by A. K. Evans
“Sure,” I answered.
“Thank you,” she responded as I left the kitchen.
When I opened the door, I found an older man on the other side.
“Hi,” I greeted him.
“Is Lena here?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m sorry. She’s out in the kitchen washing her hands. We’re in the middle of baking. I’m Jolie,” I introduced myself and held my hand out to him.
He took my hand and shook it. “Vinny.”
“Come on in, Vinny,” I urged. “It’s freezing out there.”
After he stepped inside, I closed the door behind him and turned to move past him back toward the kitchen, but looked up and saw Lena standing there.
That’s when I knew something was very, very wrong.
I walked out of my mom’s house, leaving the two most important women in my life inside. I hated having to leave them, especially considering it was only two days before Christmas. Baking wasn’t exactly my thing and I wouldn’t have been involved in those activities, but I still would have preferred to stay with them.
For me, it would have been fulfilling to be able to see Jolie bonding with my mom. To hear Jolie’s laughter and excitement filling the room all while knowing that her presence was giving Mom a peace she’d been searching for for years would have made my year.
But I had things to do.
Because the driver of the car that hit Jolie had been apprehended.
And while she wasn’t talking, giving any indication of who she was working for, I knew I needed to dig deeper. There was a connection between Melinda and Jolie somehow; I just had to figure out what it was.
So, that was my plan today. Leave my girl with my mom, baking cookies and bonding with each other and the dogs, while I did what I had to do to make sure she stayed safe.
I pulled up to a red stop light and glanced out the passenger’s side window when something caught my eye. On the passenger’s side floor was the leash.
The leash Jolie insisted I run back into her place to get.
The leash that if she didn’t have would ruin her day today.
I sighed.
It looked like my day was going to be starting even later now since I knew I had to turn around and take Ollie’s leash to her.
The light changed and I turned my truck around. I started the drive back to my mom’s house and did it thinking of the girl who frowned at me this morning just to get what she wanted.
Surprisingly, I loved it.
After spending a good portion of my childhood and my entire adult life never expecting to get close to a woman, I sometimes found myself in shock over just how much I enjoyed being around Jolie. And it wasn’t just enjoying. I craved it.
Craved her.
Needed the light, laughter, and noise she brought into my life.
Having her now, I often wondered how I ever functioned in silence for so long. Something told me it had little to do with being with another person and everything to do with that person being her.
I pulled up outside my mom’s house and noticed another car in the driveway. She hadn’t mentioned anyone else joining them today, not that there was anyone else I knew my mom hung around with that she’d have here while she was spending time with Jolie. Then again, I couldn’t make any assumptions because my mom had done a good job of keeping her relationship with Michael a secret for a long time. It was entirely possible that she had friends I didn’t know about as well.
I turned off the truck, leaned over the center console, and grabbed Ollie’s leash. As I walked up the stairs, it happened.
Ice ran through my veins.
Blood-curdling screams came from inside the house.
I moved to the door, turned the handle, and found it was locked. As quickly as possible, I slipped the key I had for my mom’s house into the lock and opened the door. When I swung the door open, I went from feeling ice-cold fear to burning-hot rage.
My mother was knocked out on the ground, unconscious, and my girl was struggling. Kicking her legs, flailing her arms, bucking her hips, and fighting to breathe all against the man I hated more than anyone else in the world.
My father.
Nobody knew I was there.
I wasted no time. His back was to me, so I strode over, grabbed the motherfucker from behind, and lifted him clean off her before throwing him to the ground.
Then, I delivered a full-fledged assault. There was nothing I wasn’t going to do to him.
My foot reared back before flying forward forcefully and landing right in his gut. I did this several times, not letting up, never giving him the opportunity to catch his breath. When I’d had enough of that, I lowered my body over his. My fist connected with his jaw. And it didn’t stop.
“Lorenzo!” I heard Jolie shout.
I kept pummeling his face in.
“Lorenzo! You’re going to kill him!”
With my elbow pulled back, ready to strike again, I turned and looked at Jolie. She was terrified, but something else had taken over inside me.
My voice deadpanned, I ordered, “Then you better call someone before it’s too late.”
Jolie turned and ran. I landed another blow to his face.
“You son of a bitch,” I seethed, lowering my face to within inches of his, my grip on his throat tightening. “You better hope someone else gets here to save your ass because I have no desire to let you live to see the light of another day.”
Blood was pouring down his face.
He was groaning in pain.
And it still wasn’t enough for me.
It still didn’t feel like retribution.
I pulled back and hit him again.
It still wasn’t enough.
I stood and kicked him again.
He was still alive. Justice hadn’t been served.
The feel of my fist against his face offered some satisfaction, so I set to strike again. Lowering myself to one knee, I pulled my arm back and my elbow connected with something behind me.
An awful sound combined with a thud caused me to loosen my grip on my father and turn around.
Jolie was on the ground, her hand covering her cheek.
Fuck.
Seeing that snapped me out of it.
“Baby,” I gasped, moving toward her.
She was sitting up, but her head was down. I curled one arm around her back and brought the other up to her hand covering her face.
Peeling her hand away, I felt sick to my stomach.
I’d been so focused on seeking revenge on my father that I ended up accidentally striking Jolie.
“Jolie, I’m so sorry,” I struggled to get out, my voice ragged.
She looked up at me and her eyes were terrified. I never hated myself more than I did in that moment.
I stood up, wrapped a hand under her arm and around her waist before I helped her up to her feet.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
Just as she was about to answer, I saw her eyes move to the ground behind me and go wide. When I turned around, a gun was pointed right at us or, more specifically, her.
“Lorenzo,” she cried.
A shot was fired and in one swift movement, I cradled Jolie behind her head and around her waist while I used my body as a shield to protect hers.
Searing pain splintered through my shoulder as I heard a loud crash and a second shot rang out. I waited for the hit, but I never felt it.
“Enzo,” I heard my mom’s fragile voice call.
I turned my head to look at her and saw a sight I never expected to see in a million years. My mother was standing over my father—a gun in her hands pointed at him—and she was trembling.
He wasn’t moving.
Just as I was about to lift myself off Jolie, the front door swung open.
Colton and Memphis rushed inside. They instantly took in the scene.
“Jojo?” Colton called.
She didn’t respond.
“She’s here,” I said as I started to lif
t myself off her, wincing with each movement. Redirecting my attention to her, I confirmed, “Baby, are you alright?”
Jolie had a look of shock and terror all over her face. Her eyes moved to my shoulder and more shock registered on her face.
“He shot you,” she declared.
“I’m fine,” I assured her.
Her breathing grew shallow. “He shot you,” she repeated on a whisper.
“He won’t ever do it again,” my mom said from behind me. “He can’t hurt anyone ever again.”
Jolie and I both directed our attention to my mom. Memphis was approaching her slowly, but I was worried about her mental state considering her hands were still shaking.
“Mom?” I called.
As she turned her head toward me, Dom, Pierce, and Michael all came running in.
“Jojo?” Dom called out as he began walking toward her.
“Lena?” Michael gasped, realization dawning as he took in the scene in front of him.
She stopped shaking, but only because the sound of his voice caught her completely off guard. Mom’s head turned toward Michael and the second she saw him, she broke down. Just before her legs buckled, Michael moved in, curled an arm around her back and took the gun out of her hand. He passed it off to Memphis and engulfed my mom in his arms.
I couldn’t have been more relieved that Mom found him.
My good arm was still wrapped around Jolie’s back as Michael and I made eye contact. He was horrified. I tried giving him a sympathetic look but turned my attention away from him when Dom walked up beside us.
“Jojo, are you okay?”
“Lorenzo needs an ambulance,” she worried. “He was shot.”
Dom looked at me, searched, and found the wound. “Colt, we need an ambulance,” Dom ordered as he began pulling at my jacket in an attempt to take it off to inspect the wound further.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, shrugging the jacket off.
“You’re not fine,” Jolie continued to panic. “You’re bleeding. You’re bleeding because you were shot. And you were shot because you put yourself in front of that bullet to protect me!!”
She started shaking and breathing heavy again as she dropped her head to my chest.
“Jolie?” I called softly, using my good arm to rub her back.
When she tipped her head back to look at me, I asked, “What happened here?”
Her bottom lip quivered, but she didn’t answer. Her forehead hit my chest again and she cried.
I looked to Dom, both of us clearly frustrated.
His gaze dropped to my shoulder where he’d lifted the sleeve of my t-shirt. “Just a graze,” he confirmed my suspicion.
I gave him a nod.
“Jolie? Lorenzo?” my mom’s voice came from beside us. “Are you kids alright?”
Jolie stepped out of my embrace, moved to my mom, and wrapped her arms around her. “Oh, Lena, I’m so sorry,” she lamented. “I never should have let him in the house. It was so stupid of me.”
“You didn’t know who he was,” Mom tried reassuring her.
“Why don’t we move out of the foyer here and into another room?” Colton suggested. “The boys are going to need to take statements and figure out what exactly happened.”
We shuffled out of the foyer and into the living room. Once my mom and Jolie were seated, me between them, Michael on the opposite side of my mom, Dom flanking Jolie, the officers who had arrived on the scene after Colton and Memphis started with their line of questioning.
Jolie started the explanation. “We were supposed to be baking today,” she began, the disbelief in her tone evident. “It’s Christmastime. This is supposed to be a joyous time of year. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
Using my good arm, I gave her a squeeze and tried to settle her. “Jolie, baby, just take a few deep breaths and try to calm down. They need to know what happened.”
She took a few deep breaths, attempting to get everything she was feeling under control.
“Medics are here, De Luca,” Pierce interrupted as he walked into the room.
“Send them in here. I’m not leaving her,” I returned.
“You’ve got it.”
A minute later, the paramedics walked in. My mom and Michael moved to another seat while they got to work on patching me up. “You’re going to need to see a doctor,” one of them informed me.
“I’ll take care of it after, but right now, I’m not leaving.”
The medic got back to work, and the officer prompted Jolie, “So, you were baking?”
She nodded. “Yes, not long after Lorenzo left, there was a knock at the door and since Lena’s hands were in the dough, she asked me if I’d answer it. I never knew it was him. I mean, he asked if Lena was here, but I never thought he was who he was. I invited him inside out of the cold and when she came out of the kitchen to the foyer, I saw the look on her face and knew something wasn’t right.”
“So he saw you,” the officer confirmed, directing his attention to my mom. “What happened then?”
“I told him to get out,” Mom answered. “But he didn’t listen. He took a couple steps toward me, so I told him again to get out before I called the police. That’s when he attacked. He lunged forward, toward me, but Jolie stepped in. She tried to get between us.”
My eyes shot to Jolie. She put herself between my animal of a father and my mother, and all I could do was recall the conversation I’d had with her weeks ago.
That’s what you do when you love someone.
“Jolie,” I whispered.
“It worked,” Jolie chimed in, proud of herself, as she addressed me and the officer. “He came after me instead.”
“I’m not sure any man attacking any woman is something to be excited about, darling,” the officer advised.
Her shoulders slumped. “I know. I just,” she paused. “I just didn’t want Lena getting hurt.”
The officer nodded and assured her, “I understand your reasoning, I’m just pointing out that what he did is never okay. What happened next?”
“Vinny slammed her up against the wall,” Mom explained, and I felt my blood begin to boil. “Just as he pulled his arm back preparing to hit her, I ran over and jumped on him from behind. He didn’t get the chance to strike her because I threw him off balance. But then he turned and tossed me to the ground.”
My eyes went to Michael. His focus and attention was on my mother, and I could see that he was struggling to keep it together at what he’d just heard.
Mom continued, “I got back to my feet and went after him again.”
“You went after him again after he threw you to the floor?” Dom asked.
“I did it for Lorenzo,” she stated.
“Me?” I called. “What does that mean?”
Her eyes came to mine. “I love Jolie. You know that. But the only thought running through my mind when I saw him getting ready to hurt her was that my son finally found happiness in his life. I wasn’t going to let that man do anything to Jolie that would jeopardize my son’s happiness again. All those years ago, I didn’t stand up to him. Tonight, I did what I should have done then.”
The burning I felt in my gut had moved up to my lungs and clogged my throat. Jolie had told me, Michael had told me, but now my mom was admitting it to me. Everything my father did to her all those years had affected her in the obvious ways, but she’d clearly healed from that. What she hadn’t healed from was the knowledge of what his abuse of her did to me.
“Is that how he ended up with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest?”
Mom shook her head and went on, “When I went back after him, he pushed me away. I kept fighting, clawing my way to him, just to make sure Jolie didn’t get hurt. I was so worried she’d get hit in the head. And when I came back after him the third time, he knocked me out. I don’t remember anything after that. I only remember being behind him and seeing him pull out a gun and lift his hand. I saw him aim it at Jolie. Then, I watched him pull the trigger whi
le my son put himself in front of that bullet to protect the woman he loves. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to either one of them, so I did something about it. Thankfully, one of my guns was close. I got it, stood over him, and used one bullet before he had the chance to pull the trigger again.”
Silence filled the room.
Reality was beginning to settle in.
My father was dead.
My mother had killed him.
“What made you come back here?” Dom asked.
I looked to him before looking to Jolie. “Ollie’s leash. You left it on the floor of the truck. With how badly you insisted we bring it with us, I knew I had to turn around and bring it back. Where is he?”
“We didn’t want them at our toes while we were baking, so we put them in the sunroom and closed the door. That’s why Daphne never came in here. Can we bring them in here now?”
Memphis stepped in and explained, “This is technically a crime scene, Jojo. We can’t have the dogs wandering around right now.”
“He’s just a pup, Memphis,” she worried. “He’s probably terrified.”
“I’ll go check on him while you finish up in here,” Colton volunteered. “Do either of them need to go out?”
Jolie shook her head.
Colton turned and left the room.
“I’ve got to call Rocco,” I announced. “He’s supposed to be here in a couple hours. I don’t want him walking into this.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t tell him over the phone either, Lorenzo. This isn’t the kind of thing you want to find out that way,” Jolie suggested.
She was right. Rocco despised our father as much as I did, but that didn’t mean it would have been easy to hear over the phone that he was dead.
“My place,” Michael suggested. “Why don’t you call him and tell him there was a change of plans and that we’ll be at my place? This way, he’s not walking into this, but he’ll also have the opportunity to learn about it when his family’s around him.”
“Thank you,” my mom said, leaning into him. “I’ll call Rocco. Lorenzo, please go get your shoulder taken care of now so that you can be there when we tell him.”
“Mom?”
“What darling?”
“Are you okay?”
