by Bethany-Kris
“Ella—”
“You can’t understand what that did to me. Please don’t justify his choices. He made them.”
“I did, too. I could have told you.”
Abriella sucked in a hard breath. “You’re right. You should have.”
“Tommas loves you, Ella. He did it for you. He was trying to force Joel’s hand and Riley’s at the same time and it just ended really badly.”
“Terribly,” Abriella murmured. “It ended terribly. Theo—”
“Will be fine.”
“Still, I’m sorry for what Tommas did to Theo, even if he did try to correct it,” Abriella said.
“It wasn’t just Tommas. Both Riley and Joel had their hand in things and stirred the pot. It happened. Right now, I just want to focus on Theo and getting him out of here.”
Abriella frowned. “Alessa has been keeping me updated.”
To Evelina, that translated to no changes.
“You know, I was kind of shocked to find out you and Theo …” Abriella trailed off with a leer.
Evelina laughed. “Stop.”
“Well!”
“You’re just deflecting from why you’re really here, Ella. What do you want?”
Abriella glanced away, her fingers tightening around her to-go cup. “I don’t know if I can trust Tommas, now.”
“And you came to me?”
“You seemed like the best choice. My sister is pregnant and I don’t want to worry her. Lily is the same way, but Damian is forcing her to keep a distance right now because of Joel. As far as you and me … We’ve been best friends since we were kids, right? People like us, we keep coming back together in the end, Eve. I need somebody right now. Please be that person for me.”
Some friendships were made of straw and mud. The smallest tap could ruin everything. Other friendships were made of steel and iron. Unbreakable even through the toughest weather.
“You wouldn’t answer my calls,” Evelina said. “I wanted to explain.”
“I needed some time. I would have been awful to you had I answered.”
Fair enough.
“I trust Tommas,” Evelina said after a moment.
“Even after what he did?”
“Yes.”
“Joel is …”
“What?”
Abriella cringed. “Going to go after him. Well, anyone he can hurt, maybe. Tommas for sure.”
“Some people would choose the lesser of two evils, Ella.”
“Which one is that?” Abriella asked. “The man who killed me without even saying a word or the one who would kill me in a heartbeat if it got him what he wanted?”
“You know, I don’t think I can tell the difference between which man that is for you. Tommas would just as soon kill both you and him if it meant he got you in the next life. He’d burn this city to the ground for you, Ella.”
“Maybe Tommas needs to learn that we don’t always get what we want.”
“You do if you want it bad enough,” Evelina said quietly.
“I have a different version, Eve.”
“Of what?”
“My two evils. One is choosing to hurt the person I care about the most to give him what he should have or letting him hurt everyone else so I can get what I should have.”
Evelina sighed. “Give Tommas a chance to get you so you both can have what you want.”
Abriella stood from the table and grabbed her coat off the back of the chair. “I might, but doing that means this whole thing keeps going.”
“The war?”
“The war,” her friend echoed. “Because my brother is ice cold and Tommas is the gasoline to my fire. It’s never going to work without something getting destroyed. Not one of us is working toward the same thing.”
“Don’t you love him, though?”
“That is a word I try not to use for Tommas.”
Evelina’s brow furrowed. “But—”
“He’s got all the control between us and that is the one thing I can keep.”
Evelina didn’t understand. She found herself saying that a lot where Abriella and Tommas were concerned. This, however, was something entirely different. Evelina had firsthand knowledge of how much power Abriella had over Tommas Rossi.
“I think you’re wrong,” Evelina said softly.
Abriella’s head snapped up to meet Evelina’s gaze. “Pardon?”
“What you said about the control. I think you’re wrong, Ella. I don’t think Tommas has any control where you’re concerned.”
“I should go.”
“Give him a chance.”
No response.
Abriella didn’t even blink.
“I hope Theo wakes up for you, Eve,” Abriella said instead.
“He will.”
Evelina stretched her legs with a walk of the third floor outside of the ICU. The unit’s nurses always got a little bitchy whenever someone was aimlessly wandering inside the ICU, so Evelina took her restlessness out of their view.
She didn’t need their glares.
She also didn’t like to leave Theo’s side if she could help it, but Lily had practically forced Evelina out of the room. The nurses had to take care of Theo’s medical needs, things that Evelina knew her lover wouldn’t want her seeing, so she had gone when Lily demanded.
Now, she was just itching to get back.
Leaning against the large wall-to-wall windows that overlooked a section of the rooftop of the floor below, Evelina watched the lights of stars twinkle up above.
She knew what was going to happen. If Theo didn’t begin to show signs of improvement, the doctors would begin pushing options on Lily. There was talk of trying to force Theo out of the coma with drugs, but it was dangerous and the side-effects could be permanently damaging.
And then there was simply doing nothing.
Theo had no form of life support keeping him alive. His heart beat on its own, even after taking a bullet to it. His lungs breathed without help.
He just had to wake up.
“Eve!”
Evelina turned on her heel at the muffled shout of her name. Lily barreled through the doors that connected a section of the hospital off from the one Evelina had been strolling through.
“It jumped,” Lily said, breathless and teary-eyed. “It spiked. He keeps spiking.”
She didn’t need Lily to confirm what she was saying, but she asked anyway. “His brain function?”
Lily nodded. “Yes.”
Theo’s brain function had been steady. According to the doctors, it reflected a person in a deep sleep with the occasional jumps and movements that came along with the state of unconsciousness. What Theo hadn’t started showing until now, was signs of his brain coming back into a more aware state.
“Yeah?” Evelina asked, pushing away from the windows.
“Yeah. He’s trying to wake up, Eve.”
Because Theo was ready, Evelina knew.
She wouldn’t tell Lily that, though.
“Come on,” Lily said, turning back toward the doors.
Evelina followed her friend without question. It took them a good five minutes to get back inside the ICU and into Theo’s room. Nurses milled around, watching monitors while another chatted on the phone and asked for someone to come downstairs. By the sounds of the conversation, the nurse was asking for the main doctor on Theo’s file.
Damian leaned against the far wall, his gaze trained on the monitor up above Theo’s bed. He didn’t act like he’d noticed Lily arrive back to the room with Evelina, but the man held his hand out to his wife. Lily took it and tucked tightly into his side.
“Keep the activity to a minimum,” a nurse barked.
“Quiet and still,” another one said.
The nurse on the phone hung up the call. “One familiar person in the room only, please. Choose who that’s going to be now before Dr. Michaud gets down here and he decides.”
Evelina looked to Lily.
“You stay,” Lily said softly.
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Evelina shook her head. Lily should be the one Theo woke up to. She was his family, his little sister. He adored Lily.
Her friend wasn’t having it.
“You, Eve.”
With that, Lily tugged a still quiet Damian out of the room. Curtains were pulled. Lights dimmed. The monitors were quieted as much as possible.
Evelina found herself beside Theo’s bed, her hand wrapping up in his. She took his palm and rested it to her cheek.
Warmth.
Softness.
Home.
The nurses checked vitals and opened Theo’s eyelids to shine lights and check reactions.
Normal, they said.
Everything was perfectly normal.
“Wake up, Theo.”
Please wake up.
Evelina’s voice was a whisper; her plea coming out so soft she was sure the man wouldn’t even hear it. She couldn’t make it come out any louder. Theo didn’t stir. But his finger …
His index finger stroked her cheek.
What control Evelina thought she had was lost in that moment. Her tears fell all over again. The cracks in her heart began to seal.
Please wake up. I need you here.
Evelina buried her face into Theo’s slack palm and waited.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Theo turned on his heel in the dark street, seeing the flashing lights down the way. Red, white, and blue.
Something made him walk forward.
Memories, maybe.
Instinct, probably.
He’d done this before. He’d walked this street before. He’d seen those lights before.
Something tugged on his hand, and he looked down to see Lily standing beside him. He didn’t have to look very far, because he wasn’t all that high off the ground. Not like he usually was.
Five-year-old Lily stared up at her brother with frightened eyes. Theo took in the changes of his sister. The last time he stared at her, she was a grown woman. Now she was practically a baby again.
He’d done this before …
“Theo?” Lily whispered.
“Something ain’t right,” came a voice from behind them.
Damian pushed past Theo, his hand tousling little Lily’s hair as he went.
“Wait up, Ghost,” Theo called.
Damian didn’t turn around.
“Is Damian gonna stay the night with you?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know what Damian is doing, little one,” Theo said.
Damian came and went a lot. Sometimes he stuck around to play, and sometimes a dark car would pick him up and go. Theo didn’t even know where his friend lived.
Still quite a few steps ahead of the brother and sister, Damian didn’t slow down when Theo called after him. He wished his friend would. The closer they came to the lights, the worse Theo felt.
The cars and the people were right in front of his house. The pretty, colorful walkway his mother had decorated was trampled and full of people. Theo stopped walking, and yanked his sister back to his side when she tried to continue on.
“Stop, Lily,” Theo ordered.
Lily’s grip on Theo tightened. “That’s the police.”
They weren’t supposed to talk to cops.
“That’s our house,” Lily said.
Theo watched Damian wander into the throng of people and disappear.
Theo pulled Lily behind a car when a man turned to look in their direction. Something was wrong.
“Where’s Mommy?” Lily asked.
“Shut up, Lily,” Theo told her.
“The wife was in the house with him,” Theo heard someone say as two figures walked past his hiding spot. “They’ve got kids, but nobody knows where the little ones are.”
“The oldest showed up five minutes ago.”
Dino?
“He’s still a kid,” the first guy said. “Almost seventeen, but he’s still a kid.”
“Theo,” Lily whispered, tugging on his shirt.
“Quiet, Lily.”
Theo poked his head up over the hood of the car and peered through the people. The crowd had started to thin but police tape was being put up.
“There you are!”
Theo turned to see an unknown man grab Lily around the waist and pull her away from her brother’s side. Lily sucked in a deep breath and screamed for all she was worth. Her little arms and legs flew and kicked against the policeman who held her tight.
“Let me go! Theo!”
Theo bolted out from the car as another person came in from behind and tried to grab him.
“Give me my sister!”
“Hey, kid, calm the fuck down. We’re just—”
Theo picked up a rock and whipped it at the man. It smacked the guy right in the forehead. Cursing loudly, the man dropped a struggling Lily to the ground. She hit the pavement with her knees and hands, crying out.
Theo grabbed Lily’s hand and forced her up from the ground. He yanked her back into the maze of cars on the street, looking for some way out.
Where had Damian gone?
Where was Dino?
His parents?
Lily kept sniffling behind Theo, but she didn’t say a word. He looked back to see his sister’s knees were bloodied and her hand was scraped up. The yellow dress she wore was ripped, too.
Stupid cops.
He hoped that rock hurt.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Theo saw a familiar form being shoved away from the cops and lights. Dino barreled right back toward the walkway again, shouting and angry.
“My parents,” Dino growled. “That’s my—”
Theo froze as his brother caught sight of him. Dino blinked like he didn’t believe what he was seeing. Theo took a couple of hesitant steps toward his brother.
Dino stumbled forward. “Theo, Lily …”
It was barely a blink and Dino was in front of Theo. His older brother dropped to his knees and hugged Theo hard enough that it hurt. Lily got caught in the embrace, but she seemed to like it more than Theo did.
“Oh, my God,” Dino said, choked and thick. “They wouldn’t tell me, Theo. They wouldn’t tell me if you … I’m sorry, Theo.”
“Where’s Dad?” Theo asked quietly.
Dino tensed all over. “We’re going to go somewhere else for a couple of nights, okay?”
“To your house?” Lily asked as her oldest brother wiped her face clean of tears and snot.
Theo didn’t understand why his older brother got to live outside of their house. Their dad said it was because Dino had his own stuff to handle.
“My apartment,” Dino said. “It’s not very big, but—”
“Where’s Dad?” Theo asked again. “Mom’s at Dickies, right?”
Their mother always went to Dickies on Fridays because she liked the music.
“Theo, later,” Dino said quietly. “Right now, I need to get you two out of here before—”
“Right over here, Mr. DeLuca,” someone said.
Dino went rigid all over. With a slowness that Theo had never seen his brother use before, Dino stood from the road with one hand on his brother and the other on his sister, and turned to face a familiar man. Their uncle Ben didn’t look anything like Dino did. Dino was sad, he looked hurt, but Ben seemed almost … happy.
Theo grabbed Dino’s hand tight.
“Ben,” Dino said quietly as their uncle was directed over by the police.
“Dino.” Ben smiled tightly. “How unfortunate that you arrived before I did.”
Dino glared. “I’m sure.”
Theo watched, confused and tired, as the police kept a wide berth around the DeLuca siblings and their uncle.
“I’ll take them with me, of course,” Ben said. “They’re just children. Better with me than the system.”
Dino grabbed Theo’s hand so hard it hurt. “Better with you? You did this, Ben!”
“Be careful, Dino, or I’ll pull the system for you, too. You’ve got another year and a couple of months before y
ou become of age.”
“But I—”
“At sixteen, you don’t honestly believe you’ll have any control over your brother and sister, do you?”
Theo didn’t understand what was happening. He didn’t know why there were cops in front of his house, or why his brother seemed so distrustful and angry with their uncle. But he’d always listened to what Dino told him.
Always.
“I want to go with Dino,” Theo said.
Ben flicked Theo with a cold look. “It isn’t your choice, my boy.”
With a snap of Ben’s fingers, Theo found himself ripped away from Dino before he could even scream. Lily was in the same predicament. A hand covered Theo’s mouth, forcing him to stay quiet. A large arm wrapped around his frame, keeping him still.
Theo still struggled with his captor, but was shoved into the backseat of a familiar Cadillac. It belonged to his aunt and uncle. Not two seconds later, a crying Lily was tossed inside on her brother, too.
The man who had grabbed Theo reached in the car, smacked Theo hard in the face with an opened palm, and then pointed at him as if to tell him to shut up. Never once had a person struck Theo. Not an adult.
Frozen, Theo looked up at the man.
“Stop your shouting and moving,” the man snapped, “or you’ll get another one of those, kid.”
“O-okay,” Theo stuttered out.
“Mind your sister, too, or she’ll be the next one to get a good smack.”
No way.
Theo’s cheek still stung and he was pretty sure his lip was fat, now. He grabbed his sister and held her close. Lily stayed quiet but for her sniffles.
The man rolled down the window a few inches, locked the doors, and closed the car up tight. Theo turned in the seat in just enough time to watch his uncle Ben and Dino move their argument past the shine of lights and watchers.
Then, Ben snapped his fingers again. Dino was taken to the ground fast. Fists flew and hit flesh. Dino couldn’t get away from the three men pummeling him on the pavement. Theo could see his brother clearly begging for the men to stop, but no one listened. Like before, the cops seemed to have turned cheek to whatever happened to the DeLuca kids once their uncle showed up on the scene.
A sick feeling made Theo want to vomit. He sucked in a hard breath and held Lily closer. A tap on his shoulder made Theo jump nearly to the roof of the car.