I know he is speaking to me, and I know I am yelling just as much back at him, but things begin to blur. My heart begins to race, and all I can feel is the boiling of my blood steaming up to the edges of my breaking point. I notice nothing more than my father backing away from me with fear, halting the swirling of his own eyes. He grips me, grips his chest, and calls out to me, but as much as I try to calm enough to understand, I can’t. I can’t control my emotions, nor my torrid blood until it is too late.
“Well done, Nicholas.” I turn quickly to see Savage watching me with a calm smile. I have no idea what he is referring to until I look down and see my father’s motionless body sprawled out in front of me. My body begins to cool as I reach out with a shaky hand to feel of him.
“Oh no! No! I have to call for help,” I say, reaching for my phone.
“He is dead, what’s the urgency?” Savage asks. Falling to my knees, I hang my head over my father’s body and I begin vibrating with a sudden understanding. “Yes, it is sad, but it was necessary. Even your father knew it. You are much too powerful for even him.” My eyes begin to fill with the pain that is cutting through me. Savage sits down casually with his ruby-eyed dragon sparkling within my shadow, and across my father’s lifeless body.
“What are you doing here?” I manage to say gripping my father’s hand.
“I told your father I was coming to talk about you. I want you to join my organization, Nicholas. Your father worked for me, and I think it is time that you begin your life right and now join me. It is in your best interest. No one else knows how to teach you what you need to know like I do. Rice is …” he sighs with a growl, “… a pathetic piece of trash.” He continues talking as if nothing is amiss, as if he was invited to dinner on a Sunday afternoon and is waiting to be served.
“Do you know who I am, what I am?” I ask.
Savage sits back with a growing smile, “He taught you nothing? You managed to do this without even knowing? Hmmm. Well, that is something.” Leaning forward, Savage whispers into my ear to follow him, to work for him, and he will promise to show me all that I can be.
The more he speaks, the louder my father’s voice gets, “Nicholas I want you to listen to me, and never forget what I am about to say to you. That man, Dennis Savage, do not ever go near him, he is not to be trusted. He only wants bad things for you. Promise me son that you will never go near that man?” I promised, and I can’t go back on that now. In fact, I don’t want to know who I am. I don’t ever want to know who I am, if this is any indication of what I can do.
I leave my knees and my father and look down at Savage, “My father is dead, and I killed him. Why would you want me, unless it is for something worse than I have already done? I don’t want to work for you, I don’t work for anyone.” His sinister eyes do nothing to sway my decision. He can kill me for all I care, I’d almost prefer it.
“Nicholas, you are clearly not ready liked I had hoped you would be.” He sighs and stands in front of me. “You will soon understand on your own. I was going to take care of that … brother of yours, but I think I will leave him for you to handle. It will be a good learning experience. Don’t let him live too long though, he will only become a bigger issue for you. Not to mention, he annoys the hell out of me.” Savage inhales deeply, glancing down at my father. “Pity, I had hopes for him at one point, but now I will work with someone else until you are ready.” Savage walks out the door and nods towards the man that is waiting for him at his car. He leaves me to deal with my life alone. Rushing into my room, I gather the bag my father had begun to pack for me and fill it with the rest of my things. When I finish, I dig out my stash of cash and give my father nothing more than a glance before I run out the door. I never look back, maybe I am too scared too, but all I care about now is getting the hell out of this city for good.
My mind screams at me, while the rest of my body feels numb. I am still planning my next move when I spot Connor and his boys coming my way. Seeing him only reignites me, so instead of hiding, I stop my car and get out to face him. He smiles and sends in one of his biggest goons, but the fool attacks me face up and therefore he dies face down. Connor’s eyes widen, but none of his men can get close enough to throw any bags over my head this time. I fight like never before, and provoke Connor to rush anxiously to his car. He doesn’t even look back once, before screeching his tires down the road. I get back in my car and breathe, trying to focus on calming down before I go to see Franky.
Instead of facing off with her father one more time, I wait for him to leave. She answers the door with a smile that rapidly disappears when she catches sight of me. “Oh, Nick, what happened?” I look down at myself and realize my brother’s men didn’t die completely in vain. My clothes are torn and covered in blood, and the pain in my head is not just from my horrible day, but also from the dry bloodied gash someone managed to inflict on me.
“It’s nothing,” I say, dismissing her worry with a smile. “I was wearing your scarf, so I am fine.” I say fisting her scarf around my neck. “Franky, I need to ask you something.” Looking down at her, I stare into her eyes with the voice of my father still floating in the back of my head. “Do you love me, Franky?”
“Yes, I love you very much,” she says.
“Good, because I love you more than anything. In fact, I want to marry you.” Her smile turns into shock. “Seriously, I want to runaway with you tonight and get married and leave all of this behind.” She doesn’t return my happiness. “You said you love me, and would do anything for me, and I want to get out of here, Franky. I don’t want to work for Harvey anymore. Hell, I will even try and go to college for you … with you even. We can go together, Franky.” Her interest begins to peak, giving me hope. “Yeah, we can go together and be together, help each other, but we have to leave tonight or I may not ever be able to leave.”
“Why Nick? What happened? Is it your brother?” she asks, worrying again, rather than focusing on what I want her too.
“Yes, I have to get away and hide from him before things get worse. If you don’t come with me tonight, I may never be able to see you again, and I don’t want that. Do you?”
“No, of course not, I want to be with you.” Hugging her tightly, I smile and begin packing her bags for her. She doesn’t move. She stands dumbfounded watching me frantically gather her things, asking her what is important and what isn’t. I choose to ignore her solemn demeanor, but the longer she stands, still and silent, the angrier I become. “Nick, what about my father?”
“What about him?” I snap.
“I need to tell him where we are going, I need to make sure he can contact me,” she says, fidgeting.
“No. You can’t contact him, Franky, otherwise, my brother will be able to find us. Don’t worry, I will love you enough.”
“Nick, I can’t leave my father. I’m all he’s got,” she pleads with me, sitting down and curling over herself.
“You’re all I have. Do I not matter?” I stare at her in amazement. The girl who did everything to get my attention, who says she loves me, is now willing to let me go.
“That’s not what I said. Maybe we should talk to my father and he can help with your brother. He is very smart. He will know what to do to help you.” She grasps me, smiling with hope.
“He can’t help me, Franky, no one can. The only thing I can do is leave, and I want you to leave with me.” Her silence screams at me. Dropping my hands from her, I back away “You don’t love me.”
“Yes, I do Nick, but I think we need to think this through before …”
“I have thought it through! I thought you trusted me. Aren’t you the one that said I am too smart? Suddenly, I am not that smart after all? I guess when it comes time to prove your love for me, I am nothing to you.”
“That is not true, Nick. I do love you, but I don’t understand.”
“No, you don’t. I don’t know why I thought someone like you would think I was worth anything.” Franky grips my coat, shaking her
head and trying to convince me of her supposed true feelings. “I have to go. I have one last job I need to do before I can leave town. You stay here with your father, Franky. He needs you.” I leave her screaming for me to stay, but her pleas do nothing to sway me.
I meet up with the boys at our regular place, trying to forget about Franky and my father. “Nicky, are you paying attention?” Elijah asks me. “Hey, what is wrong with you? First you’re late, and now you have no opinion on how we should do this job? Did you have a fight with Franky or something?”
“We aren’t together anymore,” I say setting Elijah and Luke both back on their heels. “And I don’t want to talk about it. In fact, this is my last job I am leaving town tonight for good.”
“What? Nick! You can’t be serious, you have it made right now …” Elijah interrupts Luke’s rant and pushes me off to the side.
“What is going on, Nicky? You say you broke up with Franky, but yet you are still wearing that damn scarf.” I look down and fist the damn scarf around my neck, as an overwhelming pain rushes through me. “Nicky, what is wrong with you? No bullshit, this is not like you at all. And if you think for one second that I am going to let my best friend just run off with no explanation, then you are too crazy to be allowed to do so. So talk.” Elijah grips my arm making sure I don’t walk away before he hears some kind of explanation.
“My father … he’s dead.” Elijah steps back with wide eyes. “I … he had a heart attack,” I say not looking up from my feet.
“Damn. I’m sorry, Nicky.”
Shaking my head, I say, “No big deal, not like we got along anyway.”
“It is a big deal, and I don’t think it is a good idea that you runaway because of it. You have people here that need you and depend on you. And what about your mother? You’re upset about your girl and your father, I get that, but don’t make decisions based on your emotions right now.”
“Can we just get this job done?” I walk away from him and towards the corner with Luke. I grip my head as the entire day begins to multiply in it. The idea of leaving is all I can think about, but Elijah is right. I can’t leave Ryan, Lena, or even my mother, but I don’t want to face Franky ever again. I am tired of dealing with my brother, Harvey, and everyone else who wants something from me. Of all the faces in my head, Franky’s suddenly appears along with a huge amount of guilt for putting her in a position I should have known she couldn’t handle. I turn, gripping my head and wanting to scream, but instead, I look up and see my brother’s smile and his gun facing me. The world begins to move slowly as I focus on the gun pointed at my chest.
“Nick, get down!” Luke yells at me, but all I can do is feel numb, and stand frozen facing my own death.
“Nick!” Franky yells. I suddenly feel her jump into my arms and hold tightly to me. I look down into her eyes and see nothing, but fear. Elijah grabs me, and pulls me and Franky down on the ground.
I hover over Franky trying to hide us both from the oncoming gunfire, while Luke and Elijah return fire and try to push back my brother’s attack. Franky grips my shirt, “I do love you, Nick, we can leave together. I want to. I do,” she says, struggling to breathe, but she continues to hold tightly to me. I look down at my bloody hands and then at her. No! No, it was supposed to be me!
“It’s okay. We don’t have to leave, Kitten. We can stay here and you can be with your father too. Okay? Talk to me, tell me that you are okay?” I scream looking down at all the blood trailing down the walkway. “I love you, Franky. I do.”
“Don’t let me go, Nick, don’t leave me. I can’t live without you,” she says shivering.
“I won’t. I won’t ever leave you,” I say wrapping her lucky scarf around her neck and holding her tighter to me. Franky smiles and releases my shirt as her eyes roll back and her head falls. “No, it was supposed to be me!”
“Francesca!” her father yells and races towards us. He pushes me away from her, taking her limp body into his arms. “What did he do to you?” he cries out. Looking at me, his pain becomes clear, “You killed my daughter. She left to be with you, and now look. You killed her! You have no soul.” He screams at me.
“Nicky, come on. You need to get out of here. The cops won’t believe you had nothing to do with this,” Elijah says, as he and Luke take hold of me and drag me away. The sirens begin to echo around me as they near us.
From the corner, of my eye, I catch sight of Connor driving away. I twist away from my friends and watch him leave with a smile and giving me a reason to stay. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Another day, Nicky. Save that for another day.”
I will kill Connor one day.
Chapter 20
~Nick~
Nightmares, that was all I had last night. I spend most of the night hiding out at Luke’s. No one would think to look for me here. No one would think anyone would ever live in this shit hole. Stumbling my way through his … what seems to be a kitchen, I find nothing more than a half a bottle of beer and an open box of cereal. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? Looking into Luke’s room, I can find no walking space, only a mattress and Luke laid out with his mouth open and his bare ass sticking up in the air. I decide it better to go look for breakfast on my own. No way am I getting near that mess to ask him anything. I grab my coat, walk out the door, and run right into Elijah.
“Where are you going?” he asks like he is preventing me from trouble.
“I’m hungry so I thought I would go eat something. What are you doing here?” I ask in a mocking tone.
“I brought breakfast, and I want to talk,” he says as I sigh. “You’re in trouble, Nicky. Your brother is not just out to knock you around anymore, he wants to kill you. Any ideas on why he has suddenly changed his mind?” I shrug. “No, no idea at all? Hmm – well, I find that hard to believe.”
“I assume he heard I am working with Harvey now, and he wants to take me out before I move up any further,” I confess the first thing to him that comes to my mind.
“I guess that makes sense, but now what? You can’t protect Harvey if you are having to watch your own back.”
“Connor won’t come after me when I am with Harvey, so I will stay with Harvey full time now. It’s what he wants anyway,” I say stuffing a bite of warm, fresh food into my mouth, something Luke needs to learn about. Elijah reminds me of our own plans, and I assure him that I haven’t changed my mind. The only way I can get Connor, is if I build my own crew to attack him with. Harvey is nothing more than a stepping stone to get to what I want, but before I can commit to Harvey, I have to take care of a few things first.
~
My house looks desperately different right now. I am surprised not to see police looking for me, but maybe they believed my father’s death to be some kind of accident. I wish that were true. I take one step inside my house and cringe. “Mother?” I yell. The woman walks past the kitchen doorway with a slight acknowledgment to my presence. Stomping forward, I force my mother to stop cleaning and pay attention to me. “Mother, what are you doing?” I can tell by her expression that she is clueless to the world around her. It is all I can do to hold back tears of frustration.
“Nicholas, you look tired. You should go to bed and get some sleep,” she says patting me on the arm before she goes back to cleaning.
At least she acknowledged me. I look around the house that is barely hanging on. It needs painting, the wiring needs to be redone, the floors are buckling, and to top it off, the roof is leaking now. There is nothing about this house that means anything to me, and it would take more money to fix it than it could ever be worth in this neighborhood. I know what I need to do, and I know what I want to do, so I am going to compromise between the two. Though my father was wrong about a lot of things, I can’t dismiss my mother forever. I see the sickness in her eyes, and that alone gives me reason to try and forgive her. Taking in a deep breath, I stop my mother and look down into her eyes. “We are going to take a trip, Mom, a special vacation, and y
ou don’t have to worry about anything ever again.”
She seems excited at first. “But we can’t leave your father here by himself.”
“We aren’t. He is going to meet us there. He has to take care of some business first, but he will visit you often. He told me to make sure you were well taken care of so you won’t have to work anymore.” She smiles wide with a gasp. “Yes, he only wants you to be happy.”
Kissing my cheek she vibrates with happiness. “I knew he loved me, I did, I knew it. So when do we leave?”
“Right now. Pack your bags, Mom. Take everything you treasure, and leave what you don’t.” My mother races to her room while I cover my father. He is sitting up in his chair with the plate of food my mother prepared for him after she picked him up off the floor and put him into his chair. I don’t know what is wrong with my mother, but she clearly isn’t capable of living on her own, and she needs more help than I can give her.
After I pack up my mother and her things into the car, I call my sister and ask her to help me take care of our father. I will meet her later, but first I have to take care of my mother. Skyland Mental Facility, is more than an hour out of town, and not near cheap, but worth the money to keep my mother safe and hopefully, healed someday. I kiss my mother goodbye once I believe she is settled happily in her new place. Before the end of my day, I am called to clean up another mess for Harvey, and end up using this new body for my own purpose. Clearing out my home of anything important to me, which is little to nothing, I strike a match and set the place ablaze leaving my supposed dead mother hanging inside. Nothing is going to be the same from this point on, and I am going to leave no trace of anyone close to me. If I have nothing to lose, then there is nothing anyone can take from me.
Now. Now is the time to build my own power and become Nicholas Jayzon.
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