by Lucia Black
My mind flashed back the limo. Cal had a control over my body I couldn’t explain, and he had promised me he’d take his time with me and do things his way. There was no way I could resist him once we were alone again, and I couldn’t let that happen. I had just been with Preston— his best friend.
I had to get out of there and get home.
Cal left the stage and started looking for me right away, his gaze sweeping the room. As if I called out to him, he found me in just a couple of seconds. As he approached, the applause was still thunderous, and he had a smile spanning his face.
It made me feel like dirt.
“Tonight is going even better than expected.” We hugged as cameras flashed all around. “What’s wrong?”
I’d been trying to smile, or at least look pleasant, but I failed.
“I’m sorry. I just . . . I think a migraine is coming on. I feel terrible all of a sudden.” That was mostly true.
“Oh.” Cal furrowed his brow and his lips turned down ever so slightly. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was genuinely concerned. “Let me call my driver and we’ll get you out of here.”
“No, I don’t want to trouble you, or have you miss this. Like you said, everything is going so well. I’ll just call my driver.”
“Okay,” he nodded. He leaned down and planted a sweet, yet possessive kiss to my lips. It lasted longer than I thought it would, given that we were in a room full of people, but I guessed that was why he was doing it. This time Cal was going to make sure when I left no one would say it was because we were fighting.
And because I still harbored guilt over everything I’d done, I leaned in for another kiss when Cal pulled away.
“Feel better, Tessa,” Cal said as I walked away.
Jimmy pulled up in front of the hotel and I let myself in the passenger side before he had time to get out and open the door for me.
“Damn, Jimmy, where were you coming from? Jersey?”
“No. But I was told I wasn’t needed tonight, so I was out. Sue me.” He palmed the steering wheel and made a hard right-turn.
“I needed out of there.” I closed my eyes and pressed my head back into the seat until he slowed to a stop in front of my building.
“Let me walk you up. Bruno would kill me if he knew you were sick and I didn’t see to it you got upstairs safely.”
“Sure. Whatever.” I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I was almost home where I could slip into a robe, pour a glass of something strong, and try to forget about the day.
Jimmy stood closely beside me in the elevator, his sweet cologne overpowering in the small space. It felt odd to be next to him, which made it feel weirder considering that used to be our normal. Jimmy hadn’t come up with me since I met Cal.
I let myself inside and before I could thank Jimmy for the ride, he followed me inside and shut himself in the powder room off the entryway. I rolled my eyes to nothing in particular, let my hair down from the loose up-do, and headed to the kitchen to pour myself a drink.
Gulping down the scotch too quickly, I folded over the counter and held my head in my hands. Jimmy came up behind me, pressing his erection into the curve of my ass and wrapping his arms around my waist as he did.
I shot up.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I pushed him away, but he only let go enough for me to turn around while still keeping me in his arms, pressing me against the counter.
“It’s been weeks. I miss fucking you.”
He ground his crotch into me, forcing me flush against the counter and took my face in both of his hands in an attempt to kiss me.
“What part of ‘pick me up I don’t feel well’ translates to I want to fuck you when I get home?”
“You’re not sick. You’re having a drink.” He pulled me close again and started kissing my neck. I shoved at his arms, but he didn’t take the hint. “Oh come on, see how hard you got me?” He took my hand and forced it between his legs to feel him.
“Fuck off!” I shoved at Jimmy with all my might and it was enough to give me space to turn away. I moved further down the counter, but he caught my arm before I could get away completely.
“Tessa,” he cooed. He pulled me close and held my face to his chest as he rubbed my hair and clutched my lower back. “I don’t care about those other guys, babe. I still want you. You shouldn’t be with them.”
“Jimmy, you fucking asshole.” I hit at his back. “This is over. I told you. Whatever fun we had is done.” He let me go and I thought he was finally getting it, but I felt so uncomfortable I could practically hear my heart pounding in my chest.
“Fine. Whatever.” He ran his hand through his hair again and again. “Then at least let me have a goodbye fuck before I go. You owe me that.” He reached forward and tugged at the top of my dress so forcefully the fabric ripped across the front, nearly leaving my breasts exposed. He grabbed both my arms, squeezing them painfully, and pulled me toward him as I cried out.
He didn’t care that I repeatedly said no, and he cared even less that he was hurting me. I brought my knee up as quickly as I could and aimed for his crotch. But the dress was too tight and my range of motion too small. I mostly missed, only kneeing him in the thigh.
Jimmy looked at me with total bewilderment, like he couldn’t understand why I’d try to hurt him. “You’re a fucking whore. You know that? You fuck me for months, and now you’re fucking whoever your daddy says. You’re nothing but a fucking prostitute.”
Jimmy took both my wrists in his hand, gripping so tightly I thought he’d crush them, and undid his belt with the other. I didn’t have many options the way he had a hold of me, so I did the only thing I could. I surged my head forward until my forehead connected with his nose.
“Son of a bitch,” Jimmy yelled.
He let go with one hand to grab his nose, and I took the opportunity to try and run. Jimmy had no intention of letting me get away. He gave me an open hand slap across the face. The stinging pain rang through my ears and threw me off balance. Tears instantly pricked at my eyes. I fell into the counter and Jimmy was behind me in an instant, pressing himself against me. My voice was the only defense I had left, so I screamed as loudly as I could.
Jimmy wrapped his strong hands around my delicate neck, and started to choke me. Between the tears and lack of oxygen, my vision started to cloud quickly. Panic set in when my air got cut. I gasped and thrashed against the counter, but the more I moved the less I could breathe.
I had only seconds left, and if I didn’t think of something . . . the only thing in reach was the butcher block. I slide out a knife and in a lightning-quick move, I reached over my shoulder and plunged the knife into Jimmy’s shoulder.
He roared in pain and let go of me. Without turning my back to him I carefully moved along the counter and edged toward the door. His surprise at my attack only lasted so long.
“You bitch.” He pulled the knife out, blood already drenching his shirt, and pointed the blade at me. “You think you can get away with this because of who you are? Dead is dead, babe, and no amount of money or power could bring you back.”
He charged at me like a bull. I reached behind me, picked up the first thing my fingers came to and hit him with it hard as soon as he got close enough. Jimmy fell to the ground as if someone had dropped him. It wasn’t until the pan I hit him with clinked against the floor that I even realized what it was.
He lay on the kitchen floor not moving, his shirt bloodied and his nose looking entirely out of place.
I stood there frozen, my heart beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings, and my whole body in pain. My brain shut down or completely turned off or anything to not have to process what had just happened. I went into robot mode and found my phone.
I pressed the name on my list. He picked up on the first ring. “Daddy?”
Chapter 22
“My darling,” Papa said. “It sounds like you’ve been crying. What’s wrong?”
He called me ‘darling’ to signal
to me that he knew it was a distress call. Our code was put in place years ago because we could never be sure when someone else might be listening in on the call. To an outsider, daddy and darling meant nothing more than a sweet name, but to us, it meant something terrible had happened
“Can you send the boys over? I’m . . . I need my family right now.”
“Sure, honey. Are you alone?”
“Yeah, I just . . . I just want my family.”
The muffled sounds of Papa walking traveled through the phone. He must’ve been in his office when I called.
“Giovanni, where are your brothers?” I couldn’t make out his response. “Well go get them.”
“Daddy?” My voice cracked even though I only spoke one word.
“I know, Mari. I know. Your brothers will be there soon to comfort you. Just hold tight.”
I nodded into the phone.
“Do you want to stay on the line with me?”
“No. I’ll wait in the hall for them.” I needed out of the apartment and away from Jimmy.
“They’ll be there soon.”
I ended the call, carefully made my way over to the front door, and stood in the hall clutching my phone. With the way my legs ached, and my eyelids drooped, it felt like I was standing there for hours, but I knew it was less than one in reality.
It was hard to comprehend what had happened. Jimmy had his rough edges, he wouldn’t have had his job if he didn’t, but to try and force himself on me? To hit me?
I brought my hand up to my cheek. It was too tender to touch. That was when I noticed my wrists. They were bruised from where Jimmy grabbed me. I knew if I looked I would’ve found more black and blue spots.
Antonio burst through the stairwell door and came to a stop just short of barreling into me. He wore pleated khaki pants and a blue button-down like he’d just come from his accounting job, his black backpack over his shoulders.
“Jesus, Tessa . . . ”
I looked down at my once beautiful cream-colored dress. Splashes of blood coated the torn front. “I hadn’t even noticed.”
“Are you hurt?” he asked as he looked me over.
“I think I’m mostly okay.” I’d stopped crying as soon as I got off the phone, but once the tears stopped, I felt nothing. I was acting strangely, and I could tell, but there was nothing I could do to change it.
The elevator dinged, the doors opened, and Alessandro, Luca, and Giovanni came out. They were all dressed similarly with their work slacks and button-downs, and each carried the same black backpack.
Luca eyed the blood splatters on my dress and the mark on my face. “She okay?” he asked Antonio.
“I think she’s in shock,” Antonio said. “But other than that, I think she’s fine.”
“What the hell happened?”
Giovanni brought his finger to his lips. “Let’s go inside.”
There was no need to explain once we were shut inside the apartment. We moved together silently into the kitchen.
“Is that Jimmy?” Alessandro asked.
“Yeah.”
Luca went to the freezer and took out a bag of peas. “Hold this to your face. It’ll help.”
I did as he said. “What are you guys going to do?”
“Take care of it,” Giovanni said.
Alessandro bent down and pressed two fingers to Jimmy’s neck. “Well, he’s still breathing.”
“What? He is?” I wasn’t sure if I was panicked because that meant he could still hurt me or relieved I hadn’t killed him.
“Yeah. We’ve got to get him out of here.”
As if they’d practiced it a dozen times, they began cleaning up the mess. Antonio took a pair of scissors out of his bag and cut Jimmy’s shirt open while Alessandro and Luca spread out a tarp. Giovanni pulled out a plastic bag and put the knife and pan in it.
“Is he going to live?” I asked from behind my makeshift ice pack.
“Yeah,” Antonio answered. “That pan to the face did a lot more damage than the steak knife. He’ll be messed up for a while though.”
He took pieces of duct tape and pressed it over the wound in Jimmy’s shoulder. Jimmy winced and moaned lowly, but didn’t open his eyes. It was the first sign I saw that he was still alive.
Giovanni eyed my torn dress, and a darkness clouded his gaze. He looked up and asked, “Do I want to know what happened?”
I shook my head.
Giovanni looked back to me and said, “I need to know if he . . . do you need a doctor?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t talk about it right now.”
“Then you don’t have to,” Luca said. He took my bleach out from under the sink and started to clean up the splatters of blood on the floor.
“I think if we knew what he did, we’d finish what Tessa started,” Alessandro said.
“Take this bag. Go to your bathroom, change out of that dress, and get cleaned up. Bring it to me when you’re done.”
I nodded at Giovanni and left the kitchen for my bedroom. I peeled myself out of the dress and scrunched it into a ball, careful not to get the blood on anything else. I stood there naked and feeling all the emotions a human is capable of feeling all at once. I was in shock over Jimmy’s behavior. I was proud I defended myself. I was relieved Jimmy wasn’t going to die. I was sad for what happened with me and Preston. I felt guilt for doing that to Cal. But overall, I was tired.
I’d been screwing everything up for weeks and it all seemed to come to a head in one night.
I turned the knobs on my shower until the water felt scalding and I climbed inside. Using my loofah I scrubbed at my skin like I could scrub the day away. I knew I couldn’t really, but it helped a little. I felt more human afterward.
When I returned to the kitchen I was wearing a robe and carrying a plastic bag with my dress.
“Give that to Antonio,” Luca said, holding the cleaning supplies. “I’m going to go spray your shower and bathroom.”
I handed it over and surveyed the former crime scene that was my kitchen. They had almost everything cleaned up. The blood was gone and everything that had blood on it was either bleached or in a plastic bag. Jimmy was propped up against the counter and sitting on the floor. He’d been changed into a new pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket with his face cleaned up. And he smelled like liquor. I don’t know how long I sat there watching them.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“We’ll help him downstairs and if the front desk asks any questions, we’ll just tell them he’s drunk,” Giovanni said.
“I don’t think that would surprise anyone,” Luca said, returning from my bathroom. “Everyone that has ever known Jimmy knows that he is a heavy drinker.”
They packed up all their belongings inside the backpacks and it was like nothing happened. I could almost believe Jimmy was just passed out drunk.
“Our father made a mistake hiring Jimmy,” Alessandro grunted as he and Antonio hoisted Jimmy up. “I told him I had a bad feeling.”
“Well she’ll have someone else now,” Giovanni said. “Smile and keep talking, guys. No one will question you.”
“This wasn’t so bad, Tessa,” Luca said. “He could be leaving in pieces.”
“Ugh. Please stop.”
Luca, Alessandro, and Antonio moved Jimmy to the door. They were right; nothing about it looked weird. They looked like they were helping a completely wasted friend home. I wondered what they were going to do with him, but I was too scared to ask.
“You’re a badass, Tessa.” He patted my arm, then pulled his cell out of his pocket.
“Who are you calling now?”
“Papa. He said to call as soon as I could.”
“Giovanni.” I heard dad answer.
“She was a little homesick, but she’s doing much better now.” Giovanni paused while Papa said something I couldn’t make out. “Maybe a new puppy is in order. You know, to protect her and keep her company.” He paused again. “Go get your things; h
e wants you home,” he said to me.
I shook my head. “I just want to be alone and in my own bed.”
He relayed the message then hung up the phone.
“He said okay, but you have to come over first thing in the morning. He’s just worried about you. He’s going to send someone new. He’ll be here shortly.”
“I know, and by tomorrow I’ll be ready to see everyone.”
Giovanni pulled me into a hug. The comfort I felt in his arms was so peaceful I could’ve cried.
“Want me to say with you?”
“That’s really sweet, but honestly, I just want to be alone.”
Giovanni nodded. “I better go help them, then. I’ll let concierge know a new bodyguard is coming over.”
I walked him to the door and knew I’d be ready to forget my whole entire day as soon as I shut the door with him on the other side.
“Thanks for everything, Gio. Please tell the others for me. I couldn’t have survived this without you.”
“Hey, that’s what family’s for,” he said and kissed my cheek. He turned and left, meeting the guys at the elevator.
Chapter 23
The second the door clicked closed, my brothers were gone, and I was left with nothing but silence and my thoughts, I didn’t want to be alone anymore. But what I did want was to be independent and strong. I was a grown woman who handled things when they got tough, so I was going to handle this. I poured myself another glass of scotch and grabbed my long lighter. After dimming the lights slightly, I set off around the apartment to light every scented candle I owned to cover the smell of bleach.
The wick of the ocean breeze candle on the entryway table had just caught fire when there was a knock on the door. I jumped, my nerves shot, and dropped the lighter to the floor. I bumped into the table as I bent to pick it up and knocked over a picture frame as I did. I had to calm down. The new bodyguard couldn’t have come at a better time. I was just barely holding it together.
