by Kate Stewart
“I assure you I am not.”
“What did you do to Cedric?!”
My phone beeped, and I looked at Daniello in shock. With the gun still pointed at him, I gripped it tighter and glanced down to read an incoming text.
Cedric: I’m fine. I’ll call you in a bit.
I let out a hard breath as I dialed him.
He answered on the first ring. “I can’t talk right now. I’m being patched up by a hot nurse.”
Nervous laughter spilled from my lips as I glared at Daniello. “Patched up?” I surveyed Daniello and saw he had a purple bruise on his jaw. “You two got into it?”
“It was a discussion of sorts about future security.”
“But you’re fine. You’re okay?”
“You have the absolute worst taste in men. I seriously couldn’t pick worse.”
I sobbed again in relief. Daniello’s concern for me hadn’t swayed as he watched me carefully.
“It’s over.” Those words came from Cedric. I felt the finality as I studied Daniello, who nodded slowly, obviously able to hear our conversation.
I’d been so damned selfish, so blind, and it almost cost me Cedric.
Daniello had told me the truth all along. There was no future, no fix. We could never flip and fit into each other’s world.
“I . . . Cedric, I—”
“I love you too. Get some sleep. I’m going to follow Laz’s trail. I promise you no one will come looking for either of you. I’ll call you later.”
Cedric ended the call as I let the anger consume me.
“You son of a bitch!”
Amber spoke up. “I’m just going to take him home.” I looked over at my sister and her terrified son with apologetic eyes, cursing my stupidity. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She turned to Daniello as I handed her my keys. “Is it safe to go there?” Daniello gave her a solemn nod as he brushed Joseph’s cheek with his finger. “You are safe. Your guard is waiting at the elevator.”
Amber disappeared behind the door with her son in tow as I glared at Daniello. My insides deteriorated as I let the phone and my gun slip out of my hand and made my way forward in a cloud of rage.
Daniello braced himself as I delivered one punishing slap after another. He took exactly two, then gripped my arms, bringing his face an inch away from mine, demanding answers. “Tell me right now, Phoenix, did he hurt you? Was he inside you?” I continued to fight as he growled and shook me in his arms. “Tell me!”
“NO!”
I felt the air leave him as he gripped me to his chest like a lifeline.
I pushed at him as he kept me locked within his arms. “Get the fuck away from me! You don’t get to have that kind of power in my life. You don’t get to decide who lives or dies! You aren’t GOD!”
Daniello jerked me back to him. “I am your God! If there is a fucking man out there who wants to hurt you, I am the fucking man they answer to! Do you understand me, Taylor?”
“He was my friend. I told you that!”
“That was for me to decide,” Daniello snapped as he gripped my arms and challenged me. “I am your lover. I am your protector. I am all of these things!”
“How could you do that to me?!” My voice was gravel.
“Do you think that is the worst I could do, Taylor? Ridding your life of a man like that?”
“No.” I swallowed. “Just leave.”
Daniello’s anger and apparent hurt bled between us as I broke apart. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t have you around them. It’s too dangerous. They are my life now.”
A loud knock at the door interrupted our argument, and in seconds Rocco was in the kitchen speaking rapid Arabic. Daniello stood stunned and turned to study the silent television in the kitchen. On screen, twenty or more agents were unloading cargo from one of the shipping containers at the Port of Charleston.
The details began to scatter on screen. Biggest Firearms Seize In South Carolina History ran across the CNN banner. Daniello turned back to me.
I looked at him incredulously. “You’re an arms dealer?”
Rocco barked out a laugh and turned to me with pure hatred. “Stupida cagna!” Stupid bitch!
“Phoenix.” Daniello drew my attention back to him, and his words disintegrated me. “I will not return.”
Rocco spoke rapidly, as Daniello and I remained motionless, studying one another. I nodded slowly, as I shattered piece by piece. Rocco moved toward the door and called Daniello’s name. He remained still, memorizing me. So much unsaid, so much that would never be said. Our situation was impossible, our lives even more so. Seconds ticked by as Rocco’s voice turned more frantic.
As if a flip switched, Daniello’s eyes hardened, and he turned and walked out the door.
I fought every urge to go after him. I gripped my hair as tears escaped and I sobbed out his name.
I loved him, and I would never see him again. I loved him though I shouldn’t. I loved him against all reason. Against everything I was taught, everything I taught myself.
He was a threat to all I had built. A fatal blow to the reputation I had carefully crafted. He would tear my castle apart and ruin my kingdom if I let him.
Because I loved him.
Someone had to love the fucking villain.
Two weeks later
“Okay, yes. I think so too. K, bye.”
I raised a brow at my sister’s sheepish smile.
“That was Nina’s brother, Aaron.”
I hid my smile. “I know his name.”
“Uh, right. Well, he says he has a golf buddy with a little boy Joseph’s age. He wants to come pick us up this Friday.” She smiled sheepishly and then looked over at Joseph, who was playing on the carpet in the living room. “Can I make a confession?”
I nodded, knowing that she would tell me they had been seeing each other for over a month. Nina had spilled after their first date. I wanted Amber to come to me with the information freely.
“I’ve been on a few dates with him. I’m crazy about him.”
“Really?”
“He’s so different. He’s so nice to me, so good to Joseph. Taylor, I’ve never had a man kiss me like he does.”
Every part of me that could feel happiness felt it for her. Despite what happened, she was still a picture of health, and Joseph had adjusted smoothly. I knew she was still mourning Laz in some form, the sporadic appearance of red eyes a sure sign of her grief. We would be forced to keep his death to ourselves indefinitely. I knew the guilt would eat her alive if she let it. But she was a fighter, and somewhere inside her, she knew the outcome would have been worse had Laz taken her from Charleston.
My sister had created her own skeletons, and they’d mingled with mine. And with Cedric’s quick cleanup, we both helped to bury them. Cedric had made certain Laz was found in Tennessee in the motel he’d spend half his life in. Laz’s mother had called to give us the news. It was open-and-shut shitty Dyer police work that saved us in the end, and Cedric assured me from the buzz in Dyer the pointed finger was nowhere in our direction. They’d found the body of Laz’s right-hand man a few counties away. Cedric had only stopped by once since that night and spent only a few minutes with me, prepping me for the phone call from his mother. When I mentioned Daniello, he cut the conversation short.
“What happened?”
“We had more in common than we thought.”
“That’s all?” I demanded.
“That’s all you need to know.” My refusal to drop it led to a closed door with Cedric behind it. He knew his slight hurt me, but refused to tell me anything further. Even so, I texted him an hour later with a curt “Thank you.” Amber and I owed him our life, and I couldn’t let my involvement with Daniello affect our friendship or the fact that he had cleared the way for us to finally be a family.
Laz’s voice haunted me at night. His shrieks and bloodied face, his love, his hate. It was etched inside, and I could only pray it faded with time. My days at the
office were the only things that kept me going. Nina could see the distance in me but refused to grill me about it. I threw myself into cultivating new deals and succeeded. It’s what I did. Order and excellence had been restored.
And in my idle time, aside from the battle with my conscience, I had to beg my heart to keep beating.
“You sure you want us to take this place?” Amber said as she looked around the condo with appreciative eyes.
“Yes. There’s a room for you both.”
“You bought that penthouse?”
I nodded as she whistled. “Good for you. You deserve it.”
I felt the sting of her words as she looked over to Joseph and then back to me. Her guilt took a back seat at that moment to her hopes of a new future.
“Thank you, Taylor.” I shook my head as a lone tear slipped down my face. “I know you don’t want me to thank you. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I don’t think there was a soul in that situation that didn’t love you.”
My head snapped up.
She gave me a sardonic grin. “You, sister, make the men in your life insane with love.”
I chuckled ironically. “I’ve never had love, Amber.”
“Oh, yes you have. It might not have been the kind that goes on to the grave—well, maybe that was a poor choice of words.” Her shoulders slumped.
I put up my hands. “Just stop right there. There is no way to glorify this situation.”
Amber smirked and moved from the counter to pick up Joseph. “Are you saying good things can’t come from bad? Because me and this little man disagree, don’t we, buddy?”
Joseph gripped his mother’s hair and then looked at me with Laz’s eyes. I choked on my tears as they moved toward me. I shied away, too afraid of scaring the baby with my emotions. Unable to resist, I took him in my arms and studied his profile. He was a replica of his father, which kept the burn brewing in my throat. Amber looked at us as I gripped him tightly to me and cradled Laz’s son. “Everything you loved about him is in this little man. The rest, the world did away with.”
“Hey!” Joseph shrieked as he waved a chubby arm at me. “Hey!”
I chuckled as tears slid down my face. “Hey!”
“Another man in love with you,” Amber said with a sigh. “I’m kind of relieved I have a date.”
“Hey!” Blue eyes I’d dreamed of for years stared back at me with complete trust. I had failed Amber, but Joseph was my chance to make things right. And I would take it.
Amber lay in my bed while Joseph napped. I pulled an overnight bag from my closet. “You are just taking clothes?”
“Yes,” I said, looking around the room. There was nothing sentimental about leaving the condo. “New place, new stuff.”
“That’s the fun part, shopping.” She offered as she texted on her phone.
“Hardly,” I disagreed. “I hate shopping. The movers will be here tomorrow to pick up my wardrobe.”
Amber snorted. “Wardrobe. Jeez. Is this real life?”
I smiled at her despite my ache. “You aren’t doing so bad as a temp. You may have your own soon.”
“I’ll earn it,” Amber piped.
“I’ll make sure you do,” I said sternly. Amber rolled her eyes as she glanced at her phone and blushed.
“He’s a dirty talker.”
I grabbed a pair of jeans from a drawer. “You don’t say.”
“Too much?”
I let out a breath and looked her way. “Probably. I don’t know. Do sisters talk about sex?”
She shrugged. “We could.” She pushed herself to kneel on my bed, her phone resting on her legs, eyes wide. “Tell me something.”
I pulled a shirt off a hanger and made my way into the bathroom.
“Aww, come on, Taylor. That gorgeous man had to be good at it.”
I poked my head out of the door. “He was.” I shut the door and locked it with a chuckle.
“Really? Way to let a girl down!” she said through the door.
“Sorry.”
In the shower, I washed the lazy Saturday off me, intent on moving into the penthouse and making Sunday a workday. I picked up the last of Daniello’s soap and lathered my hands. Maybe there was some sentiment after all. The smell brought me to instant tears. The shower had been my retreat. The only place I let my emotions go. I was anxious to take up residence in the penthouse so I could mourn without watchful eyes around me. I cupped my hand over my mouth as I sat on the tiled bench seat and brought my legs up. No matter how hard I cried, the ache wouldn’t leave. He was still there, still inside, and so deep there was no way to exorcise him. His permanent absence left the deepest hurt imaginable. He’d saved me and imprisoned me. Bone-deep sadness was my new companion and threatened permanent residence. I couldn’t shake it.
A loud thud interrupted my thoughts, and I called out to Amber.
“What was that?” I stood, washing the soap off my body, waiting for a reply.
Silence.
“Amber, what was that?”
More silence.
My heart raced as I gripped a towel and stumbled out of the shower. Sliding over the tile, I unlocked and opened the door, relieved to see Amber sitting straight up in my bed.
“Amber? Damn, you could have answered me. I’m soaking wet,” I said as I wrapped the towel around my body and tucked it closed.
Amber turned to me slowly, and it was then that I saw the blood begin to drain from her stomach. Her eyes were wide with terror and blood laced her teeth as she screamed out a raw, “Nooooooo!”
Dread coursed through me as I jumped into action the second she went down against the mattress. I picked up the cell from her lap and dialed 911 as she stared up at me, gasping and wide-eyed. “Jos-Joseph! Taylor, get J-J-Joseph!” It was an agonized cry from her lips as I frantically spoke to the operator. Amber fought me frantically in fear for her son. I ripped the towel from my body and pressed it to her bullet wound and noticed a second bullet hole in the wall behind her. “Hold it there. Press hard!” With an ambulance on the way, defenseless and naked, I let the adrenaline do its job and made a beeline for Joseph’s room. I burst through the door and felt my whole chest explode when I saw dark hair surface at the top of the crib.
“Oh God,” I exhaled as I moved toward him and scooped him up. I raced back into my bedroom and covered the baby’s eyes so I could drape Amber with my comforter.
“Keep holding it, Amber!”
I rushed to my closet, threw on some clothes, and then lifted the comforter to see too much blood had leaked from her. She twisted in agony as the pain tore through her. “Oh, no, no, no,” she sobbed as Joseph began to sense something was wrong. His lips began to tremble as Amber’s eyes searched mine.
“It’s okay, buddy. It’s okay. Mommy is playing.” I turned to my sister, frantic.
“Who . . . who was it, Amber? Who did this? Did you see?”
Amber shook her head as she looked over at Joseph while a solid stream of blood slid down her chin. I wiped it away as tears streamed down her face.
“Hang in there; you can do this. Nod your head, you can do this.”
She nodded as Joseph bounced on the bed beside her. “Was it Dyer? One of Laz’s crew?”
She shook her head as the last of my hope was washed away.
I heard the sirens approach and was forced to leave her to open the door.
“Amber!” She began to spit up blood as she looked over at Joseph.
“Oh God, please hold on,” I begged as I pressed the towel to her stomach to keep more blood from spilling out.
“What’s her name?” the paramedic asked as he reached her.
“Amber,” I said as she went deathly still.
“Oh God,” I sobbed as Joseph began to whimper at the commotion around us.
“She’s in shock.” They frantically worked on her until they got her to the doors of the ambulance and then left us there, standing in their wake. I looked down at Joseph who turned to me with a qu
ivering voice. “Mommy?”
I was forced to stay behind with Joseph as the police questioned me, all of my answers useless. No forced entry. My alarm had been disarmed. I was defenseless against this enemy. And I knew without a doubt that that enemy had come to finalize the end of my relationship.
And if that were the case, we would never be safe.
Kiev, Ukraine
I made my way across the street and into the alleyway where my target stood with his back to the wall. He studied the cigarette in his hand as if it had answers. I wondered if he thought it would be the cause of his death.
I had that answer.
I took careful steps his way and gripped the gun inside my jacket just as he took one final puff of his cigarette.
The irony was not lost on me.
When I was five feet away from him, he finally looked up just as I aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. I never gave my targets time to speak, to plead for their lives. It was an act of mercy on my part. I could do far worse if commissioned to do so. But I knew their sins before I accepted every contract.
It was an easy job, one of many I had taken since I returned to Italy. I had no time for thoughts that weighed me down. There was never any shortage of work. Never any lack of men who were too much of a coward to dispose of their own enemy. My vengeance for my brother’s undignified death had led me down this path. Matteo was murdered before my eyes by an evil man full of greed, much like the man I’d just left a corpse in the street. And he too had been tracked down and suffered the same fate as my brother.
I touched the untouchable.
The piece of shit that lay bleeding behind me had fled and believed himself safe. That morning he woke up with a clear conscience and deemed himself free of the consequences of his actions. But shadows always lurked in the most secretive places. And I was good at searching the earth for those places.
My reputation preceded me, though no one had ever seen my face unless I escorted them to their death. And the dead could keep a secret.
I was fine with the progression. I was always hungry, waiting to conquer the next untouchable.
