“I’ll deal with her. I just need you to think back to every person you have ever encountered and make a list for me of anyone you think might have any reason to go after you like this.”
“She’s had several developers offer her outrageous amounts of money for the property. Do you think it’s possible they could be the culprit?”
“I looked into the one guy, but his record is clean. At this point anything is possible, though. That land is highly desirable. It’s at the perfect location from town without being on top of the summer crowds. It has great views from above and more than enough space to build a hotel, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least that someone could be trying to scare you into selling.”
“And because she put in an application to get the building declared a historic landmark, that information given to the right person, could put a more urgent attempt to the forefront.”
“Absolutely. Do you have the names of the other developers?”
“I’ve kept all the business cards. I don’t know why, but I did.”
“Great. I’ll stop by and pick them up if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. I just want to get to the bottom of this, so I can go about my life.”
“Understood, and I promise you, I’m doing everything in my power to make that possible. We’ll nail this person, Krissy. You have my word.” Reid stood and held his hand out. Krissy accepted and shook on it.
“Thank you, Reid. I know I can count on you.”
Tony admired her sheer determination to get back to normal, and he hoped the asshole who was terrorizing her would be caught before he went too far.
Tony stood, and he motioned for Krissy to go first.
“Hey Tony, can we talk for a second?” Reid asked.
Sure.” He held his finger up to Krissy, and with a nod, she stepped outside. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted you to know that your father is up for early release. He’s hoping you or one of your siblings will testify in his honor.”
Tony hadn’t given much thought to his dad since he was hauled away in handcuffs when Tony was sixteen. He didn’t need the man. His grandfather and older brothers had filled the shoes for so many years before he was finally locked up.
Honestly, Tony didn’t care if he ever saw him again. Though Ella continued to visit him once a month and would harass everyone else to make the effort. But why should Tony put any effort into that man when he couldn’t even keep himself clean and be the dad they needed him to be?
“I won’t do it.”
“I figured as much.”
“Does Marco know?” Marco held a deep-rooted rage toward their father. Even mentioning the man in Marco’s presence would set him on edge.
“I just found out from my connection at the jail he’s at. I wanted to give you a heads up. I’ll talk to Marco later. We have plans to grab a drink after work.”
“I appreciate the warning.” Now he knew if anything came in the mail from the penitentiary, he could just toss it. He had no desire to hear whatever it was that man would say in order to get his ass out of jail.
He shook Reid’s hand and found Krissy sitting on a bench. He forced a smile on his face as he approached her. “Ready?”
“I am.” She pushed up, and he followed her out. When they were safely in the car, she turned to him. “What was that about? I mean you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” She fluttered her hand in the air, waving it down like she could erase her words. “You know what? Forget I asked.”
He took her hand, needing to feel the softness, to feel her strength and ground him because despite what he said to Reid his brain was rapid firing scenario after scenario and none of them were good.
He inhaled deeply and slumped back into the seat. With a tilt of his head, he brought his eyes to meet hers. “Apparently my dad is up for parole, and he’s going to try and petition me and my siblings to speak on his behalf.”
“Oh.” It was barely a word, but it said more than was needed.
“Yeah.”
This time she took his hand and squeezed, running her thumb across his knuckles. “How are you feeling about this?”
“That’s the thing… I have a million thoughts in my head, but I feel nothing. Ever since that man was arrested and hauled away, I have felt nothing for him. He simply has ceased to exist since that day.”
“He’s still your father.”
“He’s also the man who sold drugs out of the house while Ella and I were living there. The man who went on bingers when his kids were grieving the loss of their mother. I don’t ever remember a time when he was actually there for me. Grandpa, Grandma, Ella, Enzo, Marco, they were there. They were always there. No matter how bad they were hurting, they were there. They didn’t abandon me like he did.”
“You won’t speak for him then?”
“As far as I’m concerned, my family and society is better off if he stays behind bars. He’s a manipulator, and I doubt jail has changed that.”
“You know Ella will.” Of course he knew that. Ella was the only one who continued to visit the man, maintaining a relationship and hoping one day they’d be a big, happy family. They’d be a big family, but with that man in their lives, happiness was impossible.
“I know.”
“If you want, we can go get something to eat or go for a drive.”
God, she was sweet, but he needed to be alone. His fingers itched to pick up a paintbrush. “I think I just want to paint. If that’s okay.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “Then you will paint.”
He dropped Krissy off and headed home. He bypassed the house and went straight for the backyard, going right to his studio.
Though he felt nothing, his mind was a jumbled, unsettled mess, and he needed to throw those thoughts onto canvas before they ate at him.
Hurrying to the back, he grabbed a canvas and lay it on the floor. He wasn’t in the mood to attempt portraits. He was in the mood to let his passion flow from his mind, into his hands and onto the canvas. He retrieved paint and brushes, then stood over the canvas, admiring the blank surface and zoning into the white space.
He dipped a brush in red, allowing the paint to glop on the end. With a flick of his wrist, paint splattered across the surface. Anger grew inside of him, a ball of red expanding and consuming him. He let the emotions flow with each flick of his wrist.
He snatched a different brush, swiping it through black and swirling his hand above the canvas. Black droplets hit the canvas and exploded into tiny speckles around the dark holes. Anger mixed with darkness as he continued to attack the canvas with unrelenting flicks, strokes and swirls until the canvas was a representation of his current state of mind.
His hands shook with the fury growing inside him and spreading out from head to toe. He retrieved the red paint, throwing more at the canvas, overpowering the darkness. A hot, furious tear leaked from his eye and mixed with the splatters of red.
Every emotion that seeped into him now that his mind was open, he threw at the canvas. Krissy popped into his head, and he grabbed the yellow, adding sunshine and light. A smile quirked at the corner of his lip as her face stayed in his mind, forcing out the rage that licked fire at the edges.
Her face, full of beautiful lines and symmetry. He searched his brushes, finding the one he needed. Dipping the brush in paint, he bent over the canvas and let his hand move, using the image in his mind to guide him.
Passion, the same passion that had been missing, surged hotly through his veins, burning down the walls that had blocked him for so long. His mind, a frantic vessel of creativity, took over and he let himself get consumed by the need to create. The need to express his innermost thoughts. The need to get lost in the process as the artist inside of him finally returned.
Chapter 15
It had been a week since Tony had told Krissy he loved her. A week since she allowed her brain to turn off and for once listen to her heart. It had been a week since she had heard fr
om him. He hadn’t even returned her call, and there was no way in hell she was going to show any desperation and call him again. She’d rather eat a bar of soap.
Who tells someone they love them then completely disappears? She thought about calling him, but if he wanted to talk to her, he would have called. She thought for sure, he’d be interested in an update as to what was happening with Reid’s investigation. Maybe he was getting updates directly from Reid himself. Or maybe he only said all those things so she would sleep with him again.
No, that didn’t seem right. That wasn’t Tony. Not even his dominant side would play her in that sort of way. So what the hell? Where was he?
She growled and stuffed another bar of soap into a mailer. Tony had promised to help her, she’d won a bet fair and square, but when someone goes MIA, it’s kind of hard to get them to follow through with their end of the bargain.
And here she thought for a measly minute that she might love the jerk after he had forced her to lower her walls and follow her heart. So much for that. He did exactly what she’d been afraid he would do.
Her brain kicked back and laughed at the stupidity of it all, for ignoring all the red flags it had thrown up for her. She silently cursed the taunting organ, wishing there was a way she could actually turn it off for a moment, so she could forget about Tony.
She checked her phone for missed calls, and her heart skipped a beat when she noticed a notification for a new text message. She quickly opened it only for her heart to deflate.
It was only Victor.
Victor: Drove by Scoops today. The new paint job looks great, cuz.
She sent him a quick reply with a thank you and put her phone down. Maybe it was like that saying, a watched pot never boiled, a watched cell phone never rang.
Ignoring her phone, she printed a shipping label and placed it on the purple mailer she had custom ordered, and added the order to the growing stack. Twenty down and only forty more to go.
She groaned and continued stuffing, labeling, and sealing. She fell into an easy rhythm when her cell rang. Her heart jumped in her chest, and she grabbed for the device, only to sigh when Tony’s name wasn’t flashing on the screen.
“Hi El,” she said.
“Wow, someone doesn’t sound happy to hear from me.”
“No, it’s not that. Sorry. I’m filling soap orders and you know the process is long and tedious.”
“You should have told me, and I would have helped before I left.”
She would have if her stupid brother hadn’t promised to help. “It’s fine. What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing much. Lucas is at a meeting, and I had time to kill, so thought I’d call for a chat.”
“Bored out of your mind, huh?”
“Oh my god, yes. Most of the time I’m fine, but then there are some days, usually after just coming back, that I miss you and Cami, and Grandpa and Tony and Enzo.”
Her heart clenched at Tony’s name.
“It’s just so quiet here.”
“You should have Enzo record him and your grandfather one day at the restaurant and send it to you.”
“You know what. That’s actually not a bad idea.” Ella laughed. “Wow. I’m really pathetic. I just miss the noise, the bickering and the laughing.”
“We miss you too when you’re gone.”
“You better.”
“Especially when I have to fill all these orders.” Krissy let humor fill her tone.
“Hey! I would have helped.”
“I know. I’m kidding.”
Maybe Ella would know where Tony was. But how was she supposed to ask her without being too suspicious?
“Any leads on the jackass tormenting you?” Ella asked.
“Unfortunately no, and there’s been no incidents since.” She had been happy about it, but a part of her wondered if something were to happen, would Tony pop back up in her life, offering her comfort like he had every time before. She hated how desperate that made her feel.
“I’m getting ready to open. Tony did a great job on the painting, and the building looks better than it has in a long time. Almost like new.”
“He loves doing stuff like that, and I’m happy he could help. I never asked, but I hope he didn’t charge you too much.”
“We bartered, and I need to get in touch with him, but he hasn’t answered his phone.”
“That’s because he’s holed up in his studio. Grandpa has called me every day to report he still hasn’t come out. I think he’s pissed he lost his Jeopardy viewing buddy. Now no one is there to praise him when he gets an answer right.” Ella laughed.
“He had told me he was blocked.”
“This is what he does. He gets blocked then all of a sudden, he gets hit with inspiration and disappears for days to weeks on end, locked up in that studio, working from day to night. It’s a crazy process, but in the end, he usually comes out with something beautiful to show. Except that one time when he was depressed because he couldn’t get unblocked and thought locking himself in there would help. It didn’t.”
“Has anyone checked on him to make sure it’s a blast of brilliance and not a depressive funk?” She thought about the day at the police station. How he had said he felt nothing. Maybe he wasn’t ignoring her. Maybe he was just working through his emotions.
“Grandpa slides a Pop-Tart under the door every morning and says he sees delivery people going back there every night, so he’s eating. That’s a good sign. It drives Grandpa and my brothers crazy, though. I think they just hate not knowing what’s going on. I tried to tell them everything doesn’t need to involve them, but you know how they are. If their nose can be in it, it’s smack dead in the middle.”
“Yeah.” Funny. Tony wasn’t really like that. Then again, he’d always marched to the beat of his own drum. Though he did have a combination of all the characteristics from his siblings. He had Ella’s heart, Enzo’s protective nature, and Marco’s passionate side.
“Anyway, I’m sure he’ll come out when he’s done. He always does. What did you need from him?”
“Oh, it’s nothing that can’t wait.” She wasn’t about to tell Ella that her baby brother confessed his love to her and that she, in fact, loved him too. Maybe one day, but not today.
She hadn’t known if Ella knew about her dad’s parole hearing, but Krissy needed to know.
“You don’t think it has to do with your dad, do you?”
The line went quiet for several seconds, and Krissy mentally slapped herself. Though the silence confirmed Ella was aware of the hearing.
“He told you?”
“I was with him, giving Reid a report, and Reid had pulled him aside. He told me by default since I was the only one there.”
“I doubt it was by default, Kris. Tony has always been able to tell you things he couldn’t talk to anyone else about.”
She thought back to that day in the closet after his mom died. He had hid from his family, but he had let her in so easily. Maybe she should have pushed him a little harder, forced him to spend the day with her. Maybe he needed someone, and she let him go.
“How are you?” Krissy asked, putting Tony aside for now so she could be there for her best friend.
“I’m not sure, honestly. You know since my father got locked up, I dreamed about the day he got out.”
“And now?”
“I’m afraid it was a fantasy. That I created this life in my mind that helped me cope with the reality. My father says he has changed, but has he? And even if he has, could I really go on with life and act like he didn’t destroy our family. Because he did.” Ella sniffled, and Krissy wished she could reach through the phone and hug her. “We were already broken and instead of trying to mend us, he broke us more.”
Krissy sat back on her couch, surprised at this revelation. Ella had always maintained the fantasy, but maybe now that she was truly happy in life, she didn’t need to hide behind the make believe.
“Tony said he wouldn’t speak for hi
m. What about you?”
Ella sighed on the other end, and Krissy never hated her friend being in California more than this moment. “I’ve given it a lot of thought. Probably too much.” She laughed, but it sounded cold. “I don’t think I will, and because of that, I don’t know how I can continue to visit him. I know he’ll resent me.”
“Maybe just this once you should lie to him. Tell him you were in California and couldn’t make the hearing. He doesn’t need to know the truth.”
“Lying and deceit is what got him where he is. How can I use those tactics when I’m so strongly against them for what they did to my family?”
“I wish I had the answers for you.”
“Me too.” Ella inhaled loudly and let it out even louder. “But enough about that. What new flavors are you working on?”
Krissy spoke with Ella for another twenty minutes before Ella’s phone started to die, and she reluctantly said goodbye while Krissy tried not to laugh at her. Ella loved her family, but she always said she couldn’t wait to get some peace and quiet, and now that she had it, she didn’t want it. Krissy was the opposite. She was so used to peace and quiet, and she yearned for the moments when her friends were over and filled the house with laughter and noise.
The current silence made her miss Tony, crave his touch, ache to hear his voice. This was ridiculous. She finished the last of her orders and headed out.
A paranoid mess from her experience at Scoops, she spent the entire walk, glancing over her shoulder, and being hyper aware of her surroundings. It helped distract her from overthinking and turning around, though.
The sun was still up, but dinner time was near which meant Vinny was probably down at the restaurant. Krissy slipped into the backyard and went right to the structure that housed Tony’s studio.
With a deep breath, she knocked on the door and waited. And waited. And waited. She turned the knob, but it was locked. Of course it was locked. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s not like people didn’t lock their doors in Willow Cove. She paced from one side of the structure to the other. She was about to give up when she knocked once more with every ounce of strength she had.
Childhood Dream Page 14