by Jax Hart
“What about your bride?”
“She’s dead five minutes after I saw the vows.”
“Only you could lie to God in a church and not even blink.”
I shrugged. “I’ve done worse things.”
“We all have.”
“She’ll forgive me.”
“Blue?” He snorted, “She’s gonna cut your damn balls off. But you can’t tell her. Her uncle has already stuck his nose in our business. We’ve cut off tongues and balls for less.”
“We have. But I won’t tell her because it’ll be a weekend trip. I’ll marry the girl and end her in one fell swoop. Blue will never have to know any of it.”
“You’re too hard-headed to ever take advice but I’m giving it now anyway. Let the girl go. She’s young. Too young. Still in high school and too vulnerable for us to protect while growing your mob.”
He’s right. But I needed to hold on. She’s my new anchor. The only thing keeping me from letting the darkness spread like a disease, consuming what’s left of me. I think of the Fiorelli girl. I needed to find her too. Protect her form the five families and make her understand I’ll never follow through on the order to end her. I’m the new king and what I say goes.
Blue’s mouth parted and I practically heard her gasp as her eyes met mine in the mirror when she noticed me outside the window looking in.
“Roque? You still there?” The phone was pressed to my ear, but I didn’t hear him. I was focused on the goddess crossing the floor. She pressed her hand to the glass. I raised mine to the cold pane on the other side. Her nipples were pert and taut. It’ll never be enough. A thousand lifetimes with her in my bed could never curb this hunger.
“Forever,” I mouthed as our fingertips met on opposite sides of the glass. Her eyes widened at my pledge. She still doubted me. Still didn’t grasp that I was not a man who did anything lightly. But then again, how could she know the true monster I am? She knew next to nothing about my true world and I vowed for now she’d never find out. Johnny was right about some things… Blue she still needs to fly. I’ll let her finish high school. She’ll go to college in Chicago if she wants. In my town, she’ll be safe. But that’s years away from the here and now. With many things to be done in-between.
“You are so far gone, bro.”
Lost in our moment, I forgot Johnny was still on the phone. “Set it up. Keep my cousins at home. I’ll go alone.”
“That’s ballsey as fuck.”
“You’ll be my best man, dickhead.”
“Christ. A wedding and a funeral. That’s right up my alley.”
I slipped my phone in my pocket still mesmerized by the siren standing just beyond my reach. She was still naked and waiting. My little virgin is a wanton. All mine and I’ll kill her if she ever lets another man touch her. Kill him too. Hell, I’ll slaughter anyone who looks at her and wonders what she’s like.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“PLEASE TELL ME YOU DIDN’T DO IT. You didn’t marry Julietta and then kill her.” It’s past four a.m. and we’re both still wide awake.
“I’d know if you’d been married…it would’ve shown up on Google.”
I smile wryly. “Would you? Ralph Smith did get married.”
She gasp, “to Diana Palermo I hope!”
“I wish he had married Diana Palermo… but Ralph Smith was a fool. A fool for love. I’ll never make that mistake ever again.”
“Oh no. This story doesn’t have a happy ending.” She deflates.
“Nothing in life end happily. You of all people should know that.”
“I refuse to give up believing. Besides, Romina Fiorelli is the love of your life. There’s still time to get the girl. The end of the story isn’t written.”
“... more like a to be continued…”
“So? You married that troll, Juliette?”
“I did.”
“Did Blue cut your balls off?”
“Worse. She cut out my heart.”
Chloe fights a yawn and snuggles deeper into the couch. “We need to find her. Like yesterday.”
“We?” I arch a brow.
“Yep. I’m totally team Roque.”
“Not Romina?”
“I haven’t decided yet. She should have told you who she was. She set a few dominoes in motion herself.”
“I’ve never blamed her. She was young. A teen. I blame myself for being to overcome by the electric current between us to see what was right before my eyes. How could I have been so blind? Not noticed beneath all her layers of careful camouflage was the one girl who was always my destiny?”
“I think you’re both acting like total retards. You love her she loves you… it’s not that complicated.”
“But it is. Love makes everything complicated. Besides, Romina doesn’t love me. Perhaps Blue, did. But that love died before it could even fully blossom.”
“I don’t love her anymore. I only want to destroy and vanquish whatever burns between us for good.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. “Do you even believe your own bullshit? No man, would stay up all night reliving his old love story unless the story is still alive for him.”
Now I roll my eyes. “Why are girls so hopelessly romantic? If I wasn’t so weak none of this would have ever happened.”
“You’re right. It would have been a great tragedy instead if the greatest love story. Fifteen-year-old you would’ve murdered his soulmate and walk the earth dead inside. Romina is the fire that wakes you up inside.”
“Not her, Blue.” I shake my head. “I loved a girl who never existed. I loved the girl Romina dressed up as using a disguise. How can I ever know if it was all an act or… if it was real at all?”
“Don’t you have all her diaries? Dumbass? She spells it all out for you literally?”
I stalk forward. “Did you just call me a dumbass?” I hiss in my deadliest, I’m going to break you no bullshit voice.
She yawns shaking her head. “Keep going. What happens next?”
“Things… blew up. Twists happened in our story that I didn’t see coming. Things changed me. I weas never the same after. The truth is Chloe, she made me the man I am today. It might’ve started that fateful day in Palermo. But not seeing… by believing I could blend in a play a pretend role for a while in Princeton led me here. I’ll never make the same mistake again. I’ll never be a fool for love. Hell, my heart is locked down and vaulted. It’ll never breathe again.”
“It will for her.”
“Romina? Part of me…maybe wishes it would. But she changed after what happened. The girl I loved is gone. That can’t be undone. Besides, after what happened to Johnny… I can’t take the chance she wouldn’t get close to me again just get the revenge she always wanted.”
“Back to the story. Ralph Smith marries the troll princess and breaks his Blue’s heart. Did I get that right?”
“Not quite…”
“I can’t read anymore. Too tired. Go to sleep then. There’s no use rehashing what happened.”
“I can’t sleep. I need to know now. You can’t leave me on a cliffhanger.”
“Fine,” I rub the back of the neck and feel my eyes drift the loopy curves of Blue’s handwriting. For when she wrote this it was still Blue. And that’s the major sticking point for me. I loved Blue. A fake persona invented by Romina Palermo. That girl who defied me that day in the woods already got her revenge and she doesn’t even realize it. She broke me. Her curse was fulfilled by her own actions and she didn’t even realize it. I still love that fierce girl with the Blue hair and mud brown eyes. The girl whose hands shook as she stroked my back. The girl whose breathless kiss promised me she would be mine forever. The girl who gave me all of her in some twisted game of lies.
It crushed me when I found out she wasn’t real. I didn’t want Blue and Romina to be one in the same.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“WHEN WILL YOU BE BACK?” I wrapped my arms around Roque, hugging him from behind. He tensed in my embrace. In front of
him, the dawn broke, stretching its rays wide bringing the promise of a new day.
The past few weeks were glorious. Roque’s love is intense. Deep. Powerful. Washing over me every time his eyes glance my way.
But the closer Roque and I got, the more Zio’s been pulling away. He barely looks at me. Every time I try to engage him in conversation he mutters in Italian and complains of being tired. More days than most, when I come home from school, I find Zio asleep in his chair.
“A few days maybe.”
“I wish I could go with you,” I whispered into his back, cringing at the sound of my own lovesick voice.
“Me too, bella.” He lifted my hand to kiss my palm before moving off the edge of my bed.
My eyes lingered on the scars across his back. I felt them the first time we were together, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment by asking. I made the mistake once, of tracing my finger along the jagged, raised edge of one once and Roque hissed, ordering me never to touch them. It hurt. A lot. That he’s still closed off from me, keeping secrets. But then again, I’m keeping the biggest one of all.
“Is it…business?”
He whipped around. “No. Family stuff.”
“I thought your whole family was dead.”
“Not quite. Your uncle doesn’t know everything.”
Neither do you.
I’m hurt he won’t fully let me in.
Something was going on. He didn’t even bother creeping through my window last night. He came through the front door. Zio was asleep anyway but Roque was not to be denied. My bed creaked all night. He took me like a man on a mission. It was rough, tender at times but almost brutal and violent other times. The man acted like he wanted to consume me.
Now he’s distant and cold like the fires that burned through the night never flamed. Bitter ash filled my mouth as he dressed, barely looking at me.
“Don’t lie to me.”
His eyes lifted. “Don’t you have high school in an hour?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what? Getting dressed? I have a flight to catch.”
“Fine. Whatever.” I grumbled, rolling over and giving him my back. Fuck high school. I needed sleep.
I heard him finish dressing, then the bed dipped as warm lips landed on my bare shoulder. “I’ll be back before you know it. We’ll go out on a real date to Manhattan. The theatre… clubs… whatever.”
“Don’t try to pacify me like I’m a toy. I hate all that shit and you would know that if you knew who I was.”
He laughed as his teeth sink into my flesh just enough to sting. “Fine. I’ll take you out on rounds.”
“Rounds?”
“Yeah… where we enforce our rules and punish people who break them.”
“Hmmm…” I twisted the sheets because honestly the gap between our worlds outside of this room was just too wide and we both knew it.
Suddenly he came close. I remember staring at the shiny tip of his polished shoes as he stood next to my bed. “Look, Blue. You and I are written in the stars. Our fates are sealed. I’m coming back for you…in three days, three years, or thirty. You got me?”
He lifted my chin and I nodded fighting back tears. I never thought I’d choke on despair for him leaving me. I knew it was just business. But something in my gut just didn’t feel right.
“I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nodded and he sighed, bending down to grasp my head and kissed me like a dying man. Our mouths opened and parted over and over again. He stole my breath. We kissed until we couldn’t breathe. Both of us were heaving and angry when we parted. He seemed almost feral as he fought himself not wanting to leave. “No matter what happens, know you’re the only girl I could ever love.”
“What does that mean? Why are you really going?” Frustrated, I lunged off the bed and beat my fists against his chest. He caught me in his arms and sighed into my hair, stroking my back as you would a child before finally letting go.
“Three days, okay?”
“Okay.”
But it wasn’t three days and things would never be okay.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I BREATHED IN DEEPLY. It was good to be home despite the fact it felt like I left every piece of me back in the room with the tiny girl with bright blue hair. Vito picked up Johnny and me from the private hanger at O’Hare and it wasn’t long before we noticed the dark SUV tailing not far behind,
“They think they can tail me? On our home turf? Fuck that!” Johnny grinned as he checked his clip and slid the wrack.
I crouched down so no one could blow my head off and undid my gun holstered by my ankle. “It’s so fucking on!” Vito cut the wheel and we exited the freeway, banging left and right turns as the SUV followed in hot pursuit.
“Get down!” Johnny barked, as he noticed the passenger in the car behind us lower their window and started firing. The first spray of bullets ricocheted off the back glass.
Our SUV’s glass was bulletproof, so they lowered and went for or tires. “Turn! They are trying for the tires!” Johnny roared.
Vito turned and hit the gas; the SUV tottered on two wheels I crashed into Johnny throwing all my weight to the opposite side hoping to stop a rollover. When the car tipped back on all four wheels, I lowered the window next to me, aimed for their gas tank and emptied my entire clip.
“Fuck!” Vito roared as the explosion of the car behind us rocked ours. He lost control and we hit a row of parking meters and cars but kept going. Our tires blew, but we didn’t stop. Sirens were wailing all around us.
“We gotta dump out here!”
Vito entered an underground garage. Johnny loaded another clip and shot out the security cameras. I took off my suit coat, ripped off my shirt and dipped the white linen fabric into our own gas tank. Pulling it out halfway, I took out my lighter and lit the fabric as we ran. Our shoes smacked against the pavement as we ran for cover before the blast would blow us off our own feet.
Vito opened the door to the nearest stairwell, and we made it inside just as the friggin’ car exploded. The blast sounded like a warplane dropping a bomb.
“That was a bit dramatic,” Johnny drawled.
I shrugged. “We couldn’t leave prints.” Then I slid out my burner and texted Geno that we needed a safe pick up and to move to our underground bunker until further notice.
I holstered my gun, ran a hand through my hair and straightened my suit. We rolled out of there like three executives who could give two fucks about the sirens and screaming people.
We walked a few blocks then waited under a nondescript awning. Like clockwork, Geno rolled up to a stop and we got in the car.
“You just killed Vince’s top dog. He’s pissed AF.”
“Fine. He started this.”
“No, actually you did when you murdered Constantine and cleared out half of the Castellione cash.”
“I’m not done with that family yet. Where’s my bride?”
“Change of plans. Vince wants you in Palermo.”
“Guess that punk has no balls after all. He can’t face me on our turf, so he had to run home to the five families and hide behind their skirts,” I scoffed.
“Fuck it! A trip the homeland it is. I wanna see this bridezilla of yours anyway.” I pinched the bridge of my nose feeling a massive headache coming on Johnny is such a fucktard sometimes. “Fine. We go to Palermo. It’s my ground zero anyway.”
Johnny grinned like a mother fucker and made the calls to the jet and his crew in New York. We were going and bringing a kick-ass killing crew with us.
***
I walked in the darkness—something I was used to but hadn’t done for a while. I never had problems seeing in the dark either. Maybe it’s because my eyes glow. Maybe I was born part man part monster. Hell, I’d believe it.
So many things happened in these walls. So many people that once roamed them were now ghosts themselves.
Everything was just how I had left it.
The dish
es were still on the table.
Clothes still hung in closets.
Only the office where I had taken down my uncle was cleaned, although layers of dust covered everything.
“Ashes to ashes… dust to dust,” I murmured, as my finger ran along with the old books in my father’s study.
The weight of it all felt heavy. The duty and sense of responsibility I had felt for so many years weighed too much at times. But I was the next in line. So many before me never faltered when it was their turn. I couldn’t either. I felt my legacy, my bloodline was the only link left to those who’d shed this earth for the next realm. They died horrible deaths. Especially my aunt, my brothers, my mother… the sense of duty I felt to avenge that never left me. That’s what brought me back to Palermo, not the Castellione’s. I needed to end the five families forever and be the only Don. The only absolute ruler. It was the only way I could fathom keeping Blue safe.
I imagined, gutting this mausoleum to the studs and building something better with Blue.
My cell chirped. It was Vince. “What?” I barked.
“You’re pissing off your bride. Five hundred people are waiting for the groom to make his appearance at the engagement party.”
I snorted. “I haven’t signed the agreement. My lawyers are still looking it over.”
“It’s simple. Fuck my sister. Put a baby in her. Unite our families in flesh and blood. We take over.”
“Put a bag on your sister’s head and I’ll consider it.”
“Fuck you!”
“No, fuck you!” I snarled, throwing my phone against the room. I lost it. I wanted to blow them all up. Anything to get back to the life I had weeks ago. The life I deluded myself into believing I could actually have. In a fit of rage, I swept my hands across the bookshelves toppling everything. I didn’t want to be Roque Salvatore. I wanted to be Ralph Smith. The guy playing spin the bottle and ten minutes of tongue time in a frat house. A guy who could be whoever the fuck he wanted.