Buttons and Blame

by Penelope Sky

  Buttons and Blame

  Penelope Sky

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Hartwick Publishing

  Buttons and Blame

  Copyright © 2017 by Penelope Sky

  All Rights Reserved

  1

  Cane

  Adelina was quiet during the journey home. She didn’t make a fuss about leaving or seem to consider running. She kept her head down through the airport, was silent on the flight back, and returned to Italy without a single complaint.

  How did she maintain such restraint?

  If I had been able to see Vanessa one last time, I wouldn’t have let her go. I would have tied her up so she couldn’t leave. Whoever burst through the door to retrieve her would have to go through me—and a million bullets.

  When we returned to my house in the countryside, we immediately went to sleep in my enormous bed. The maids had just cleaned the place, so the sheets were fresh and soft against my skin. We lay side by side, but no sex was had.

  I knew she didn’t want it.

  She was exhausted, so she went straight to sleep.

  I was tired too, but all I could do was think. I stared up at the ceiling and pictured the way her parents hugged her goodbye. They were both in tears, even her father. They hugged her so tightly that Adelina had to pull their hands off.

  It was too painful to watch.

  Hours passed before I finally drifted off to sleep, my brain shutting down because it didn’t want to think anymore. My body found hers, and my arms wrapped around her petite rib cage, holding her like a stuffed animal.

  Morning arrived within the blink of an eye.

  My eyes opened to Adelina wrapped around my body. Her face rested in the crook of my shoulder, some of her brown was hair across my chest. Her arm circled my waist, her petite hand rising and falling with my stomach as I breathed. One slender leg was tucked between my knees. She was clinging to me like I was her savior, not the evil fiend I truly was. She didn’t see the world in black and white. Her traumatic experiences taught her that life was much more complicated than that. Maybe I was evil, but I wasn’t the kind of evil she needed to be scared of.

  I watched her with lidded eyes, waking up to the sound of her gentle breathing. Sometimes she adjusted her position, moved her arm to a different place along my abs. Her lips were parted slightly, and her warm breath fell directly across my skin.

  I watched her as the sun rose higher in the sky and flooded the bedroom with morning light. She was usually awake at the crack of dawn, and her sleepiness told me she was knocked out from our long flight.

  Since I had work to do, I couldn’t wait around forever. I got out of bed, took a quick shower, and then headed to the base. Crow and I had a brief conversation on the phone just before we prepared to leave for our flight, so not much was said.

  But he was definitely pissed.

  I got to the base, took care of a few things, and then found Crow sitting in the assembly building. The completed guns were stacked on shelves while the others were on tables in the center of the room. The skeletons were done, but the specific parts of the gun work needed to be completed. Crow stood in one of the aisles, his hands resting in his pockets. He was staring straight ahead at a plain wall. He was absolutely still like one of the statues in Rome. His chest didn’t rise or fall with a single breath. His expression didn’t seem different because he wore the same look of consternation at all times.

  But I knew he wasn’t the same man anymore.

  I walked down the aisle and stopped when I was ten feet away. He was in a black suit, obviously intent on heading to the winery when he was finished at the warehouse. I gave him the opportunity to speak first, to see just how sour his mood was.

  But he didn’t speak. He didn’t even look at me.

  This was going to be a bad day.

  “Pretty fascinating wall, huh?” I tried to lighten the mood by being a smartass. It usually coaxed Crow into some kind of reaction. I looked at one of the guns sitting on the table and felt it in my hands. I ran my thumb along the smooth barrel before I returned it to the table.

  Crow turned his head slightly to look at me, but his reaction was exactly the same. He didn’t spit out some harsh insult or tell me to jump off a cliff.

  Now I was really worried. “What did Pearl do?”

  He turned his gaze back to the wall.

  I tried to be patient and wait for Crow to speak when he finally found the words. My brother was the strong and silent type, but he usually had more to say than this. He must have had too many thoughts in his head to keep them straight. Or his jaw was clenched so tightly that he couldn’t unhinge it to talk.

  Finally, he said something. “She betrayed me.”

  Pearl was the loyal type. She’d risked her life to save mine. My brother was always honest, but I didn’t believe him for a second. “How so?” In terms of fidelity, she wouldn’t cross Crow either. She was committed to him now just as much as she was the day she married him. I didn’t see why she loved him or agreed to put up with him for the rest of her life, but I didn’t doubt her love.

  Crow took a deep breath before he answered, like saying the words took all his energy. “She went to Tristan.”

  “Tristan?” I asked. “Psychopath Tristan?”

  He nodded. “She went by herself to help Adelina.”

  The words screwed into my brain and an image of Pearl with Tristan appeared in my mind, but I still couldn’t believe it. No woman was safe in his domain. He used women like he used bullets, disposing of them the second he used them. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s fine.” He closed his eyes, struggling with another jolt of pain. “Thank fucking god. If she weren’t my wife, Tristan would have…” He never finished the sentence, and I knew he never would.

  I rubbed my temple, irritated that my sister-in-law was such a stupid idiot. “Jesus Christ. What did she say to him?”

  “I don’t fucking know. I didn’t ask.”

  “You didn’t ask?”

  “I was too busy slapping the shit out of her.” He suddenly grabbed the table and flipped it over, sending all the equipment flying onto the concrete floor. His hands gripped his skull like he was melting from a migraine. “I’ve never been so angry in my life. I couldn’t even look at her. I couldn’t say a damn word. I just…snapped. I told her I didn’t want to speak to her for a week. And she hasn’t been stupid enough to try to change my mind.”

  “So, let me get this straight…she went all the way to France by herself?”

  “Hopped on a plane the second I went to work.”

  “How did she figure all of this out?”

  He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, Cane. She went there without saying a damn word to me. I told her I would do what I could for Adelina. She’s an idiot for thinking she’s smart enough to find a path that I can’t see. She risked her life, risked my whole world, by going there. It’s unforgivable. Un-fucking-forgivable.”

  I had a distinct fondness for Pearl and admired her determination, but I had to agree with my brother this time. Her actions were completely naïve. If Crow and I hadn’t been formidable allies, Tristan would have done unspeakable things to her. She would have missed Bones—as crazy as that sounded. I thought my brother overreacted to a lot of things, but this time, his fury was justified. “At least she’s okay.”

  He released a quiet growl.
“That doesn’t sheathe my anger. If she really wanted to talk to Tristan that badly, we could have worked out a plan together. I could have met with him. I could have just called him. But she’s so arrogant that she thinks she can handle it by herself. Pisses me off.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Now Tristan and his men think I can’t handle my woman. It’s fucking embarrassing.”

  Yeah, that didn’t look good either.

  “And now he also knows we want to keep Adelina. That ruins any potential move we could have made.”

  “We weren’t going to make a move anyway.” I was going to hand Adelina over in two weeks, and that was the end of the story. I would try to make the last two weeks of her life beautiful, meaningful. But that was the extent of my compassion. The only way I could save her was if I declared a blood war against Tristan and looked over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Bones was finally gone, and I was free. I wasn’t willing to walk back into the shadows—not for her, not for anyone. “What did Pearl say to Tristan?”

  “I told you.” He ground his teeth together. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, we need to figure it out. If Tristan calls me and I don’t have a clue, I’m going to look like a moron.”

  Crow gave a slight nod.

  “So talk to Pearl, and let me know what she says.”

  “I told you I’m not talking to her.”

  Damn, then this fight was serious. “You haven’t spoken to her since she came home?”

  He shook his head. “And I’m not going to. I can’t…”

  I didn’t ask why because I already knew the reasoning. He was just as pissed now as he was the day she came home. Calm people didn’t flip over a table with valuable weapons on top. He couldn’t keep his hands still or his anger sheathed.

  “You talk to her.”

  I stood beside him and looked at his profile. He wouldn’t meet my gaze head on. “Me?” Last time I checked, he didn’t want me anywhere near Pearl when he wasn’t around.

  “Yes.” He pivoted his body and looked me square in the eye. “You.”

  “What about all that mumbo jumbo about not being alone with her?”

  “I don’t give a damn anymore. She obviously doesn’t care about her safety. Why the fuck should I care?” He walked past me, his muscled physique looking prominent in his tailored suit. He was about to head back to the winery now that he was finished yelling and breaking our stuff. “Tell me what she says.”

  I’d seen Crow and Pearl fight, but not like this. This was bad. “Okay.” If Crow really thought Pearl were in danger, he would do everything he could to keep her safe. So making me talk to her was just the confirmation I’d been wanting to hear—that he did trust me with her. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  Lars answered the door and gave a slight bow. “Mr. Barsetti, Mr. Barsetti isn’t here right now. I’ll let him know you dropped by.”

  “I’m not here for him. I’m here for Pearl.”

  Lars continued to block the doorway, not being the polite butler he usually was. He kept one hand on the door and wore a professional smile that wasn’t genuine at all. The only time he seemed to really grin was when he talking to Pearl. “His Grace gave me very specific instructions about Pearl’s company. I’m sure you’re aware…”

  Last time I was alone with Pearl, Crow flipped the hell out. “Yeah, I know. He’s had a change of heart.”

  “Until I hear it from him, you’ll have to come back another time.”

  “Come on, Lars. You can’t be serious right now.”

  Lars dropped his smile then shut the door. He even locked it.

  Wow, what a backhand. I called Crow, told him about the holdup, and then hung up.

  A few minutes later, Lars opened the door again. “Please come in, Mr. Barsetti. May I get you anything?”

  I rolled my eyes as I walked inside. “Don’t be all nice to me after you shut the door in my face.”

  “Just following orders.” He trailed away with his arms behind his back. “I’ll whip up something to eat. Mrs. Barsetti hasn’t been eating lately. Perhaps you could motivate her.” He walked into the kitchen and disappeared.

  I checked the downstairs living room but didn’t find her there. I went to the patio next, knowing she preferred to sit outside on a nice day like this. There she was, sitting in one of the lounge chairs in jeans and a black t-shirt. Sunglasses sat on the bridge of her nose, but they didn’t hide the sadness written all over her face. Even when she was exposed to direct sunlight, she looked as pale as a vampire.

  I slowly walked toward her, my hands in the pockets of my jeans. A part of me felt responsible for the entire nightmare. If I hadn’t brought Adelina home, none of this would have happened.

  But did that make me regret it? No.

  I sat in the lounge chair beside her.

  She didn’t turn her head in my direction. Her gaze must have flicked to me behind her black glasses. Otherwise, she should be somewhat startled.

  I leaned forward with my elbows resting on my knees. My palms rubbed together, and I stared at the black ring I wore on my left hand. Black with a skull in the center, it symbolized a past I’d never forgotten about.

  Pearl didn’t say anything, just as silent as Crow was.

  “So…how’s it going?”

  No response. She didn’t even move. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was breathing.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “What do you want, Cane?”

  “Just making sure you’re alright.”

  “Well, I’m not alright. Now what?” She pulled her glasses off and placed them on the table. The sun was directly overhead and no longer in her eyes. She didn’t wear any makeup, and her eyes looked heavy-lidded and swollen.

  I rubbed my palms together then massaged my wrist. “Anything I can do?”

  “No.”

  “It’ll pass. You know how Crow gets…”

  “This time is different.” She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins, pulling herself into a ball.

  She was right. It was different.

  “He won’t look at me. He won’t speak to me. It’s been days…but it feels like years.”

  Pearl always saw the light even when there was only darkness. But now, she looked lost in the shadows. It broke me to see her like this. It even broke me to see Crow so gloomy. It reminded me of the way he used to be before Pearl walked into our lives. He was never really alive, only a corpse with a working brain. “Then why did you do it? What were you thinking?”

  “Patronizing me isn’t going to make me feel better.”

  “But seriously, what were you thinking? If Tristan keeps slaves, why did you think it was a good idea to confront him?”

  “I knew he wouldn’t touch me since I’m Crow’s wife.”

  “In case you don’t remember, Crow stole you from Bones. There’s no reason why someone else wouldn’t want to steal you from him. There’s something about you that makes you more valuable than a bag stuffed with millions. It was risky. Frankly, it was stupid.”

  She stared straight ahead over the vineyards. “I’m aware. Thanks for reminding me.”

  “You’re always taking crazy risks. Crow has looked the other way most of the time, but this was too much. You know I’m usually on your side most of the time, but this time…I’m on his side. You risked your life needlessly, and Crow and I wouldn’t have been able to save you. Just because you possess the Barsetti name doesn’t make you invincible. Vanessa was raped and murdered. I’ve been shot three times. Crow has been blackmailed… The list goes on. If anything, you’re more vulnerable because you’re more valuable.”

  Her eyes shifted down to her feet, and she stared at her toes in her sandals. It was a warm day in the hillside, but the light breeze blew the sweat off our necks. “I can’t let a woman suffer like this. It goes against everything I believe in. There was a woman who used to fix me up for Bones, and I despised her for it. There was no real differe
nce between us. She could have easily been in my position if she just took the wrong turn. And for her to accept my imprisonment… It made me sick to my stomach. If I don’t save Adelina, that means I’m no better than her.”

  Whenever she talked about her captivity with Bones, I tried to tune it out. I loved this woman, and knowing she suffered only made me suffer. It made me think of my little sister and what she endured before she was finally shot in the head, her blood spraying all over my brother. It was my job to protect her—and I failed.

  Crow failed too.

  “It’s not easy for me either, Pearl. I don’t want Adelina to go through that.”

  “Then don’t send her back.” She finally turned to me, looking at me for the first time.

  “If it were possible, I would. What exactly did Tristan say to you?”

  Her eyes shifted to the landscape again. “I offered to buy her, but he said she wasn’t for sale.”

  I knew that’s what his response would be, but I still felt the rush of disappointment anyway. It hurt more than I thought it would, bringing me lower than I already was. “Of course she’s not…”

  “He said he would only make an exchange—her for me.”

  That was exactly something Tristan would say. “Don’t ever tell Crow he said that.” I knew my brother would reach a new height of fury. He would tear down his entire house and drown it in gasoline before he made a huge bonfire. He would never be sane again. Business wouldn’t matter to him. Tristan would be at the top of his vendetta list.

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  Despite how disgusting Tristan’s statement was, I couldn’t be too angry. Pearl was the one who went to his turf on her own. She had no business being there, and I was certain she was a smartass the entire time. The fact that he didn’t lay a hand on her was the ultimate sign of respect to both Crow and me. “And that’s not an option—accept it.”

  “I couldn’t take her place even if I wanted to.”

  At least she wasn’t a flight risk. “Did he say anything else?”