by L. A. Fiore
“You killed Katrina.”
Joshua brought over a seat for Sinclair and then stood behind him, his focus on me.
“I did. I was very young back then, got a taste of the good life, and I can admit, I got carried away.” He folded his legs, brushed some dirt off his pants. “I didn’t want to kill her, but I was ordered to and, well, you didn’t know Enzi. He was a ruthless son of a bitch. If I hadn’t killed her, he’d have had us both taken out.”
“How’d you do it?” I kept him talking, in the hopes that Kade now knew I was gone and was looking for me.
“No one will find you, Detective. I’m sorry things have to end this way, but I was backed into a corner.” Before I could ask him to clarify that horrifying statement, he said, “Katrina wasn’t the same after she lost her baby and Gregory. She started drinking more, so I waited until she’d drunk herself numb and then helped her slit her wrists. I think she wanted to die.” Another chill moved through me, what a fucking sociopath. “I waited with her. Stayed until she died, so she wasn’t alone.” His gaze leveled on me. “I’m not a complete monster.”
“You can tell yourself that, but you are a monster. Though I suspect it wasn’t you who killed Samantha and the others. You got your man here to do it.”
“Joshua is very loyal to me. I’ve done everything in my power to become a better man, to right the wrongs of my past. I have done far more good as Sinclair Rothschild than bad as Jason Benjamin.”
“And does that help you sleep better at night? Telling yourself that all your good deeds erase the bad ones? Tell that to Samantha James’ family, to Gregory Enzi.”
For the first time, I saw a bit of the evil that lurked under the surface, as well as the anger. “That journalist should have left the past in the past.”
“Frank Harris,” I said. “He didn’t, so your boy there was willing to take out a whole apartment building of innocent people to hide your secret.”
“Joshua can be a bit dramatic, but his heart is in the right place.”
A horrible thought occurred to me. “How did you meet Joshua?”
Sinclair smiled. “He’s not Katrina’s son if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Relief hit because Gregory Enzi had been through enough; he didn’t also need to face the horrible reality that his son was a monster.
“Joshua was a struggling young man when I found him. I gave him a home. It’s amazing the loyalty you can gain by showing someone starving for a affection a little compassion.”
Anger burned through me, thinking about Kade and how a man like Sinclair could have found him, preyed on his pain and neglect, turning him into a killer.
“You used his pain, played on it and turned him into a monster. You won’t be getting any awards.”
There was that darkness again, looking back at me from old eyes.
“Why did you want Terence to bring me here?”
Surprise moved over his expression. “You don’t know?” He smiled again, but it was on the wrong side of happy. “Your fiancé and the others figured out who I was. They were planning on taking me tonight at the launch.” He leaned closer and dropped his voice. “They didn’t share that with you?”
He knew damn well they hadn’t.
“I have no intention of being taken into custody. It’s not the first time I’ve had to move on. Sad, because I quite like Sinclair Rothschild, but I think maybe I’ll go somewhere tropical next. I’m old and don’t really handle the cold winters, as well as I used to.”
“You didn’t answer why I’m here?”
“It all started with a young woman. I like the symmetry of it ending with one, too.” He was so blasé when he spoke of killing me. Like I was nothing more than an insect. The man really was a monster. I pulled on my restraints, almost wildly, because I didn’t want to die. I wanted the fairy tale with Kade. He continued, “You’re the common link to all those who took my life away from me. Killing you will cause the most damage.”
Rage burned through me that this man could paint himself, in any way, the victim, when he was preparing to kill me, when he had killed so many others. Shock was setting in, my body going numb because there was no way out for me. My eyes moved to Kade’s ring. How close we had come. It was in that moment that I knew how Katrina had felt, how Gregory Enzi had felt. To come so close to your dream, to taste it, to know it was there for the taking and to have it yanked away from you. I’d have quit my job, moved to Antigua with Kade. I would have spent every day of my life at his side. And now, he would have to spend every day of his without me. The tears fell freely.
Sinclair stood, he even looked sad. “I’m sorry things had to end this way. I was rather fond of you.” Joshua stepped up to me, and there was nothing going on behind his eyes, a complete void. I didn’t beg, even though I wanted to, I didn’t scream or yell. I just closed my eyes, brought up Kade’s face. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Drop it.” My eyes flew open; Joshua spun around. I almost knocked the chair over, trying to see the owner of that voice. Sinclair turned, just as Gregory Enzi stepped into the light, and pulled the trigger. My gaze dropped with Joshua’s body. Enzi had shot him right between the eyes. My brain was struggling to catch up. A second ago, I was facing down death, and now, my savior was none other than Katrina Dent’s lover. I couldn’t lie; I was almost giddy. It was shock, but I might just live through this.
Sinclair didn’t even look at his downed henchman, so much for compassion.
“How did you find me?” Sinclair’s voice betrayed him. He was scared.
“Milton called me. All these years, you were right there. I never knew, neither did he, until two homicide detectives came to see him with a story about a young woman’s death and a link to the death of another young woman. And like me, he knew you were involved. Still didn’t know your face because you’ve changed it. And then, he saw you at the masquerade ball. A man your age feasting on sweets, almost compulsively, something you’ve always done. That was when he did a little digging and realized exactly who you were.”
Go Milton.
Gregory moved to me, worked on my restraints, keeping his gun and attention on Sinclair. It was shock, but it was a bit surreal that my rescue was at the hand of a reputed crime boss. It was poetic justice, though, that it was Gregory to bring down Jason Benjamin, because I knew exactly what he’d taken from Gregory, because Kade and I had what he and Katrina once did. He got my one hand free. I worked on my other, as he moved closer to Sinclair.
“You never should have come back here,” Gregory snarled.
“This is my home, too.”
“You didn’t have to kill her.”
“If I hadn’t, he would have sent someone to kill us both. I didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. You didn’t kill my son.” Gregory’s voice turned harsh. “You were my best friend.”
My head snapped up, and my heart ached, seeing the pain cross Gregory’s face. He’d lost his girl at the hand of his best friend?
“You shouldn’t have fallen in love with my assignment.”
I got my wrist free and retrieved Joshua’s gun. I needed a phone to call Kade and backup.
“And you should have chosen your brother over your job.”
“I’ve spent my life trying to make up for that night,” Sinclair said.
“No, you’ve spent your life doing what you’ve always done, looking out for yourself. If your good deeds didn’t benefit you, you wouldn’t have done them. You’ve been a selfish bastard your whole life. And that night, you took my life. You stood over my girl, that beautiful, sweet, innocent woman who allowed herself to be used for my father’s and your gain, and you killed her. And then you ran and hid, like a fucking coward. Returned as this…” he waved the gun at him, “a lion in lamb’s clothing. Fooling the world that you’re all about doing good, when you’re nothing but a cold
-blooded killer, what the world sees me as. How fucking ironic.”
Gregory reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He pressed a button, held the phone to his ear. “Sending you an address. Jason is here. Molly is, too.”
He texted the address and dropped his phone back in his pocket.
“Go outside, Molly, and wait for your fiancé,” Enzi ordered.
“He’s not worth it. Let him rot in a cell. Death is too good for him,” I said, moving closer to Enzi not away.
“He needs to answer for what he’s done.”
“He will,” I said, stopping at Enzi’s side. “I will see to it that he spends the rest of his life in prison.”
“He’ll find a way out of it. You don’t know him like I do.”
“Think of your son,” I said, saw his reaction and forged on. “Your father is dead, and he’ll be locked away. You didn’t get the life you wanted with Katrina, but you can have one with your son. And Carmine. You have family, don’t let him take that away from you, too.”
Gregory focus shifted to me. “You remind me a bit of Katrina,” he said softly.
“What a compliment,” I said truthfully.
He lowered his gun. What happened next, happened so fast. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Sinclair pulling a gun. It was instinct, stepping in front of Gregory, and leveling my gun on Sinclair. Two shots fired. I felt the heat before I felt the pain, but my eyes were trained on Sinclair. He died with a look of surprise on his face.
I fell into Gregory, he caught me, lowered me gently to the floor. He was pulling off his jacket, ripping off his shirt. His voice was harsh. “Why the fuck did you do that?” His hands were shaking, as he pressed them to the wound. “You’re going to be okay. Do you hear me? Fight Molly.”
My vision was going black around the edges. I heard the voices coming closer, felt Kade before I saw him. He dropped down next to me, but it was the look on his face that had tears welling and spilling down my cheeks. I tried to talk, tried to tell him I loved him, but nothing came out. We’d come so close, so fucking close. His face was the last thing I saw before the blackness took me.
Twenty-Two
Kade paced the waiting room, barely holding on to his control. He’d never get the sight out of his head, seeing Enzi hovering over something, knowing before he even reached her, that it was Molly. The blood blooming on the silver, dulling the sparkles, her big blue eyes filled with pain.
He dropped in a chair, his head going in his hands. He didn’t know how he’d go on without her. They were only at the start, the beginning. It couldn’t end this way. Why was she brought into his life, only to be taken from it?
The waiting room was filled, a wall of blue, because one of their own was fighting for her life, and they were here to show strength, support and love.
Someone took the seat next to him. “She’s going to get through this,” Carmine said softly.
Kade nodded, but his heart was breaking. He’d heard the doctors. It wasn’t good.
“She took the bullet meant for Enzi.”
Kade’s head snapped up at that.
“She’d talked him out of shooting Jason, but Jason pulled a gun. He said she moved on instinct, training her gun on Jason and stepping in front of him. Said it was the bravest and fucking stupidest thing he’d ever seen.”
Tears burned his eyes. He wanted to be pissed at her, but she was just being Molly. The woman who had walked into his office that day and stolen his heart, before he even knew she had.
A doctor came out, looking around the crowded waiting room. Kade was out of his chair. He knew before he even reached him that something was wrong. “We’ve managed to control the bleeding and repair the damage from the bullet, but she lost so much blood.”
“Is she alive?” Kane demanded
“She’s slipped into a coma. She could come out of it tomorrow, next week but…”
“What?”
“Based on the severity of the damage, it’s more likely that she won’t come out of it at all. I wish I had better news for you.”
Kade stepped back, his legs went weak, and he stumbled, hitting the wall and sliding down it. He never in his life cried, but he did then. Dropped his head in his hands and broke down.
Six months later
He walked down the corridor, he walked every day, to the private room at the end. He stepped inside, felt the familiar pain that was a constant companion these days. His beautiful Molly had a tube down her throat doing the breathing for her. Her black hair was brushed back off her pale face.
He settled on the chair, took her hand. “You going to show me those eyes today?” he whispered. “Need to see them, Molly. Squeeze my hand, Baby. Give me something.”
A little piece of his heart broke every day. The doctors wanted to take her off the ventilator. Her parents, too, were reaching their wall, unable to stand the thought of keeping her going, when she was already gone.
She wasn’t gone. He would know if she was gone. He would feel the loss of her, would recognize it from the unbearable pain that he felt pushing at the edges to get in. She was still here. She was screaming for them to hear her. To not give up on her.
“I know you can hear me, Baby. I know you’re still in there. Come back to me, Molly.” His voice broke. He dropped his head on her stomach. “Fucking come back to me.”
Kade stood in his penthouse, looking out the window, but not seeing it. He didn’t want to be here because it didn’t feel like home without her. Nothing did, but that fucking hospital room. He let the pain fill him. Fuck, he couldn’t do this. She’d touched every single part of his life, colored it with that beauty that was uniquely hers. How the fuck did he go back, how did he leave the color and go back to black and white? Every day that passed, the more unlikely it was that she’d come back to him. He dreaded the day he’d have to make the decision, the one that took her away from him.
Salem rubbed up against his leg. He reached for him, holding him close to his chest, and scratched behind his ears. “I know how you feel,” he whispered. “I miss her so fucking much, too.”
Kade started work on the house in Antigua. When Molly woke, they were moving. He might have to fight her on it, but they were both going to live lives of leisure. She wasn’t going to be more than a few feet from him again.
He didn’t know someone had come into his office, until he heard, “What are you doing?”
He glanced up and saw Carmine and Gregory.
“Molly and I are moving to Antigua, so I’m working on the house to make it bigger.”
They settled on the chairs across from him. “Kade, man,” Carmine said.
“I think a bigger kitchen.” He grinned, thinking of the times he cooked, and Molly watched. “She likes people feeding her.” He liked fucking her on the counter. “Definitely more counter space.”
“Kade.”
Silence settled, for a few tense minutes, before Kade stood, turned to the windows. “I know what you’re going to say. Everyone is saying the same thing. And I’m trying really hard here to keep my shit together because the best fucking thing that ever happened to me is currently being kept alive by a fucking machine.” He turned then and didn’t hide the pain. “That incredible woman is lying in that bed. And I know everyone thinks I need to let her go, that I have to put her body to rest because her mind and her soul are already gone.” His breathing grew ragged. “How do I do that?” His voice broke. “How do I let her go? Give up the very air I breathe, the very reason my heart beats. I’m supposed to watch, as the machine stops, as her breathing slows until that line goes flat. I’m supposed to sit there and watch, as my present and future drift off with her?” He swiped everything off his desk and roared, “How the fuck am I suppose to do that?”
“You’d be surprised to know you have the strength.” Gregory’s voice was whisper
soft. “And it’s going to fucking hurt, a pain that feels like you’re dying right along with her. You’ll question everything you believe, and then you’ll get so fucking pissed. And it will be years that you go through the motions, and you never will really get over it. You’ll carry the pain with you every fucking day, but a time will come, when you think of her and you smile at the memories. A time will come when remembering her brings you comfort and not pain. And you’ll realize that you’re keeping her alive by remembering her, by loving her.”
“It’s not enough,” Kade said brokenly.
“I know it’s not, Son, but you were the lucky one because, for a time, you drew a star from the heavens, basked in her light and her love. She gave that to you, just you. And to find her again, you just need to look up.”
He hadn’t left her since agreeing to pull the plug. His felt the numb taking over and knew that it would consume him when she was gone.
The waiting room was filled with people. He’d stood in the corner and watched as her friends and family said their goodbyes. Zac and her captain actually cried. That vice cop got teary eyed. Even the fucking hot dog and gyro vendor had come to see her. All the lives Molly Donahue had touched.
When the room was cleared, he moved back to her side, took her hand and brushed his lips over her ear. “I never believed in the fairy tale, but you gave me one. Allowed the villain to love the princess, and I do. Fuck, Molly, I love you with everything I am. Sparkle down at me, Baby, let me know where you are because I’m going to be looking for you every fucking night.”
The doctor stepped into the room, her parents behind him. He said nothing, just waited quietly for Kade to give the signal. His heart shattered in that minute, but he nodded his head. He didn’t leave her side, held her hand tightly, as the doctor switched off the machine.
He never took his eyes from her beautiful face, so he didn’t realize the commotion going on in the room, until the doctor said incredulously, “She’s breathing on her own.”
