For Fallon (Chicago Syndicate)

by Naomi, Soraya

  “Nobody has walked by. We’re clear.” Damian then spots my blood. “You okay?”

  “Yes. James is handling Biagio and the clean-up.” I can’t mention Danny because I’m truly glad Fallon has forgotten about him during the entire chaos inside the sacristy.

  “Need me to stay here or go inside?” Damian inquires, looking from me to Fallon.

  Fallon’s hiding behind my back, gripping my shirt. Damian’s the one that took her and this is the first time they’ve seen each other again. I put my weapon away in my pants and rake a hand through my hair. “Go. Clean up the mess. James will give you orders.”

  Damian hurries inside.

  I help Fallon slide into the passenger’s seat of the vehicle we arrived in - Salvatore handed me the key before entering the church. When I pull the safety belt over her and click it in place, she speaks in a panic-stricken tone. “Danny. What about Danny? Where is he?”

  I’m only focused on one thing; getting her home. Danny will be taken care of by James. After everything she witnessed tonight, I can’t lay that on top of it too. She will struggle to process everything she’s seen tonight. I can’t look her in the eye. “I don’t know,” I lie and head to the driver’s seat. Putting it in drive, we leave this nightmare behind and I’m finally taking her home.

  Her erratic breaths slow down as she stares ahead, unmoving.

  With our decisions, we choose our path in life. My decision to let my guard down and start up a relationship with Fallon based on a lie led us to this point. It led to the deaths of Vasquez, Frank, and Alex. It led to endangering her in the worst ways possible. The one thing I wanted to avoid detonated in my face.

  I park the car in front of her condo. We stay seated, frozen in time.

  From the glove compartment, I recover her mini purse with the smartphone and keys.

  “Your things.”

  She takes the purse and opens the car door.

  I jump out of the car and follow Fallon inside her apartment. Closing her front door silently, I keep my eye on her.

  Will she freak out? Or send me away?

  Fallon steps into her living room. “It seems like forever since I’ve been here,” she mentions idly and sits on the edge of the couch.

  Almost a week ago, she was taken by Damian and Frank. The dried blood on my ear and the left side of my head is starting to pull at my skin, making me grimace.

  “Are you going to the hospital?” she hisses with tears waiting to burst out of her eyes.

  “No.” I’ll have it stitched back at the house if the doctor is there, or I’ll just have it bandaged and wait until morning. My hearing is impaired from Leggia’s first shot. I’m holding my concern and receding fury on a tight leash, guessing she’s going to lose it any moment now.

  She breaks down when she sees darkening bloodstains on her shoulder strap; my blood. Her hollow, silent gasp has me inching toward her the instant she slides down to the floor, and I bend down to pick her up.

  “No!” she cries into her palms. “Don’t touch me.” She sweeps her tears away determinedly. “What happened to Danny?”

  “I don’t—”

  “Do not lie to me. Please tell me if he’s dead or not. The trade was about him. You wanted him. Where was he?” She looks up at me with swollen eyes.

  I heave out a ragged breath. “In the bathroom. James has him now.”

  She realizes that’s Danny’s death sentence. “I saw you kill a man. I saw James kill two other men,” she whimpers. “This is your life? Killing people?”

  “No. This is a part of it.”

  “Am I safe now?” she demands and leans back against the back of the couch.

  I’m hesitant to answer. If I confirm, will she throw me out because she thinks she doesn’t need me anymore? But I’m desperate to relieve the fear she has been living with this past week. And it’s time to end this. “Yes.”

  “What now, Luca?” She looks up again through wet lashes. After everything she’s been through, she’s still the most beautiful woman to me.

  Not having all the answers, I ask her the one question that has been plaguing me. “Do you regret meeting me?”

  “Don’t you dare turn this around! You are a criminal,” she emphasizes each word with bitterness.

  I feel like she’s sucker punched me in the face, so I keep my lips sealed. She needs to vent. The emptiness that’s spreading a hole in my heart overpowers any anger I had toward her escape attempts.

  Fallon continues without looking at me. “I can’t answer that because of course – right now – I regret it. What the hell do you expect of me? Don’t you think I know that we would never have a normal life? Would I have to lie to everyone around me? Would I have to walk around with guards? Would I always have to worry if you will come home alive? What kind of life is that? I need to protect myself before you drag me into more of your Mafia mess. I can’t do this, Luca. It will change me. That life will suck the life out of me.”

  She belonged to the Luca I’ve created for her. The Luca without the Syndicate. And that Luca does not exist. Luca and the Syndicate will forever be one.

  I kneel in front of her, realizing I need to come to terms with the fact that it’s impossible to keep her safe. Tonight, anything could’ve happened to her. She was a challenge that reeled me in and became too much. “I can’t change my past, Fallon.”

  She hugs her legs to her chest. “You should go.”

  “I don’t want to leave you here on the floor,” I plead.

  “Go,” she repeats and buries her head in her knees, already blocking me out.

  The emptiness is about to swallow me up. There’s an invisible bond that ties Fallon and me together, from now on, for always.

  Turning away, I refuse to look back and softly close the door on us.

  Once I’m back in the car, I punch the steering wheel repeatedly, until the skin on my already-bruised knuckles tears, in an effort to let out my agony.

  It takes only a few minutes before her bedroom lights are turned on. Then I ride back to the house alone. She won’t be in my private room waiting for me.

  ***

  James and Adriano are quietly talking in the living room. I address James, “Is the doctor here?”

  “He will be within minutes. I called him for your injury.” James motions toward my ear.

  “Good. I think I need stitches.” The side of my head feels like it’s on fire. “Did you clean up?”

  James replies, “Damian and another soldier are cleaning up. Eli will not talk, I reminded him of what will happen when he does.” We won’t end his life, but we will expose the pictures of him entertaining young boys and let him live with a life of scandal. For him, that is far worse than death. “Biagio will inform his Syndicate. I do believe we have an ally in him. Danny was taken care of in the sacristy.”

  When the doctor arrives, he immediately stitches the skin behind my ear. It will heal properly and my hearing should return to normal within the next couple of hours. The doctor’s out the door in twenty minutes.

  “I’m going home,” I announce and rub my neck.

  “What’s wrong, Luca? How’s Fallon?” James inquires.

  “I took her home.” As far as James knows, she has cooperated the entire week. I discussed with him that I’m binding her into silence as a precaution – which was needed.

  “Son, one day you’ll find a woman who can accept this life.”

  “I’ve already found plenty of women who could accept this life. The only one I want just can’t.”

  “Why don’t you stay here tonight?” James suggests.

  “I can’t stay in that room without her,” I admit and exit the house.

  CHAPTER 46

  Fallon

  Assembling my thoughts is impossible. When the door closes, I jump off the ground and lock it and recheck the lock. It feels surreal being back in my own home. On shaky legs, I reach my bedroom.

  Danny’s probably dead. He was right there in the bathr
oom. I could’ve helped him. I saw men die. Blood splattering. Lurching forward to my bathroom, I heave painfully into the toilet when I smell the vile stench of gunpowder and spilled blood - a too lifelike memory.

  I stand before my mirror and remove my sandals and dress. I’m greeted by a pale Fallon with dark circles under my eyes, scratches, and yellow and purple bruises all over my body. Every inch of my body is sore, as if I’m black and blue all over, inside and out. Under that layer of soreness, I feel nothing. Nothing because right now, I can’t cope with everything that’s happened. No longer able to bear the sight of myself, I step into the shower. Under the hot stream, my tears mingle with the water as if they never fell from my eyes.

  I cry because I’ve seen too many people die. I cry because I don’t know where Camilla is - I don’t even have a last name to find her. I cry for the life I will never have with Luca. I cry for the life I longed to build with him. But mostly, I cry to let out all the tension and fear of the past few days.

  I down two painkillers before going to bed - after checking the front door lock one more time.

  For a couple of hours, I’m sound asleep from exhaustion. But after that, as fast as I fall asleep, I wake up again. Sitting straight up in bed, my eyes fly open and I’m comforted by the surroundings of my own familiar room.

  As I lie back, I still feel depleted. I miss him. I hate him. I’m lost. In the end, he did help me. All I want is for everything to be over, so I’m not going to the police. Maybe he was telling the truth. If I go to the police, I’ll bring more trouble my way.

  People say time heals all wounds. Does it? I don’t believe time heals wounds. Time makes us forget. New memories push back the old ones until our mind is forced to forget what we desperately long to hold on to. The bad memories always manage to stick to the forefront while the good ones vanish from our remembrance. Only, with us, the bad far outweighs the good. The bad almost got me killed.

  I get out of bed to retrieve my phone from my clutch in the living room. As I sit on the couch and go through it, I’m surprised that I don’t have too many missed calls and messages. I frown when I see Luca has texted Jason, my mother, and Teagan that I have been sick at home. He took care of everything to explain my disappearance.

  I call my mother and assure her that I’m all better. She, of course, immediately notices something is wrong, so I tell her Luca and I broke up. I’ll call Teagan tonight. I also briefly speak to Jason, who apparently visited my apartment Tuesday, so I tell him I was too sick to answer the door, probably didn’t hear the buzzer - he doesn’t question me.

  I chew my fingernail wondering what to do about Alex while I walk back to bed. I wanted to let my loved ones know I’m fine, and now I just want to crawl back into bed. Devoid, except for the rumbled thoughts constantly racing through my mind, sadness overtakes me. I hope for sleep to overtake me instead because I feel absolutely hollow.

  Thankfully it does, and all I do is lie in bed all day Thursday and Friday.

  Friday night, I wake again to call Teagan, and I even manage to lie to my best friend about the past week.

  Saturday morning I’m awakened by a call from Jason. “Hi,” I mumble.

  “Oh my god, Alex died of an overdose.”

  I’m wide awake instantly. “What?” I sit up in bed and glance at the phone to check the time: ten.

  “Alex is dead. Cleaning lady found his body in his apartment. Alex Gentry suspected to have died of a drug overdose,” he reads a line from an article.

  The Syndicate.

  Luca has something to do with this. Flustered, I say, “Can I look up the article and call you later? I’m… I’m shocked.”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll e-mail you the link. Call me later.”

  I read the article on my phone and palm my forehead. Part of me is going to be sick. Did he die because I told Luca about his blackmail? But what would’ve happened to me if he had lived? What do I feel? Maybe a hint of a sick kind of gratitude?

  This means it’s over. I cover my mouth with my hand, unable to grasp the reality that this has been life since a week ago. I don’t get much time to contemplate because the doorbell rings - the doorbell of my front door, not the entrance downstairs.

  I immediately jump out of bed and tiptoe toward it. Nervous shivers run down my spine when I stand before the door.

  A knock shocks me backward.

  “Miss Fallon Michaels?” a male voice asks. “This is Chicago PD.”

  Police? Why?

  “Can I see some ID?” I retort and check the peephole as two young men ID themselves. I open the door and stand in the doorway.

  “Good morning, miss. We would like to ask you some questions. Can we come in?”

  “No.” After what I’ve been through, I don’t trust anybody. “What’s this about?”

  “It’s regarding Alex Gentry.”

  I arch my brow. “I just found out he died.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss, miss. It appears to be a drug overdose, but in the security box in his apartment, the following note was found:

  If anything happens to me, contact Fallon Michaels.

  My blood drops ten degrees after reading the note. “I’m just an employee of his,” I say softly, not knowing how to react.

  “We would like to talk to you, Miss Michaels.”

  “Now is not a good time.” I need time to think about what this means. “I need a moment to process the fact that my boss died,” I state curtly.

  The police officers at least look regretful. “Miss, please call me for an appointment at the precinct on Monday.”

  “I will.” I grab the card and close the door, expelling the breath I’ve been holding.

  Why the hell would he leave that note? Did Alex leave that note or did the Syndicate? Am I being framed by the Syndicate?

  This means it isn’t over. This is just the beginning.

  The story of Luca and Fallon will continue in For Luca, Chicago Syndicate #2

  COMING FALL 2014

  Acknowledgements

  It’s been an exciting journey to have this book released, and I couldn’t have done it without the man in my life. Thank you to Ritez for taking care of everything while I read and write – and I read and write a lot. Thank you for always pushing me. Thank you for choosing to be with me, lief.

  Thank you to Renee for your editing acuity. A huge thanks for going through this manuscript until the middle of the night. Next one, I won’t send so late – I promise. Seriously, I promise. Not a Luca kind of promise, but a real promise.

  Thank you to Christine for your never-ending and enthusiastic help. To you, I promise that I will not forget the difference between a ‘release day blitz package’ and ‘blog tour promo post.’ Okay, so I’ll probably ask you all the same questions as I did when I released this book, but bear with me. I’m giving you fair notice, skank!

  Thank you to the beta-readers – FeiFei, Jen (another skank) and Christine – for your honest and critical input, which was very much appreciated.

  A big thank you to all the ARC reviewers, bloggers, and Street Team who helped to promote For Fallon. I had such a pleasant time working with you all! Thanks for taking the time for Luca and Fallon.

  Thank you to you for reading Luca and Fallon’s story.