Can't Walk Away (The Thomas Family Chronicles #1)

by Ashlee Taylor

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Mr. Prescotti. I do have a bargaining chip—a really good one, in fact.”

  “Oh yeah, and what is that?”

  “Leave my family out of this and I’ll tell you.”

  “Your family is off the table, Mr. Devereaux. You have two minutes to tell me what I want to know.”

  Cain let out a deep breath before he spoke again. “I wasn’t the one who killed your baby. Bobby was the one that stomped on her stomach, he was told to destroy her ability to have kids.”

  I shook, trying to control the tempo of the movement. I didn’t need for him to see that I was visibly shaken by his words.

  “Anything else?”

  “Yeah, the lady told him to do it.”

  “Which lady?”

  “Anise Michelino, she was the one who orchestrated it all. She’s who hired me, I was paid by Bobby, though. I get the feeling he’s in love with her, but she was trying to get me to fuck her.”

  “Thanks for confirming it for me, although I already knew that. Take care of him.”

  Cain stood up, causing the men in the room to rush forward.

  “Please, I’m not what you think I am. I know how I was found, I know how it looks, but I didn’t touch her.”

  I turned around angrily, marching right up to him. I stood with a foot between us.

  “If that was the case, why didn’t you say that from the beginning?”

  “I can prove everything I’ve said to you as well as tell you where to find Bobby and Anise.”

  “No more negotiations, speak now.”

  Cain sat down in the chair and started spilling his guts. He said that he’d set up hidden cameras in the room and captured the video remotely. He told us where we could find his hideout. That was where we could find his laptop that had all the videos on it. He’d also given us the location of where Bobby and Anise were hiding out.

  I didn’t hesitate, I took off with Luke and several other cars to the location. We busted in the front door to see that they had left in a hurry, their things were still in the house. There was even food cooking in the oven.

  Luke turned off the oven and stepped back into the living room where I stood. There were pictures of me, Christianna, and Layla scattered all over the coffee table. We knew we were on the right track.

  “Torch it,” I said before picking up one of the pictures that focused on the three of us.

  We left the house that was now engulfed in flames. I didn’t know what to do until they were able to get back with the video.

  My phone chimed, alerting me to a message. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I clicked the screen, causing the message to pop up clear as day. It was Christianna sleeping in her hospital bed with Layla snuggled against her, asleep.

  “I need you to take me to the hospital,” I said to Luke, who nodded.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I just need to see my girls.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Christianna

  I think I slept for several hours before I finally woke up. I noticed it was now dark outside and Layla wasn’t with me anymore. I missed her, I wanted her back. I didn’t know where Nicholas was, he hadn’t shown when everyone else was here, which worried me.

  My emotions were getting the better of me. I was trying hard not to lose it and cry. I looked out the big window, it was dark now, really dark. I assumed it was fairly late. I couldn’t see a clock from where I lay, so I had no idea what time it was.

  A soft rustle came from the other side of the room. I looked over, shocked by what I saw. Nicholas was sitting in the chair, his head tipped back uncomfortably as he slept. I couldn’t very well call his name out. I guess I could make some sort of noise. I didn’t have anything to throw at him, not that I could throw anything. I could press the call button for the nurse, but then a nurse would come in and who knew what would happen.

  I just laid there on the bed, staring at him. He looked so peaceful. He was dressed in my favorite of all of the suits he owned. I wondered why he was dressed up, because the last time I saw him, he was wearing casual clothes and he looked like he’d barely slept. Now as he sat there sleeping, his face looked peaceful. I just stared at him, possibly willing him to wake up.

  Lying there for what seemed like hours, which was probably only minutes in reality, I got the brilliant idea of just tossing the buzzer off the side of the bed, hoping that it would hit something and Nicholas would wake up. What I didn’t anticipate was the loud sound it made in the room, as it echoed like something was falling apart.

  Nicholas jumped up, pulling his gun as he was trying to figure out what was going on. I think I whimpered when I saw it, his eyes cut to me and then back to the gun. I guess my reaction was fearful, because as quickly as the gun appeared, it disappeared.

  “Sweetheart,” he called out before coming over to me and crouching down beside me. His hand stroked my hair as he peppered kisses all over my forehead.

  I wanted to cry at his touch, I wanted so much more from his touch. I wanted to just open my mouth and speak to him, but I knew I couldn’t. I needed him to know I was okay. I used my uninjured hand to stroke the side of his face a few times. He pulled back to stare deep into my eyes.

  Cupping his cheek, I pulled him down to me so I could press my lips against his. He accepted them, as gentle as they were. He didn’t force it, he was being very gentle with me, which I appreciated.

  When he pulled back again, his eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

  “I love you,” Nicholas said as one lone tear slid down his cheek.

  I couldn’t speak, I just removed my hand from his cheek and lay it over my heart.

  “I know, baby, I know you love me. I’m so fucking glad I got you back. There are a million and one things I need to say.”

  I tried my pathetic attempt at a smile before lifting up my hand to motion like I was writing something before looking around for the whiteboard. I wasn’t sure if they left it in here for me or not, but I had to try.

  “You want to write something?”

  Giving him a thumbs up, he turned to look. Nicholas began pulling open drawers before finding the whiteboard that someone had carefully put in there. Handing it to me with a marker, I finally got to write what I needed to say. I love you.

  “I fucking love you too. I swear I’ll make sure you know that every single day for the rest of our lives.”

  I know you will.

  “When you’re up for it, you’re going to marry me.” I knew my eyes grew to the size of fifty cent pieces at his words. Honestly, there wasn’t anything I wanted more than to be his wife and for us to be a family.

  Yes, I wrote and he laughed at me before kissing my forehead again.

  “You’re going to marry me?”

  Of course.

  “Seriously?” he asked, his smile bright and his eyes wide.

  I pulled the whiteboard up, cleaning off the words.

  Yes, except you didn’t ask me and there is no ring, I wrote down, showing it to him. I even threw in a shrug for good measure.

  Nicholas let a huge laugh out that shook my body. “Oh beautiful. Even after everything you’ve been through you’re still giving me grief about doing everything ass backwards.”

  Nicholas was right, we never did anything the way we should have. We’d gone about everything unconventionally. Honestly, neither of us were conventional. So, how our track record goes, this was right up our alley. I frantically erased the board and jotted down exactly what I needed to say, what he needed to know.

  You ask me, I will say yes. I held up the whiteboard to his beaming smile.

  He bent over the bed and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead before taking my uninjured hand in his. “I’ll be asking you to marry me before you know it.”

  I grabbed at the whiteboard and wiped it off, replacing it with now?

  “I’m going to ask you—” he said and then was cut off by the door opening.

  “Oh hey, Ni
co, I’m sorry.” Luke stepped into the room. He gave me a polite smile and a wave when he saw me. I waved back. “Hi, Christianna, how are you feeling?”

  I lifted my hand and gave him a thumbs up. Nicholas looked from him to me and then back to him again. “What’s up, Luke?”

  “I’m really sorry to interrupt, but I needed to talk to you.”

  “Can it wait? She just woke up.”

  Luke looked like a fish out of water. His mouth opened and closed rapidly as he tried to figure out what to say.

  Go ahead, I wrote, tapping the whiteboard against his arm.

  “You sure?” he asked and I pushed him away with my good hand. “I’ll be right back.”

  I watched as Nicholas followed Luke out of the room. I didn’t know what was going on but I assumed by the look on Luke’s face combined with the lateness of his appearance it wasn’t good. I was trying to keep the tears that were starting to well up in my eyes at bay.

  Failing miserably, a few tears began to slip down my face. I used the back of my hand to wipe them away when the door opened up again. I had seen that look on Nicholas’ face before, it was the same face he wore the night he broke into my house.

  “Sweetheart, I have to go.”

  I started to cry harder. Nicholas rushed to my side, trying to comfort me. “It’s okay, I won’t be gone long,” he said. His voice wavered. I realized he had just lied to me. I pushed him back.

  Marry me now, I wrote on the whiteboard and held it out to him.

  “Baby, I would marry you this second, but we’re not prepared.”

  Don’t leave! I wrote again and I watched as his eyes shut.

  “I have to go,” he said, his eyes still shut with his face turned slightly to the side. When he couldn’t look me in the face I knew.

  Something bad was about to happen, I could feel it in my soul.

  Don’t go, please, I wrote again and tried to plead with my eyes as I reached out to grab him so he’d turn to face me.

  It was a fruitless attempt, but I tried all the same. However, he never looked at me, never even glanced in my direction because he couldn’t.

  I couldn’t stop the tears that started to fall, it was a losing battle. Nicholas didn’t comfort me this time, instead he took the whiteboard, writing something on it before laying it down. My hands covered my face. I didn’t say goodbye, I didn’t watch him go.

  I heard the door open, and watched the change in the room as the light from the closing door began to dim before it was dark again. I wiped away the tears so I could see whatever it was he wrote down for me.

  Picking up the whiteboard with shaky hands, as soon as I saw what was written there a part of me was begging the rest of me to jump out of this bed and run after him. Instead, I lay in the hospital bed, clutching that whiteboard to my chest as hard as I could and cried.

  The harder I cried, the more uncontrollable I became. My heart must have raced a little bit higher than normal as a nurse ran in to check on me. She was rubbing my arm, trying to calm me. I didn’t want to listen, I didn’t care what she had to say.

  Minutes later my sister came into the room and ran to my bedside, her arms wrapping around me. Another nurse came in and started pushing a needle into the line of my IV, seconds later my whole body started to get numb. My grip loosened up on the whiteboard and it fell forward, my eyes locked on it.

  “Oh Chris,” Alex said as she realized why I had been clutching the whiteboard.

  I focused on that board as my eyes got too heavy to keep open.

  Nicholas’ last words to me before he left were in black and white.

  Don’t forget I will always love you.

  ***

  Nicholas

  My beautiful girl just told me she wanted to marry me now. I wanted nothing more than to sweep her up and take her to the nearest church. Even after everything she’d been through, she still saw a life with me solidifying our family. I was just about to tell her that I was going to ask her the following day.

  I had the perfect ring in mind for her. The morning after I made love to her on the hood of my car I woke up from the most amazing dream that consisted of us getting married. I saw the ring I slid on her finger and called the jeweler my dad used, telling him what I wanted. He said he’d have no problem creating it for me. I received the call the day before Christianna was found that the ring was ready.

  I couldn’t wait to marry her.

  When Luke walked into the room, his face told me everything. I knew how serious the situation had to be if he were here, knowing I wanted to be here with Christianna. I realized the severity of the situation when I stepped into the hallway to see Alex waiting with two of her dad’s bodyguards.

  He said it was serious, something I needed to see and we needed to go now. I nodded and knew this would probably devastate her. She’d forgive me later when she found out what I had to do. Even though it killed me as she was pleading for me to stay, I lied to her when I couldn’t face her.

  She didn’t know that tonight I was going to take lives, hopefully many of them before the night was through. I left her with what I needed her to know, what I never wanted her to forget.

  That I will always love her.

  My heart felt as if it was ripped from my chest as I heard her crying. I never felt so fucking shitty in my life, leaving her the way I did, but I knew I had to put an end to the people that harmed her. If anything I would make sure they suffered a little bit—fuck a little bit. I wanted them to suffer a lot.

  Luke walked cautiously by my side. He didn’t say a word, he let me work through all the overwhelming emotions I was going through. He knew these feelings would push me to destroy all involved. I was focusing on the task ahead, focused on the only reason I was walking out of this hospital and away from the woman I love because I was going to finish this.

  We both slipped into the waiting car and drove off to the condo building. We took the same walk through the underground tunnels and up to at Murphy’s. When I stepped in, it was as if my childhood exploded.

  Before me stood twenty of the hardest men I had ever met in my life, headed by my father, Antony Balducci, and Jerry Lanza. All of them stood there, as intimidating as I felt they were when I was a kid. I walked in there feeling more powerful than any of them ever were.

  A round of handshakes from everyone came at me, everyone giving their regards and asking how my family was. Antony pulled my hand and whispered in my ear, “I’ll keep her safe.” I nodded before heading over to my dad. He was standing at a table that housed a laptop, the laptop was queued up to a video.

  “Son, you need to sit.” Dad’s hand clasped onto my shoulder as he led me to a chair that was situated in front of the computer.

  “We’re going to give you a few moments.”

  Dad moved his finger along the touch screen, causing the computer to come to life. The video player was open, but the screen was blank. I watched as Dad pressed the right arrow and the video came to life. On the screen I could see Anise and Bobby. I clutched the table before me, wanting to have the opportunity to reach in and snap both of their necks.

  The video cut to another room and my heart dropped from my chest to my stomach. There, in a room that resembled a makeshift dungeon, was Christianna, tied with her arms above her head. She looked scared and sick, the sound of clicks in the distance caused her head to raise up. I watched her face go from scared and protective to angry.

  Anise stepped in, grandstanding for the others in the room. When she began to speak of all those little bits and pieces that I didn’t have memories of, the gaps filled in.

  “She drugged us?”

  “She followed us?”

  “They broke into my hotel room and wanted me to think what happened wasn’t real?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I screamed.

  “Son, calm down.”

  “Calm down, Dad? She could have killed her, killed me. She almost did succeed in killing her. Then Bobby, he was my friend. How fa
r deep was he in this and for how long?” I questioned, then it hit me. All those times Bobby would say something cryptic, but I thought he was just going through something. Truth was he was going through something, all right. That something was a bitch named Anise. He had given it all up for a dirty bitch that didn’t even have a pot to piss in.

  “We know where she is.” As soon as the words were spoken, my head shot up.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Not so fast, Nico.” Jonathan stepped forward, standing in between his friends. “We’re going to do this right. We know that Bobby and Anise are held up in a house about twenty minutes away. There are people that still remain loyal even when the people around them turn. We’ve got eyes on them, their place is surrounded, so you don’t have to worry about them getting away.”

  “Then let’s go, I want to fucking finish this right now.”

  “Nico, we will. First things first. We have to end Michelino. We thought the best way to go about that is delivering his body to their front door,” Jerry threw out.

  “I really do appreciate all you’re willing to do for me. I just need to handle this myself, get them out of the way like now. No more bullshit, no more waiting.”

  “You don’t understand, Nico, they tried to get my family involved—indirectly, that is. They were trying to trade favors under my name when I was alerted. This is personal, this is going to be something I do best. You want them, you’ll get them. Anderson, however, is mine.”

  I listened to Jerry—they didn’t call him the assassin for nothing. I would give him this, but I got to look Bobby in the face while his life is taken by my hands.