But there was still one aspect of his life that did make her feel alone: his job. Could she handle the things he was capable of doing? “We didn’t call the police about Johnny,” she said. “Does that mean you plan on taking care of it yourself?”
“Yes,” he said. “He’s not going to hurt you again.”
“I don’t want you to kill him,” she said.
He looked surprised. “Mandi, he kidnapped you. He busted your face all to hell.”
“And you shot him,” she said. “Can’t it end there?”
“What’s this about?” He pulled his hand from hers and laced his fingers together, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked over at her. “Are you having second thoughts about dating a mobster or something? Because I think it’s a little late for that.”
“I know I said I wouldn’t change you,” she said. “And I’m not trying to. But I can’t stand the thought of someone dying because of me, even if you think that’s what he deserves.”
His dark brown eyes gazed at her patiently, listening.
“I’m not saying you can’t scare the daylights out of him. I’m just saying that I don’t want his death on my hands. Or yours.”
He was quiet for so long that she’d thought he was mad. Maybe she didn’t have a place to say how he punished his own men. Finally, he simply said, “If you want me to spare him, I will.”
“Thank you,” she said. She leaned against his shoulder. He lifted his arm up over her head and circled it around her, settling back onto the couch. They snuggled there, wrapped in each other’s embrace, and let the bad day fade away.
Bela was sitting on her bed, looking down at the floppy disk in her hand. Flipping it from side to side absentmindedly, she thought about the information she’d learned. She kept remembering the calloused, hard-bitten look in her father’s eyes, the cold way he’d ordered her not to question him or his choices.
There was a knock on the door. Quickly, she shoved the floppy disk under her pillow and then leaned against it before she called, “Come in!”
Trey entered the room.
“How’s Mandi?” she asked.
“Sleeping now,” he said. “She’s a little shaken up, but she’s tough. She’ll be okay.”
Bela nodded. “That’s good. I’m glad everything turned out alright.”
He sat down at the edge of her bed. “Me too. But I’m not the only one to thank for that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Vincent,” he said. “He had my back today. It’s not the first time he’s had my back, but when it counted, he came through.”
She felt herself smile a little bit. “Yeah. He’s good at that.”
“There are worse guys you could be involved with,” he said.
She started seeing this conversation take an unexpected turn. She sat up a little straighter in anticipation.
“So I think I’m just going to stay out of this one.”
“Wait…what?” she asked, a smile tugging at her lips.
“Whatever you decide to do or not to do with him…it’s your business, not mine.”
“You’re going to let us be together?” she asked, still unable to believe what she was hearing. “Without any threats of being kicked out of your crew or being shot?”
He chuckled, nodding. “No threats. I promise.”
Filled with excitement and relief, she threw her arms around his neck in a tight squeeze. “Thank you,” she said. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, hugging her back.
When they parted, he stood up and dug his keys out of his pocket. “Here, take my car,” he said. “Go tell him the news.”
Smiling, she gladly took his keys and stood up from the bed.
Twenty minutes later, she was knocking on Vincent’s door. He answered it, looking surprised to see her. Stepping aside, he let her in.
There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but first she wanted to allow herself a moment of happiness and enjoy the fact that they could officially be a couple.
“Whatever you did today worked,” she said, smiling at him. “Trey agreed to stay out of our way.”
“He did?” That sexy lopsided grin lit his face. “Seriously?”
She nodded and stretched on her tip-toes to kiss him. His arms wound around her as he pressed his body into hers. He met her soft, sweet kiss with one of his own, and together they savored the moment of bliss.
Like all moments, though, the kiss ended. Her mind was hazy, slightly disoriented as her breathing slowly returned to normal. Looking up into his eyes, she realized she was completely in love with this man. She’d known it before, but not like this. She’d never felt her feelings so strong as she did when he was holding her, when those gorgeous Italian eyes were locked on her in desire and adoration. As she enjoyed the feel of his embrace, of those strong, chiseled arms wrapped around her body, keeping her in a soft cocoon, she realized she would do anything for him. Anything.
She’d even break the code of silence.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about, though,” she said. “Something else.”
A hint of concern crossed his face. “Anything,” he said, guiding her to the couch. They sat down together and she began by taking the floppy disk out of her purse. She handed it back to him.
“I looked over it,” she said. “All of it. And the thing is…I think you’re right.”
She couldn’t blame him for looking so surprised. She was surprising herself, too. But she’d come to form her own opinions, and they didn’t necessarily match her families’.
“My dad’s done too many horrible things, he’s hurt too many people,” she said. “He has to be stopped.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I confronted him. I mean, I didn’t tell him everything I knew but I asked about mom and if he had anything to do with it. And do you know what he said? He practically ordered me not to talk about it again, not to talk about her again. She deserves better than that.”
“She does deserve better,” he said. “And she’ll get it. I’ll make sure she gets justice.”
Justice. It had always been such an abstract theme; and in her world it had meant an eye for an eye, a crime for a crime. Now, it meant something else. It meant owning up to your choices in the face of the law. Now, the word made her smile. “I want to help however I can.”
He covered her hand with his, squeezing it tight. “We’ll do it together.”
“I just have one request,” she said. “I want to leave Trey out of it.”
Still holding her hand, he waited for her to finish.
“There’s something different about him,” she said. “He used to be like…soulless, or something, but now…Mandi’s managed to humanize him again. Somehow. So, whatever we decide to do, can we leave him out of it, please?”
He thought about this and then nodded. “We’ll try,” he said. “But the most important thing is your safety.”
She understood that, she just wanted to help him. Something about her had changed in the past few months. Maybe part of it was inspired by Vincent and the knowledge that he was actually—truly—one of the good guys. He believed in things; in a better future for both of them. He had values that he stood for and she thought she should stand for something, too. Whatever had changed about her, she just couldn’t keep pretending that she didn’t see the horrible things her father did. No longer could she close her eyes and convince herself she didn’t see, no longer could she tune out and pretend she’d never heard the death threats. She could no longer pretend that it was okay to live in a world dominated by greed, power and violence. As Vincent wrapped his warm, protective arm around her shoulders, she knew that before long, she wouldn’t have to live in that world any more. Before long, they would both be free.
Chapter Nineteen
The basement was dark and cold. In the 1920’s, when Trey’s family began their rise to power, his ancestors fashioned the
basement into a prison to hold their most formidable enemies. These days, anybody who betrayed the family wound up in what Sal had nicknamed the Crypt.
Johnny’s treachery had landed him in the Crypt.
When Trey opened the heavy metal door with a loud, echoing creek, a sliver of light shone from behind him, allowing him to see the prisoner. Shackled with thick chains mounted to the wall, Johnny’s body was slack and propped up against the wall. He looked tired and weary, as if he’d given up. Shortly after rescuing Mandi, Trey’d had Vincent snag Johnny from the hospital and bring him here. There was a thick bandage wrapped around his knee and a couple bruises on his face from the struggle earlier.
Leaving the door open, Trey lingered in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. Keeping a steady, disapproving gaze on his once closest friend, the promise he made to Mandi bounced around in his head. Thinking about all of the pain he’d caused her, the fear, made him want to break that promise. Was this moment of revenge worth lying to Mandi?
“If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with,” Johnny said, his gaze fixed on the floor.
“That’s the thing,” he said. “Mandi wants me to spare you.”
A smile tugged at Johnny’s lips, giving him a smug, satisfied appearance.
“Don’t get too excited.” He gave Johnny’s wounded leg a swift kick, grinning when the guy groaned in pain. “She feels sorry for you. That, and she’s afraid me. Rest assured, it actually has nothing to do with you.”
“She should be afraid of you,” Johnny said. “You’re a monster, Trey, and over time you’re just going to get worse. I was trying to spare her a lifetime of being tied to you.”
“Yeah, she told me every loony thing you whispered in her ear while you had her held hostage.” Trey stooped down, resting his elbows on his knees and balancing his weight on the balls of his feet. “But you’re wrong, Johnny. I do care about her. As it turns out, I care about her a lot.”
Reaching behind his back, Trey took out the gun he kept tucked into his waistband. Johnny’s face paled when he saw it.
“You betrayed me,” he said. “You tried to have me killed.”
“Trey…”
“You hurt my girl.” The anger boiling inside him, Trey ignored the protests of his prisoner. He cocked the hammer of the gun. “You put my child in danger.”
“I’m sorry,” he stammered, fear washing over his face. “Listen man, I’m so sorry—”
“It’s funny how we’re always sorry once our ass is in the fire, isn’t it?”
“What about Mandi?” he asked, fear still making his eyes wide. “You promised her you wouldn’t kill me. What are you gonna tell her?”
It was like his dad always said; have a cover story. He’d tell Mandi that he let Johnny leave town and ordered him to never return, and then he’d make sure the body was never found. He’d figured all of this out in a matter of seconds, not moments after he’d first promised Mandi he would do nothing. It was strange how his mind had automatically figured out what to say to her if he broke it, as if he knew he wouldn’t be able to help himself from taking his revenge with this one. “I’m sorry, Johnny.” He slowly stood to his feet. “But you’ve left me no choice.”
Fearing for his life, Johnny struggled to stand, but the chains would only allow him to go to his knees. He couldn’t put his weight on both of them, so he stretched his wounded leg out and kind of wobbled a bit. “Wait,” he said desperately. “I’m not the only one who tried to kill you.”
It was just a ploy, he told himself. Just a way to buy some time and try to convince Trey to spare him. Still, the more paranoid part of his personality had him asking, “What?”
“There’s someone else who wanted you out of the way,” he said. “Someone who put me up to go after Mandi. We were in on it together.”
“Who?”
“Let me live and I’ll tell you.”
“No, you’ll tell me and maybe I’ll let you live,” he countered.
“If I do that, I lose my leverage and you really will kill me,” he said. “Come on, man. Let me out and I’ll tell you everything.”
Trey gave the guy a thorough look, up and down. He seemed desperate and panicked and would probably say anything just to get out of the Crypt. “You’re lying,” he said, aiming the gun at Johnny’s head point blank.
“I’m not.” He lowered his head, looking away from the gun. “You know me, man. Come on.”
“I thought I did,” he said. “But you went too far. You have to be punished.”
“Trey, please—”
Before Johnny could say another word, Trey pulled the trigger. The shot blasted through the small prison, echoing off the cement walls with enough volume to make his ears ring. Johnny’s body dropped, slouching over on the ground as blood began to ooze from his head.
As Trey slowly lowered the gun to his side, he realized his hand was shaking. It was just barely, but shaking nonetheless. As he exhaled, the breath shuddered from his lungs in a rugged burst of air. Stumbling back, he looked down at the body of the man he’d once called his friend. He’d known Johnny for at least ten years, maybe longer, and still, he’d killed him without a second thought. In the blindness of his rage, he never expected to feel remorse, but he did. Now that the anger was fading away, guilt set in.
Staggered, he dropped to his knees beside the body, his entire posture slumping. For a minute, a thousand frantic thoughts zinged around in his head. What had he done? How had he let his temper get the best of him? How would he look Mandi in the eye and lie to her? His pulse racing, heart pounding, the weight of regret burrowed itself into his heart and took root. She was right to fear him, he realized. All this time he’d convinced himself that there was nothing wrong with what he did; that all he did was take drastic measures in a drastic world. But what if it was wrong?
Bringing an unsteady hand up to wipe the sweat from his brow, he told himself to stop with all of the self-doubt and questioning. There wasn’t time for that. What was important right now was burying the body. He needed supplies; a rug to roll the body into, a shovel. He needed to move his car to the basement door so nobody would see him. As he strategically began to plan his way out of this, he stood and walked over toward the door. Grabbing onto the handle, he pulled the heavy door shut behind him, leaving all remnants of guilt and remorse locked away in the Crypt.
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More Books by Jasmine Denton
From the Damage (co-authored with Genna Denton)
Opposites Attract
Coming Clean
Collateral Damage
Curse of the Sea
Soul of the Sea
Song of the Sea
Heart of the Sea
Fated Sisters Trilogy
Divide
Purge (Coming Soon)
Another Life Series
Another Life
Forgetting Yesterday
Here and Now (Coming Soon)
Cosa Nostra
Men of Honor
Code of Silence (Coming Soon)
Inner Demons
Saving Hannah
Men of Honor: Cosa Nostra book 1 Page 12
