by Bethany-Kris
As she was removing her hands from under his head, something warm and sticky coated her fingers. She had a feeling she knew what that substance was—blood. Pressing the tips of her fingers gently along the base of Tommas’ skull, she found a lump that was hard and hot to the touch. Behind his ear, she found the spot that was bleeding.
“Does this hurt at all?” Abriella asked.
“No.”
That couldn’t be good.
“How’s the breathing on your back?”
“My phone,” Tommas mumbled.
“In a second.”
“No, you need to call—”
“Tommy, shut up,” Abriella barked. “Just answer my question.”
“What question?” he asked, confused.
Well, that actually answered a lot of things for Abriella. She asked about his breathing not even five seconds before. Tommas should have remembered what she just asked him. Her fear climbed higher, but her resolve never wavered.
“You need to go to a hospital, Tommas,” she told him quietly.
“I’m fi—”
“You’re not fine, so don’t even start. At best, you’ve got a concussion. At worst … It doesn’t matter, but we need to get you to a hospital.”
A calm head, a firm demeanor, and confidence was the best thing to show in a bad situation. Tommas had taught her that a long time ago. Abriella couldn’t forget it even if she tried.
“Christ, what is that sound?” Tommas growled.
The only sound that Abriella could hear was the siren of the club going off, and the hisses and pops from the burning car across the lot. Other than that, a lot of Abriella’s senses still felt numb to her, dulled like she was under water.
He tried to push up from the ground, but a confusion settled over his features before he dropped back down just as fast. He pressed his shaking hands into his eyes and mumbled something unintelligible.
“See, you can’t even sit up,” Abriella said. “Where is your phone? I’ll call for an ambulance.”
“The cops are going to come,” Tommas forced out through gritted teeth.
“What?”
“Cops, Ella.”
It took her far too long to understand what he was saying.
“So?”
“You need to go.”
Abriella’s fingers fluttered over Tommas’ hands to push them away from his face. She held on tight to him, making him look at her. “I can’t go, Tommy.”
She had to make sure he was all right. She needed to see him go into a hospital. She wouldn’t leave.
“Abriella … babe, you gotta go. It’s okay, sweet girl.” Tommas’ hand found Abriella’s cheek and his thumb swept under her eye. “Don’t cry, Ella.”
“Don’t make me go.”
“Here …”
“What?”
Tommas dug into his pant pocket with his trembling hand and pulled out his cell phone. The screen was cracked, but it turned on when Abriella hit the home screen.
“Call my cousin, Ella.”
“Damian?”
“Call him. Go back to your sister’s place.”
“Tommy—”
“Do it, Ella.”
“But your head, Tommas.”
“Cops. You need to go.”
Abriella cried harder, sobs catching in her chest. She didn’t even have to ask who had done this, because she knew without question that this attack had Joel’s name written all over it. How was she supposed to wake up tomorrow and face her brother only to act like she didn’t know and like she hadn’t been here?
“I hate him,” Abriella whispered.
“Go, Ella.”
“No.”
“Go.”
For the next thirty or so seconds, Abriella watched as Tommas’ clarity and wakefulness began to drift away. Tommas stared beyond Abriella, like he wasn’t seeing her at all. The paleness taking over his usual olive-toned complexion was worrisome. Laying on the wet, cold pavement couldn’t be helping anything, either. He needed a hospital, and soon.
A siren blared in the distance, waking Abriella from her stupor. She recognized the sound instantly as a police cruiser.
Someone was coming.
Someone would help.
She still held tight to Tommas.
Go.
His voice was louder in her head.
“I’m sorry.” Abriella bent down to quickly kiss Tommas’ mouth. She wiped a bit of the blood from his cheek with her thumb. “You’re not allowed to die, Tommy. You’re not. You’re mine, okay? Mine. So, I’ll go, but you can’t.”
She rambled, knowing it was pointless.
Abriella still hoped Tommas had heard it.
Abriella fell into an alleyway, frozen and shaking. The numbness that had been plaguing her was finally gone, but now she was left feeling useless and incapable of doing anything else. The cell phone in her hand practically burned against her skin. With trembling fingers, she turned the phone on and typed in the passcode.
Tommas hadn’t changed the six digits in four years.
Somehow, through teary eyes and chattering teeth, she found the number tagged onto Damian Rossi’s contact information, and hit the call button. Abriella pressed the phone to her ear, and three rings later, Damian picked up.
“Cousin,” Damian greeted. “Have you left the club yet?”
Abriella choked out a sound that even she couldn’t decipher.
Instantly, Damian reacted. “Who is this?”
“Abriella.”
“Where’s Tommas?”
“Something happened—Joel, I think. We were getting ready to leave, and Tommy went out first to start the car. It was really, really fast and loud. I didn’t see what happened until I got outside, but he must have hit the wall or something. He was so confused and talking slow. He hurt himself and—”
“Slow down,” Damian hissed.
Abriella sucked in a deep breath, desperately wishing she could calm herself. “He made me go, but I didn’t want to.”
“His car, you said?”
“Yeah.”
“Start there, Abriella.”
“Someone blew it up. Tommas hit the car starter and it just … blew up, Damian.”
Damian cursed severely. “Where are you right now?”
“A couple blocks away from the club.”
“You’re not with him?” Damian roared.
“He made me go! I didn’t want to!”
“Of course, he did.” Damian laughed a bitter, angry sound that cut Abriella straight to her core. “He’s so fucking in love with you that he’s stupid. Do you realize that, girl? He could be on the ground dying, and he would still think about you before himself.”
Abriella’s sobs caught in the back of her throat. “I know.”
“Why do you have his phone?”
“He told me to call you.”
“And you’re just a couple of blocks away from the club?”
“Yes. I heard the sirens just before I left. He’ll be okay, right?”
“I fucking hope so,” Damian grumbled. “Do you have a street name or something to help me out here?”
Abriella could hear the sound of tires screeching in the background of the call. Obviously, Damian had still been driving.
“I’m in the alley beside the pizzeria two blocks away.”
“The one Tommas likes?” Damian asked.
“Yes.”
“All right. Stay out of the weather. It’s cold as hell.”
Abriella’s shaking only increased at the reminder of the chill in her body.
“I didn’t want to leave him,” she said again.
Her chest hurt something fierce, and her fingers ached with the need to hold Tommas again. She had never been any good at praying even though she went to church every Sunday. Praying wasn’t meant for people like her, because Abriella’s religion had very little to do with a God up above, but rather, a man two blocks away.
“I’m sorry, Damian.”
Da
mian sighed. “I’ll be there in fifteen, Ella. Stay out of sight like he told you to.”
Damian reached over, aimed the vents toward Abriella’s vibrating form, and turned the heater on high. Thankfully, the car was already warm. It didn’t take the vents long at all to begin blowing hot air on Abriella.
“Shit, look at you,” Damian muttered to himself.
Abriella wouldn’t look the man in the eye. It was bad enough that he had come into the club earlier when she was waiting for Tommas. There were very few people that knew about her relationship with Tommas, and she preferred it that way. The one thing Abriella never wanted to be seen as was a whore. She was terrified of being looked at like her mother had been.
“Just don’t say anything, okay,” Abriella said.
“About what?” Damian shook his head and pulled off his coat. He handed the item over to Abriella and said, “Put that on. You’re going to catch pneumonia. Tommas would kick my ass all the way back down to the other side of Chicago if he thought I let you get sick.”
Abriella took the coat and practically hid under the weight of it. The thick tweed did help to warm her up. “Thank you.”
“How in the hell am I supposed to get you home without your brother knowing?”
“I was staying with Alessa and Adriano for the night.”
“That makes things easier,” Damian said.
“Okay.”
“Tell me everything that happened.”
“About the bomb?”
“Yes.” Damian’s gaze narrowed as he pulled the car out onto the road. “And things that may have been happening lately at home with your brother. Has he been difficult, or different in any way? Things like that.”
“Yes, more so than usual. And yes, but sometimes he does that.”
“How so?”
“He’s spent a lot of time in his office. He makes a lot of private phone calls. He’s moodier than normal, and quick to lash out at me or my parents if they get in his way. Even the cook has asked for some time off because Joel is unbearable.”
“Have you overheard anything that might suggest Joel had been planning something like this on Tommas?”
“Other than Joel’s normal nonsense, no.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that ever since Riley died, and even before, Joel hasn’t trusted Tommas. He hasn’t trusted him since the night that Adriano was caught in Tommas’ club, and the Artino guy was killed in the fight that broke out.”
“So?”
“When Joel doesn’t trust or like someone, he gets increasingly paranoid about them and what they’re doing. Eventually, he goes after them. Like our grandfather, for example.”
Damian’s jaw clenched. “I can assure you that your brother did not kill your grandfather, Abriella. I hate Joel, make no mistake about that, but he was not the person who went after Terrance.”
“Then who did?”
“Me.”
Abriella’s gaze cut to the man and she froze in her seat. “What did you just say?”
Damian cleared his throat and repeated louder, “Me.”
“You—”
“I had to protect myself and my wife. I made a bad decision and your grandfather suffered from it. I regret it, but there is nothing I can do about it except to protect the people that my wife and I care about now. That is it, Abriella. I’m sorry, but you asked. I’m so tired of keeping secrets for other people and for myself. So yes, I did it. And trust me when I say that your anger is nothing compared to my guilt.”
Abriella felt the tears well and slip from the corners of her eyes. She didn’t know what to say, but her heart clenched in her chest, taking away her air and making her feel like she was burying her grandfather all over again.
“I know you two were close,” Damian said. “I know Terrance cared for you a great deal.”
“I loved him. He was a good man in his heart.”
“I know. Tommas doesn’t let me forget it.”
Oh.
Abriella’s bottom lip quivered. “Tommy knew?”
“I had to talk to someone. I needed to make sense of what happened and what I did. Tommas is one of the only people I trust. So yeah, I went to him.”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“Tommas wouldn’t hurt you if he had a choice about it, Ella.”
She wanted to be angry that her lover had hidden something as important as the killer behind her grandfather’s murder, but she couldn’t be mad at Tommas. Nothing Damian had said was a lie.
Abriella wiped the mess of tears from her face. “So you went into his home and …”
“Yes.”
Anger swept her under the current, but she kept control.
Somehow.
“Why?”
“I trusted the wrong person,” Damian admitted quietly. “I did it because I didn’t have a choice in the end. It had already gone too far.”
“He must have seen you coming or known it was you.”
Damian nodded. “He did.”
“What did he say?”
“He forgave me.”
Abriella wasn’t surprised to hear those words. Terrance Trentini was not a perfect man, but he was a forgiving one.
“I can’t say the same,” Abriella said through her haze of anger and pain.
“I don’t expect you to. I am sorry.”
She did believe that.
Damian’s phone rang in his lap. He picked it up and checked the screen before answering the call. “Damian Rossi speaking.”
Abriella watched a rush of relief wash over Damian’s features.
“Thank you,” Damian said after a moment. “I will be right there.”
Once the call was ended and the phone had been forgotten in his lap, Damian shot Abriella a small smile.
“Who was that?”
“Presbyterian ER. I am Tommas’ emergency contact on his medical file and there was a secondary card in his wallet with my name on it. They just brought him in.”
Abriella’s air rushed from her lungs in a whoosh. “Yeah?”
“He’s stable. You can’t risk going, though. Not tonight. If your brother did this, and we both know he did, Joel will be watching, Ella. You need to stay safe. That’s what Tommas would want.”
“I will.”
“Good. I’ll get you back to your sister’s place before I head over to the hospital.”
“Tell Tommy something for me, please?”
Damian shot her a look. “What is that?”
Three words stuck like glue to her tongue: I love you.
It should have been simple.
Obvious, even.
Easy.
It was true. She did love Tommas.
Why couldn’t she say it?
“Tell him that I’m sorry,” Abriella mumbled.
Fumbling with keys, Abriella managed to stick the right one in the lock and open the door to her sister’s apartment. She wasn’t concerned about someone seeing her arrive back to the building.
Adriano was always particular about enforcers watching his place when he was home, and he didn’t like it. Alessa wasn’t one to be followed now that she was a married woman. Her husband only asked for her to have guards if there was significant danger. It was one of the reasons why Abriella hadn’t been worried about going out to see Tommas.
She wasn’t quiet when she got inside the apartment. Her heels smacked the wall loudly when she kicked them off. She dropped the keys and her clutch on the floor with a thump before her back hit the closet wall.
Abriella’s face met her palms, and she cried.
Hard.
Loud.
Unrelenting.
Her tears flowed freely, and her pain came out in catching sobs and gasps of breath. She despised weak women who cried at every little thing. She never wanted to be one of those women, but life wasn’t giving her much of a choice lately.
Before she knew what happened, Abriella’s backside met the floor and her tears just kept on com
ing. One by one, the lights in the apartment started to turn on. She didn’t bother to try and hide her presence or fix the mess that her face was.
“Ella?”
Alessa’s soft voice traveled down the hallway. Abriella waved a hand blindly, hoping her sister would take it as a hint and leave her alone.
She didn’t.
Alessa padded down the hallway quickly and dropped down to her sister’s level. Abriella found her hands pulled away from her face, and then she was buried in a tight, familiar embrace. Alessa’s rounded stomach kept her from pulling Abriella in too close, but it was still good.
Safe.
Home.
Good.
“What in the hell is going on?” came a grumbling voice.
“Shut up, Adriano,” Alessa said.
Abriella sniffed away her tears. “I’m okay.”
Alessa forced Abriella to look up at her. “You sure?”
No.
“Did something happen?” Adriano asked.
Abriella hadn’t actually told her sister or her new brother-in-law where she was going earlier. She suspected that they knew, but they hadn’t asked. She didn’t want to out the fact that she had been with Tommas, or what happened.
The less people knew, the better.
Tomorrow, word would pass.
They could make their own conclusions.
“Nothing,” Abriella said, pushing her sister back and standing. “It’s nothing.”
Alessa’s brow furrowed. “Ella, you can talk to me.”
No, she couldn’t.
She wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone and feel safe about it until this whole mess was over. It only took one wrong word to ruin everything. She was beginning to learn that lesson the hard way. Inadvertently, her own family could cause more harm than good.
It was better not to know.
It was better to pretend like you didn’t know.
“Something happened,” Adriano said, frowning. “What was it?”
Abriella shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Alessa glanced back at her husband. “Don’t push, please.”
“I just want to go to bed.”
Lies.
She wanted to go to the hospital.
She wanted Tommas.
She wanted to kill Joel.
Alessa reached up and wiped at a spot on Abriella’s cheek. “You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to.”