. Mystery Man. What I didn’t know is if she was carrying his baby.

  The conversation they had made it sound like they’d recently gotten back together, but maybe they hadn’t. Getting back together could mean they’d decided to see each other officially. That didn’t mean that she hadn’t slept with him in the last few weeks.

  “Christina tell me, please. It’s me. I’m your best friend. You tell me everything. I just want to know how I can help you. I’ll take care of you. We’ll raise the baby together. I’m here for you.” I just wanted her to see that she could trust me. If she would just calm down she would see that.

  “He doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.” She babbled on, ignoring my attempts.

  “Who are you talking about?”

  She shook her head again and it was like she couldn’t see me. “I’m going to destroy him. I’m going to destroy him completely. He thinks he can do this to me and get away with it. I know things. I have stuff. I have dirt on him. I’m going to destroy him!” she wailed.

  She sounded like she’d just lost her mind. I’d never seen her behave this way. Not ever.

  “Christina, talk to me. Who are you talking about?” Something in me was desperate to know because I didn’t think any of the men I’d seen her with would take that threat lightly, especially Elliot.

  She tried to move past me, but I grabbed her arm.

  “Let go of me.” She screamed.

  “Christina you are acting crazy!”

  She raised her hand and slapped me on my cheek so hard I fell over and bruised my arms on the floorboards.

  “Fucking bitch, don’t you dare call me crazy. This would never happen to you. Beautiful, perfect Maria. All the guys liked you. They all liked you more than me, when you’re nothing but street trash. All you do is use your body for sex, you’re nothing.”

  We’d known each other for so many years I’d had lost count. As she spoke, I remembered when we first met. It was by the river.

  We were eight years old and I liked her hair. She was crying, because she missed her father. He’d died a few months before. She was fascinated when I told her I didn’t have parents. We became friends in an instant. Then her brother came looking for her and found us.

  We’d always stuck together like glue. She felt like a sister to me.

  Like family.

  This crazy woman couldn’t be that same person.

  She just glared at me and walked away leaving me on the floor in tears.

  I must have stayed that way on the floor for a good half an hour. Stunned and hurt.

  Then I got myself together.

  If she were someone else, I wouldn’t have seen past the shit talk. It would have been the end of our friendship with that slap.

  But this was Christina, I needed to know what was going on with her and what she was going to do.

  I had a bad feeling about all of this. There were too many parts that were missing from this story.

  Many parts that didn’t fit either.

  I had to be sure to get it right if I was going to assume that she was talking about Elliot. Was he the father? Or not. Did she tell him she was pregnant and he said he didn’t want anything to do with her, because the baby wasn’t his?

  Or because it was?

  Too many questions.

  I needed answers, and I needed to obviously be there for my friend.

  Oh Christina. I’m so sorry.

  This was all my fault.

  Chapter 22

  Maria

  Present day …

  I was never the sit down and look type.

  I wasn’t that years ago when I didn’t have much to worry about and I for damn certain wasn’t that kind of person now.

  Sit down and look while Dante was out there doing God knew what.

  I didn’t know how I kept from withering away when he told me there was new evidence he was looking into.

  Still he didn’t elaborate. I noticed that part. He didn’t tell me what he had found and he didn’t tell me what he was doing either. Two very important things excluded.

  It terrified me to think what it could be, but he was right.

  I wanted answers too. I definitely wanted answers.

  Damn I was just here with Flynn and the guys.

  The guys who I actually couldn’t stand from way back when.

  Saul with his full set of gold teeth, Donny the flirt, and Lois who was practically attached to his long reach knives.

  Some other guys were on watch outside the house too. Scary looking tough guys I hadn’t seen before.

  Saul, Lois, and Donny were inside the house.

  It was lunch time and I’d made sandwiches. Then suddenly I found myself making more food like I used to when I waitressed and served food for everyone.

  And, because I was so worried I couldn’t eat.

  “Maria, I have to say I definitely missed your food.” Donny said munching away on a beef roll.

  “Yes, here’s to more.” Donny nodded.

  “You guys are a bunch of assholes. All I’ve done all day is serve you and look after you like the baby.” I glanced at Flynn who was sitting beside them around the table.

  “Shhhh, language.” Saul said pretending to cover Flynn’s ears. He smiled wide showing off his teeth knowing that I hated them.

  “Saul, it’s a good thing I know you.” I shook my head at him and he chuckled.

  “Yes, Maria Ferrara you do know me.”

  “Ugh, did Dante say when he was coming back?” I had to ask. One, because I would go crazy here with them and two, because I was worried sick.

  “Nope.”

  “Did he say when you guys could leave?”

  “Nope.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “Nope, not a damn thing besides what he said yesterday. Watch his woman and kid.”

  Sweet as it was to hear it for myself, I couldn’t tamp down my frustration. These guys were brought in when they needed muscle.

  They didn’t always know specifics.

  Flynn started laughing at some trick Donny was doing with a bunch of cards. At least he was happy.

  I sighed and left them walking into the sitting room so I could have a minute to myself.

  I just needed some time to think back to the past.

  The memory of that night when I saw Elliot Granger kill Todd Parker had never left my mind.

  The news a few days later spoke of finding his body in the river and claimed that he killed himself. Apparently the death wasn’t suspicious.

  Next his wife was reported missing.

  I knew how that story went too. Coul
d I go to the police with all I saw and knew?

  Definitely not.

  At the time I had my own grief to deal with, because the next day Dante and I found Christina.

  Dead.

  So many questions.

  None of them answered, and I still felt bad for not mentioning Elliot Granger’s name.

  I was scared to be wrong.

  I didn’t think I could have sent Dante on a suicide mission because I speculated Elliot Granger as a possibility.

  Elliot Granger didn’t just go on to become the States Attorney, his father died a few years back and the man became governor of Illinois.

  He was still married to Sheila and their kids helped out in various charity events. The image was the perfect all-American family. Made me wonder what he was gunning for next.

  President?

  Why not?

  I didn’t watch the news as much anymore.

  I didn’t watch it, because I couldn’t stand the idea that I might see him. It was like emotional bullying and a reminder of the big question on my mind.

  Did he kill Christina?

  It was so hard for me to see past what I saw him do to Todd, but I had to be objective and lay out all the facts I’d witnessed and heard. He wasn’t the only guy I saw Christina with and she’d said they’d just gotten back together. That tended to suggest that he wasn’t the father of her baby. But…

  She hadn’t specifically said it was the baby’s father who wanted nothing to do with her. She just said: ‘he wants nothing to do with me.’

  That was vague and I’d assumed she was talking about the baby’s father. Maybe she wasn’t.

  Also, it wasn’t him I saw at the penthouse. That was however where Christina was found dead.

  A little knock sounded at the door and I turned to see Ava standing in the doorway.

  Ava. Claudius’ Ava.

  She was carrying a plastic carrier bag.

  The last time I saw her I was running away from her restaurant like a coward, because I’d seen Luc.

  “Hi,” she beamed.

  I straightened up. “Hi.”

  A tentative expression washed over her face. “I hope you don’t mind me coming by. I just wanted to see how you were. Claudius kind of told me what happened and I just wanted to check on you.”