He was undone. Kyra collapsed weakly beneath him and only then had he realized he was fucking her wild and free. Did he hurt her? At some point he lost control. It was as if his mind blinked off for the cataclysm.
“Kyra?”
She moaned. He withdrew and lifted from her. She lay in his arms with her breath shallow, eyes closed. He scooped her up and brought her into his arms. If she hadn’t smiled he would be destroyed by his actions. But she did. She weakly held to him as he carried her from the sexed sofa. He stepped over her shoeboxes and shoes, clothing, and even what looked to be a portable radio. The woman lived with everything she owned on the floor.
He smiled. “Chaos. I love your chaos.”
“Mmhm,” she agreed. He found a room. It was the master bedroom but it was reasonably neat with a made bed. He laid her down on it and then joined her. She immediately coiled into a fetal position. Renaldo forced her to lay straight and against him. He drew the covers up and held her to his chest.
“I’m going to miss you… don’t go,” she said softly.
“I wish to stay,” he confessed. “I cannot.”
“I know. I know,” she said with defeat. She kissed his chest and snuggled him. Renaldo closed his eyes and enjoyed their time. No matter how brief.
***
Several hours after the most wonderful bliss he could share with a woman his eyes opened. They flew out of New York at seven in the morning. He guessed it to be close to four. He had to leave.
“Kyra,” he kissed her brow. “Kyra?” he spoke against her ear.
“Mmm?”
“I have to say goodbye,” he whispered.
She sucked down a deep breath and expelled an even deeper sigh. She turned out of his embrace and put her hand to her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Early. Three or four?” he replied.
“Can’t you stay another hour? Please?” she glanced over at him.
He gave her a sad smile.
“Will I ever see you again, Renaldo?” she asked and they both knew the truth. Kyra sat up in bed naked. She put her hands to her face. Renaldo eased up to sit at her side and pulled her under his arms. “I can’t believe this. I barely know you and I feel like… I wish I had never met you. I wish I had never gotten my hopes up about Paris.” She shrugged off his embrace. “Get out! Go! Get out of here!” she shouted at him with tears glistening in her eyes. Her anger was false. He knew anger, and he knew disappointment, Kyra’s emotion bordered both.
“Go!” she shouted at him, now open with her weeping.
Renaldo nodded. He wished their parting wasn’t a hostile one. But if it made it easier on her to say goodbye he’d oblige. And he would keep his promise. If he had to go to the Don himself to barter it, she would have her job in Paris. It would be his final gift to her.
She stood in the dark room crying, watching him. She followed him out of the room with her arms crossed. She glared as he dressed. He glanced back to her once when he put his shoulder strap on and made his gun secure. “If ever I do return–”
She shook her head no. “Don’t! I don’t need this. I don’t want to go through this again.”
Renaldo understood. If he ever did come to America it would be for a purpose that wouldn’t be her.
“Ti adoro. Sei importante per me. Mi ha stragata,” he said. She didn’t ask for the translation but he decided to share it with her. “I adore you. You are very important to me. Take care, cara,” he kissed the tip of his fingers and let them go to send the kiss to her. She looked away. Renaldo walked out of the tiny apartment and into the hall. He could hear her engage the double locks to the door. With a sad shake of his head he forced his hands into the pockets of his trench coat and continued on.
To send him out the door this way felt just as wrong as abandoning her dreams. But she was so angry at him and the world. Kyra put her hands to her face.
“Renaldo,” she said. Without another thought to hedge her actions, she picked up her sorority letter shirt and put it on. She pulled on some jogging pants, hurried to put her feet in her snow boots, and only stopped to grab her coat. She bolted from the apartment. She wouldn’t let him go without saying goodbye. In the hall she ran for the elevator but she knew it would be too late if she waited on it. So she pushed out of the emergency door and bounded down three flights of stairs as fast as her legs would allow.
“Please. Please. Please still be out there!” Kyra forced the door open and raced outside into the cold and snow. She fast walked down the sidewalk. In the distance she saw red taillights of a car. His car.
She put her hand to her mouth and blinked away her tears. “Damn it, Kyra! You’re so damn stupid!” she moaned.
“You are stupid,” a voice answered.
Kyra turned. Cezar stood there in the cold. He was damn near blue and shivering. His hoodie barely covered the ghastly bruises on his face, a busted lip and a blackish purplish eye. Did Renaldo do that? He looked like a monster. And he approached her like one dragging his left leg a bit when he walked. There was a brace on the outside of his pants on his knee.
“What are you doing here?” she shouted at him.
“Waiting. Waiting on you.” Cezar took a step toward her. “I saw him arrive, and I waited. I saw him leave. I thought to myself…” he stepped toward her and she stepped back. “Kill him. Kill him for the disrespect. Fucker made me bust my knee when he threw me to the ground. But then I said, no. It’s not his fault. It’s not mine. It’s yours.”
It was then that she caught a glimpse of the large gun in his hand. Kyra’s heart lodged in her throat. Never in her life had she been so afraid as she was that moment. She took another step back.
“Stay away from me” She took another step back with her hands up.
“Why?” he shouted at her. “For days I’ve tried to talk to you. Days!”
Kyra held her coat closed with one hand and put another one up. “Please don’t.” She glanced to the windows of her building. It was too early in the morning for Jamie to be perched at her window. Every window above was dark and absent of life. Kyra kept backing away. If she ran past him he’d shoot her before she reached her step. And even if he didn’t she wouldn’t have enough time to punch in her key code to get the door open. Every option that flashed in her mind led to a dead end. No option would offer escape.
“Come here!” He charged at her.
Kyra screamed for help. She screamed to the top of her lungs and ran. The icy sidewalk was too much for her to manage and she slipped, going down hard. Cezar was on her in an instant. His arm circled her throat and his gun was put to her temple. “Scream again, you evil bitch, and I’ll do it.”
Weeping she nodded. He began to drag her up to her feet.
“Please, Cezar… don’t do this!”
***
Renaldo slammed on his breaks. He sat at the traffic light. The wipers on his windows went left to right in a slow swish back and forth over the glass. The pasty little flakes drifting from the sky landed and were swept away. He gripped the steering wheel.
A horn honked.
His gaze lifted again to the green traffic light swaying above. Despite all sensibility and the time he was losing he hit the switch to change lanes and made a U-turn in the street. The wheels on his car locked and he slid into a full spin. Renaldo corrected the turn and avoided crashing into the cars parked along the side of the road. Determined, he corrected the wheel and spun off back towards her apartment building. He didn’t know how or why but he would find a way to keep his shoe maker in his life. He was due some time off. And maybe he’d speak to Donna Mirabella about Kyra moving to her company in Italy. Yes. If she moved to Italy he’d see her, know her, woo her, make her his. The tension in his chest subsided a degree. He wouldn’t feel at ease until he told her what was in his heart.
***
“Let me go, please!” she struggled.
Cezar was tall but not very strong. He fought to keep hold of her and remain standing. She knew his inten
tion was to drag her to his car, but the snow and ice became his undoing. Together they fell backwards with her landing on top. The gun was knocked from his hand. Kyra scrambled for it but Cezar grabbed her hair. She howled in pain. And then he hit her. At first the blow was so crushingly severe she thought she was shot. She turned to escape him and he hit her again. This time she saw he was using a weapon. He wielded something hard as steel. It was the butt of the gun he clubbed her with. Blood sprayed from her nose and mouth. Kyra gagged. Fearing another blow would kill her, she put up her hands in defense.
And the attack stopped. She blinked up to see someone lifting and throwing Cezar off her. Kyra tried to crawl away, use the reprieve to get back to her door. And then she heard it. Two consecutive gun shots. Kyra screamed. A man in a long coat that flapped out behind him in the wind fired a gun into another man who lay in a fetal position on the sidewalk. Horrified she crawled faster. The blood. Oh God the blood! She dripped blood from her face, swallowed it in her mouth. And her head felt numb and heavy as if someone was slowly drawing down the curtain on her consciousness. He’ll kill me! Please God I don’t want to die. Please! She collapsed in the snow, her face sunk into icy mush. Her lids fluttered as someone’s hands went on her. She heard Italian. Words. Faint, but familiar she heard them.
Everything went dark.
Five minutes earlier –
Renaldo peered out of his window. His view of the street was partially impaired from the advancing frost over the pane. However, the scene on the snow-covered lawn of Kyra’s building was unmistakable. A man dragged a woman and he had a gun. Renaldo swerved up on the sidewalk and threw the gearshift up into park. He was out of his car and running for them both. It took only moments to realize the woman in distress was Kyra. And when they fell and her attacker started to beat her with his gun, Renaldo’s rage consumed him. For reasons he couldn’t explain the man attacking Kyra never saw him coming. It gave him a needed advantage. Renaldo grabbed the coward before he dealt what looked like a fatal blow to his beloved and threw him several feet. Enraged he began to stomp the man and kick him in the face and gut. It was only then he saw the gun had been cast aside. He forgot to pull his own. There was no time for rational thought.
The gun was in Renaldo’s hand.
He fired.
He fired again and the gun jammed. The unlucky bastard was already dead. With no regard for consequence he tossed the weapon and went for Kyra. There was so much blood on her face he nearly dropped to his knees. Renaldo swept her up in his arms. He carried her to the car and put her inside gently. The lights to the front of the building were flashing on. A person who looked to be an older black woman ran out of the front door screaming at him.
“Where are you taking her? Kyra! Kyra!” the woman shouted and she wielded a bat.
“Ospedale,” Renaldo answered.
The woman glanced to the bleeding man on the sidewalk and then to Renaldo. She raced toward Renaldo and Kyra instead of away. “I’ll show you where it is!” she said without raising the bat in a threatening manner. “I saw you shoot him, save my Kyra! Oh lord! Kyra, baby, are you okay? Oh my God! Oh Kyra!” the woman wailed as she got in the backseat. Renaldo closed the door and got behind the wheel. A chorus of sirens approached less than a block away. Renaldo ignored the threat of being captured for his crimes and sped fast out of the neighborhood. He glanced to the rearview mirror to see the woman cradling an unconscious Kyra in her arms.
“Turn left at the third light and then go two miles. You will see the hospital on your right!” she said.
He did as she advised. Silently he prayed as the woman wailed in the backseat that Kyra was okay. When he saw the red Emergency sign on the next street and wheeled up the drive, he finally felt his heart stabilize. The woman was out of the car and she ran inside. Renaldo’s sole focus was Kyra. He opened the back car door and pulled her unconscious body out into his arms. The hospital staff arrived with a rolling gurney and she was taken from him. Her blood on his hands, his coat, and his shirt, he nearly fought back to keep her. He followed the staff, but the woman who led him there stopped him.
“I’m Jamie. Her friend. You’re Renaldo, right? She told me about you. I’ll take care of her. You have to go, honey!”
“No!” he said and pushed the woman aside.
She grabbed his arm. “You don’t understand. I saw you, so did others at the building. You shot Cezar, the boy’s dead. You saved her life but if you stay you are going to jail. And how can you help her from there? Capice? Now go!” Jamie said.
Renaldo hesitated. If he were put in jail it would bring the Battaglia family shame and issues with the authorities. “I’m at the Waldorf. There will be a number to reach me. Please call. As soon as you know more.”
“Go!” she shoved him.
With no other choice he stepped back. What if she didn’t make it? Could he really walk away? What choice did he have? He’d have to see Dominic and inform him of his actions. He needed help.
“Go!” Jamie shooed him again.
He backed away and got behind the wheel of his car. Before he pulled away Jamie was back inside. All hope was lost.
***
Eight hours later –
Kyra felt as if her face was on fire. Her head felt as if it was swollen to the size of a watermelon. It was so heavy she couldn’t turn or lift it from her pillow.
“Hi, sweetheart, it’s Mama,” she heard a voice. Meek with fear, it sounded like her mother. Kyra’s gaze dropped over to her left. Her mother’s face came into focus. She looked as if she’d been crying.
Kyra tried to move her hand. Thankfully she felt her fingers move. When she tried to move her toes she registered feeling in her feet as well. “Ma?”
“Yes! Yes! It’s Mama,” her mother wept. She picked up her hand and kissed it. Her father stepped from behind her mother and smiled down at her. He was a tall serious man, and in her life she’d never seen him weep or look uncertain. His face was etched in pain. His eyes glistened with tears.
“We have been so worried,” her father said.
“Where?” she closed her eyes as a monstrous bolt of pain hit her in the skull. The aftershocks made every muscle in her body rigid and she began to grit her teeth. She heard her mother yell for someone to come. Then darkness returned and her suffering ended.
***
The Next Day –
Kyra opened her eyes. The room was dark. She stared up at the ceiling confused as to who she was, where she was, or why she was in bed. Slowly coherent thoughts began to meld. She turned her head and it didn’t take much effort. Her mother was asleep in a wheeled in bed. Her father slept in a chair. Both of her older sisters were in the room. They slept together on opposite ends of a sofa with a shared blanket between them. The vigil began to make sense.
She was attacked.
Kyra remembered running outside in the snow. She wanted to stop Renaldo from leaving. And then Cezar showed up. Her body began to shake as the trauma flashed in her mind with acute vivid recall. Fighting. Screaming. Begging. Being hit. Pain. Gunshots.
Kyra nearly sat upright in bed. “I’m shot!” she cried out.
Her mother stirred awake. She was the only one who slept as light as a bird. She sat up and focused in the dark. “Kyra baby? Mama’s here.”
“Ma? I’m shot?” she wept, shaking with fear.
“No. No, sweetheart. You were attacked.” Her mother scrambled from the bed. Her sisters stirred and her father last. She had woken the room. It was her mother who came to her side. “Oh sweetheart, you weren’t shot. You’re okay. You’re safe. Oh my baby.” Her mother hugged her. Kyra clung to her, weeping into her breast.
“He was going to kill me,” she wept.
“It’s over, Kyra. It’s okay. You’ve been out of it for four days.”
“Four days?” Kyra stopped crying. She didn’t understand. To her it felt as if only a day or two had passed.
Her mother stroked her. “The doctors said there was bleed
ing and swelling on your brain. They thought they’d have to operate. Thank God they didn’t. We feared the worst. But you opened your eyes two days ago and I knew God was great. He’d protect you. You had a seizure. But you’re better now, baby. Much better!” her mother said. “I’m so sorry, Kyra baby, I should have never left you to live alone. It was my fault for being so hard on you.”
“Ma. No. It wasn’t. None of this was your fault. Please don’t blame yourself.” She looked to her father, her sisters were at his side. “I’m okay now. I am.” She tried to reassure them. Her mother let her go and Doe came over to her. She hugged her sister tight. They couldn’t let each other go. “It was Cezar,” she said as she pieced the incident together. No one seemed surprised by her announcement.
“He’s dead, Keek,” Doe replied. “Someone killed him. A stranger. The police are hunting for the shooter. Your friend Jamie has been here every day. She’s helping the police. She convinced the stranger to drop you off to the hospital but he fled afterwards.”
“Stranger?” Kyra frowned.
“More like a hero,” her father spoke up. “The witnesses said that boy would have killed you if the man hadn’t arrived.”
The news made no sense to Kyra. Who was the man that helped her? She didn’t recall seeing anyone but Cezar. “Where is Jamie? Can you call her to come and see me?”
“We have to call the police.” Her father spoke. “They asked that we call them the moment you woke up.”
“Why?” Kyra asked.
“They want to talk to you.”
“I’m not ready. I just want to see Jamie,” Kyra said.
“There’s something else, Kyra,” her mother stroked the top of her head. “A man who wants to see you.”
“Renaldo?” she asked. The hope and surprise in her voice made her parents exchange a curious glance with each other.
Scandalous Heroes Box Set Page 15
