BAD ROMANCE_The Leader

by Shanna Bell

  Good. I hope they lock him up. Jazzy nodded while taking a sip from her coffee.

  “He’s become more… unstable lately.”

  “So, now what?” Please let me help you. What every woman needed was a man that lifted her up instead of tearing her down. She wished she could make Carmen see that.

  “I’m… I’m going to leave him, Jaz.”

  “You are? I mean, finally.”

  “I—I’m pregnant,” Carmen said, with a catch in her voice.

  Oh, crap. “That’s um...” Jazzy had no idea what that was. “Is that good or bad?” Either way, she would support her sister, but she obviously wasn’t going to congratulate her if she decided to not keep the baby.

  Carmen smiled. “It’s good, Jazzy. It is really, really good.”

  She gave her sister another hug. “Then I’m really, really happy for you. I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt!”

  Carmen’s smile widened. “And I can’t believe I’m going to be a mom.” She gave a deep sigh. “I guess all of this, everything, is going to be worth it after all.”

  Jazzy hated herself for not noticing earlier how miserable her sister was. “Why haven’t you ever told me? I could have helped. Nonno would have never let Franco—”

  “I couldn’t tell Grandfather. You know how he thinks of marriage. He’d say that it’s my duty to stand by my husband, no matter what. And you, you would have tried to help, going in guns blazing. Franco...” Her breath hitched for a moment. “He would have hurt you. He threatened to kill you if I ever left. To him, his wife leaving him, it would be the ultimate humiliation. But the baby changes everything. I can’t have him raise my son in his image or hurt my little girl.” A sob escaped her throat. “I can’t have my daughter growing up with a coward for a mother, not able to protect her from her own father.”

  “You are not a coward,” Jazzy said vehemently, holding her sister tight. “He’s the coward, for raising a hand at you. For thinking that just because he’s stronger, it’s okay to hurt you.” She grabbed her bag from the counter. “Let’s go.”

  Carmen shook her head. “I’m not leaving everything behind for him to destroy when he discovers I’ve left him. Some of Mom’s old stuff is stored up in the attic. Franco won’t return from his trip until tomorrow morning. I still have time.”

  She looked around, a bit flustered, and Jazzy could only imagine what her sister was going through. “I will arrange a moving truck,” she promised.

  “I… I don’t know where to go from here, Jaz.”

  Oh shit. “Are you having second thoughts?” As much as she wanted to drag her sister away from this place, she knew it had to be her own choice.

  “No.” There was a determined look on Carmen’s face as she placed a hand on her abdomen. “I’m not sure where to go, but I’m not staying. Maybe it sounds silly, since I only found out I’m pregnant today, but I already love this baby. I will do everything I can to protect him or her.”

  “We’ll figure this out, okay? You’ll be coming with me. We’ll see from there, one day at a time.”

  “Are you sure your husband’s going to be okay with that? He might not want—”

  “Don’t worry about that. Gio and I are good. He won’t mind.” That is, she hoped he wouldn’t. And if he would expect her to turn her back on her sister, well, tough.

  They made a deal to meet in a few hours and Carmen went upstairs to start packing.

  Jazzy sent Gio a message that she couldn’t make it for dinner since she had to pick up her sister. He responded instantly by telling her that he didn’t like her going to Caruso’s house. She ignored his heated message.

  She then sent Tommie a message and went by his place, happy to spot his old van parked across his apartment.

  He opened the door, dressed in purple shorts and black tank top, keys jingling in his hand.

  “Thank you so much.” She reached for the keys, but he shook his head.

  “I’ll take you.”

  “You don’t need to do that on your day off. Really. I’ll just—”

  “Not letting you and your sis go through this alone, Jaz. She’ll need someone to talk to afterwards. Someone who can relate.”

  “Fine. Might need some muscle power to carry some of her stuff anyway.”

  He groaned. “Me and my big mouth.”

  With the late afternoon traffic, it took them almost an hour to drive over to Carmen’s.

  “Sweet,” Tommie said, as he parked in Carmen’s front lawn. He took in the grand yard and white marble columns sporting the place.

  “Don’t let the exterior fool you,” she warned him. “Trust me when I say, you’d be better off living in the Pussy Wagon.”

  He snorted, but trailed after her; though, looking less impressed now.

  They found the front door unlocked. When Jazzy gave it a gentle push, it opened wide. It immediately put her on edge.

  “Guess she wants to leave as soon as possible, huh?” Tommie said.

  “I hope that’s it.”

  The entry hall and living room were abandoned. No Carmen to be seen.

  “Would you mind looking into the attic? She said there was some stuff from Mom in there she wants to take with her.”

  Jazzy looked for Carmen in the parlor and dining room first, but they were empty. Then she heard voices come from the kitchen.

  She rounded the corner and acid filled her mouth. Franco stood over her sister, who lay in a pile of blood on the kitchen floor.

  “There’s no more loyalty left in this world. You think you can just leave me? I’ve bought you, slut. Paid good money for your virgin body. You can’t leave me. You will never leave me!”

  Franco poured himself a drink as he kept his monologue going. There was a gun next to his hand on the counter.

  Jazzy realized she had to tread really careful here.

  “I take an earlier flight and what greets me in my own fucking home? My slut of a wife, packing her bags.”

  Carmen’s eyes were closed and Jazzy didn’t believe her sister was even conscious.

  Franco kept on mumbling as he took another glass. “The cold, barren slut actually believed she could leave me.”

  Not barren. The baby. Oh, God, the baby!

  Jazzy almost blurted out her sister’s condition, but decided against it. She was unsure what Franco would do if he found out that Carmen was pregnant. Maybe he would completely freak out and start shooting.

  She jumped when he threw the whiskey glass against the wall, and it shattered into a thousand pieces.

  She must have made a sound, because suddenly, Franco looked up. His eyes turned into slits when he saw her.

  “Franco, please. Carmen’s bleeding. Let me call an ambulance.”

  He huffed. “Why? I didn’t shoot her. I just broke her leg, so she can’t fucking walk away.”

  “There’s a lot of blood, please.”

  His brow furrowed. “Don’t know why she’s bleeding like that. She never did before.”

  Jazzy felt like throwing up. She reminded herself that she needed to keep her cool, though everything inside her screamed to take his gun and kill the bastard.

  “Please, let me help her,” she tried once again, looking around for a weapon. There was a kettle on the counter next to him. Some knives on the wall next to the fridge.

  “Maybe you can satisfy me. Your sister sure couldn’t. Damn cold fish. What d’you say, Jocelyn?” He hiccupped, his eyes roaming over her body. “Wanna fuck? I can see it, you know. See it in your eyes that you want me. There’s a fire inside you. Passion.”

  His crazy rant triggered a deep, hidden memory.

  You want this, don’t you? You want me to fuck you.

  She felt nauseated. Her hands turned into fists, and it was only by sheer will that she didn’t launch herself at him.

  Then she spotted a movement behind Franco. Behind the kitchen door leading into the garden, stood Tommie. His face pale against his blue Mohawk.

  She
looked away from him, not wanting to alert Franco. “What’s with the gun on the counter, Franco?” she asked loudly.

  Franco grabbed the weapon and chuckled. The bastard actually chuckled. “It’s my father’s. The once mighty Caruso don. Couldn’t leave it behind. Might need it where I’m going.”

  The only place you’re going to is Hell.

  “I’m going to check on my sister now.” She couldn’t just stand in the doorway anymore. Slowly, watching Franco from the corner of her eyes, she kneeled next to Carmen and pressed her fingers against her neck. Relief poured over her when she felt a pulse.

  “She will be fine,” he said. “Get her up. We’ll be leaving in an hour.”

  The man was deluded. “Hang on, sis. I’m getting you out of here.”

  Apparently, her words were like holding a red flag in front of a bull, because Franco suddenly made his move. He grabbed her by the hair, lifting her up, waving his gun in her face.

  “You’re not taking her anywhere,” he snarled. “She’s mine. She will always be mine.”

  His eyes were those of a crazy man’s.

  “Fuck you. She isn’t a piece of property you can just kick around. She’s a human being, you asshole.” And then, because she could, she spat in his face.

  His fist connecting with her stomach made her double over. She dropped to her knees, trying to catch her breath. Her gaze landed on her sister, who—thank God—had opened her eyes.

  When Jazzy looked back up, this time, Franco’s gun was pointing at her.

  What they said about your life flashing before your eyes like a movie, turned out to be a lie. There was only one image she saw: Gio. Their passionate nights together, the lazy Sunday mornings. He was going to be so pissed when he found out that she’d gotten herself killed by being reckless.

  Before she could make a sound, or plead for her life, Tommie made his move. He barreled against Franco, taking him to the ground.

  As the men struggled on the floor, both reaching for the gun, Jazzy crawled back on her feet, ignoring the pain in her stomach. She stilled when a shot went off.

  Fear took her over when Franco got up, leaving a bleeding Tommie on the floor, a gunshot in his shoulder.

  With a battle cry she didn’t know she even possessed, she launched herself against Franco, kicking and hitting him wherever she could. In the back of her mind, she heard the gun drop onto the floor, but she couldn’t take the time to look for it.

  Franco stumbled backwards when she planted her knee in his stomach. His head hit the wall, making pots and pans drop onto the floor. It wasn’t enough to take him down, though. He kept storming toward her.

  Right before he could reach her again, he jerked to a halt, his eyes widening with shock.

  Jazzy wasn’t sure what made him stop, until he dropped to his knees, revealing her sister standing behind him.

  Franco did a face plant and that was when Jazzy saw the butcher knife that stuck out of his back. Carmen was the next one to drop to her knees, holding a hand over her stomach.

  She heard the sound of heavy boots running toward them.

  “What the fuck!” Hector’s colorful rant of curses had never been more welcome.

  She scooted over to Tommie, who was lying on his back, and grabbed his hand. “Hey, there, warrior smurf. Please hold on, okay?”

  Hector grabbed some towels and pressed them onto Tommie’s wound. “Keep this here. I’m going to check on the cabrón.”

  Tommie grunted. “Scars are sexy, right?”

  Jazzy used both her hands to apply pressure to Tommie’s shoulder. She watched her sister, who was still on her knees, staring at Franco’s lifeless body.

  “Carmen?”

  No reaction.

  “Carmen!”

  Still no reaction.

  Tommie tried to get up and look, but Jazzy held him down. “Don’t you move. We’re going to sit here and wait for the ambulance.”

  However, it wasn’t just an ambulance that showed up. Gio accompanied them.

  She got up and moved aside to make room for the EMT’s.

  Gio didn’t say a word. His face was an unreadable mask, unlike his fists and locked jaw that told a story on their own.

  Jazzy knew she was in trouble. She also knew that now that he was here, everything was going to be okay. It was silly, really, but it felt as if his presence alone was a guarantee that no one was going to die.

  No longer able to stand the distance between them, she launched herself into his arms. It was as if a dam burst. When he held her tight, she couldn’t keep in her tears anymore.

  CHAPTER 20

  GIO

  His wife was trembling in his arms. If it weren’t for the all-consuming rage inside him, he might have trembled too. Out of fear. Sheer fucking fear that something had happened to her. When he got the message from Hector, he’d been on the way over to Caruso’s house. He hadn’t liked her being there, and apparently his instincts about this place had been right.

  Speaking of Caruso, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, his head to the side, panting. The fucker was still alive.

  When the paramedics he’d brought with him went for Caruso, Gio stepped in. “Not him.” He had other plans for the bastard.

  The paramedics took a few quick vitals before placing Tommie on a stretcher. Carmen was the next one they wheeled away.

  Caruso managed to put a hand underneath him and push himself up.

  Hector kicked Caruso in the head, effectively putting him down again. Then he dragged him away.

  Jazzy lifted her head from his shirt. She wiped away her tears and blinked when she saw the kitchen was all but empty, except for them.

  “Wait. What hospital did they take them to? We have to follow—”

  Gio cupped her cheek. Her beautiful hazel eyes looked at him pleadingly. He wished he could have spared her this. The distraught look in her gaze pulled at something inside him he thought was long dead.

  “Do you trust me to take care of this?”

  Silence for a beat. “I do.”

  She sounded surprised, which pissed him off. But that was a conversation for another time. Right now, he had to take care of this mess of a situation.

  “Good. They will receive the medical care they need. Tell me what happened.”

  When she finished, he could see the defiance in her eyes. “It was self-defense. Carmen didn’t mean to do it. I’m not going to let her go to jail. It was self-defense.”

  “She’s not going to jail,” he agreed. Jazzy sagged against him, the tension leaving her body. He was surprised she’d thought he would let that happen. She belonged to him now, with a murderous sister and all.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Jazzy mumbled, as if trying to convince herself. “We’re all going to be okay.”

  “I would never let anything happen to you, you know that, right? A threat against my wife, is a threat against me.”

  And there it was. A flicker in her gaze, before she looked down, hiding the story in her eyes.

  “Spill.”

  “What?” She looked confused.

  “Anything you need to share with me? Any deep, hidden secrets? Skeletons in the closet?”

  Her eyes flamed up. Damn, he wanted to put her over his lap when that happened. He needed to be in control, though. There were boundaries he would discuss, and she would accept. If she didn’t, there would be consequences. She needed to understand that.

  “If I told you what they were, they wouldn’t be deep and hidden anymore, now would they?”

  He was on her in a heartbeat. She gasped when he pushed her up against the wall, his knee between her legs, up to her core. Her pupils dilated, and he had to rein in the urge to strip her right here, right now.

  “No more secrets. I can’t protect you if I don’t know whatever it is you’re hiding from.” There it was, the faceless expression she donned when he said she was running from something. “Or whomever,” he added.

  “Please.” A soft whispe
r.

  He pulled her back against him. This wasn’t over yet. Whatever it was she was afraid of, he would get to the bottom of it. Later. When she wasn’t shaking against him.

  She cleared her throat. “Franco. Is he—”

  “He was still breathing when Hector moved him.”

  A sigh of relief. “Good. The bastard deserves to suffer before he dies in prison. I suppose I’ll have to give a statement to the police.”

  “No, you don’t. We didn’t exactly call an ambulance for him, Jaz. The medical personal you just saw don’t work at a regular hospital, and they didn’t come here in a regular ambulance. There won’t be any police involved.”

  “But—”

  “Franco’s been taken care of. We won’t speak of this anymore.” Like he would ever let a bastard that had taken a shot at her live. The mere thought was ludicrous.

  “Wait a minute. What about Tommie? He’s been shot. Gunshot wounds are always reported to the police.”

  “Tommie’s been taken to a private clinic, just like your sister. There will be no report of a gunshot wound.”

  “I want to see them.”

  “You will.”

  His chauffeur didn’t need any directions to the clinic. It wasn’t the first time they visited the place.

  When they walked into the lobby and asked for Tom Green, a nurse informed them that he was in surgery. Gio had to rethink his initial assessment of the kid, which was one of annoyance. He hadn’t liked the time the man, or any other man, spent with his wife. He wasn’t prepared yet to acknowledge why that was exactly, though he had to admit it seemed fueled by jealousy. A new feeling to him, though not entirely unfamiliar. His father had never tolerated another man around his wife either. Maybe it was just in his genes. However, Tommie Green had taken a bullet for his wife, which meant Gio owed him now.

  The nurse took them to Carmen’s room. Her small frame seemed even smaller in the big room, almost disappearing in the bed. Her eyes were closed and according to the nurse, she was sedated. Apparently, she’d broken down after she had learned that she lost the baby.