Twisted Judgement
Page 12
“Home. I’ll have Doc come by,” he said.
“Sir, you had some pretty bad injuries. You have a broken—”
“Give me my release papers,” he demanded.
The women let out a sigh and turned to leave.
“No,” Avé snapped, causing the women to stop and face them again. “You have a broken arm, four broken ribs and you have burns everywhere. Stop being a baby, you’re staying for at least the night.”
His jaw twitched and she waited for him to argue with her. When he kept quiet she turned to the nurse.
“We won’t be needing those release papers thank you.”
*****
Despite everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, as they pulled up to the mansion she still felt like she was at home. Which made her decision to leave even harder.
“I got it,” Gio snapped as Wes tried to help him out of the car.
She shook her head—she was going to miss this. Being surrounded by two overprotective men who acted as they’d never eaten lasagna before. Once Giovanni was situated in his bedroom she crossed the hallway to the guest bedroom, ignoring the goosebumps that moved from her spine down to her arms. The air seemed colder in this room as if all the warm air had been sucked out of it and replaced with a rackety air conditioner. She went to the closet and grabbed out the suitcase that she’d used to bring her clothes over from the apartment. She kept the tears at bay as she threw all her clothes inside, not caring about the expensive clothes she was wrinkling in the process. Once that was full she grabbed a couple of shopping bags and started to fill those too.
“Running?”
She paused and a lump formed in her throat. She stood up from the bag. Wes leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. She wished she could un-see the hurt expression on his face but it she knew it would forever be ingrained in her brain. She didn’t want to hurt anybody.
She shook her head. “You know I didn’t—”
“So this last month—that didn’t mean anything?” he asked, his voice laced with anger.
She looked down at the floor. The same floor where Liam’s body had been lying only a day ago.
He scoffed. “Have a good life, Avé.” He pushed off the wall and walked out of the room.
Her heart broke in two but she managed to keep herself together as she packed up the rest of her stuff and loaded it up into her car. She took one last look at the mansion she’d called home before getting in her car and driving home.
One month later
“You sure you don’t wanna go out with us tonight?” Aubrey asked as they walked out to the parking garage after getting off work.
Avé shook her head.
Aubrey placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking. She turned to look into Aubrey’s eyes. “Avé, it’s been a month.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, already knowing where she was going with this one. She just needed more time. Time away from Gio and Wes. The guilt she’d felt the first day she’d walked out of the mansion hadn’t let up. She imagined Gio recovering from his injuries and Wes going back to his life but it still hurt. She was only trying to protect herself but in the end, all she felt was pain.
“Just go out with us, it will help. You don’t even go out to lunch with us anymore and you are working crazy hours,” Aubrey said.
She hated the look of pity in her eyes. She didn’t need anyone’s pity, not when she’d made the decision to leave.
“I just need some time,” she said, not sure if she was telling herself or Aubrey. She had to give herself time and distance. Eventually she’d get over it. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gone through bad breakups before. She knew deep down that this was different though. She hadn’t even told Giovanni she was leaving. The man who’d put everything on the line to protect her. She’d run to him and then left without saying a word. The guilt cut through her like a knife.
“We’re going to the strip tonight if you change your mind.”
Avé nodded and turned to walk the rest of the way to her car. After sitting in traffic she made it home. As she walked inside she heard the instant sound of meowing.
“I’m coming, Elvis,” she said as she closed and locked the door.
The small black kitten came to rub her wet nose against Avé’s bare legs. She'd gotten Elvis a week ago. She’d figured it would be nice to have something to go home to. The apartment was too quiet and empty after leaving the mansion. She set her purse down before walking in the kitchen and pouring the brown pebbles into the cat dish. She checked her phone but just like always nothing waited for her. After she’d left she’d half expected Wes and Gio to come chasing after her. At first, she’d been disappointed but then she’d realized maybe they understood her need to get away from the life. She looked around her apartment. The place was spotless and she had enough leftovers in the fridge to last her a good 6 months. With nothing left to do, she stripped out of her clothes and ran a bath. Elvis came into the bathroom just as she lowered herself into the tub. Elvis let out a soft meow.
“You just ate. What more do you want?” she asked the cat who rubbed her head against the ceramic tub. Avé reached over the side and petted the cat, feeling her small body vibrate as she purred. It was so simple to make Elvis happy. Her feet were killing her from the extra hours she’d been putting in at the office. She stayed in the bath until her skin was pruney and Elvis had fallen asleep on the bathmat. She wrapped a towel around herself and walked to her closet room. Her phone vibrated on the kitchen counter where she’d left it. She left the room to check it and saw a text from Aubrey.
Leaving in an hour if you change your mind.
What else was she going to do tonight? Sit on the couch and eat leftovers with her cat like she’d been doing every weekend? She looked around her apartment again. She needed to get out. Maybe if she did and actually started living her life again it would help.
Come pick me up on the way.
She sent the text and went back into the room to get ready. Deciding to dress more casual then usual for a night out, she pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a flowy tank top. She’d just finished applying her makeup when there was knock at the door.
“Coming,” she yelled out as she ran to grab her shoes.
A second knock sounded on the door.
“I said I’m coming,” she yelled again as she walked down the hallway with her shoes in her hand. She flung the door open ready to give Aubrey a piece of her mind. She froze with her hand on the door handle and her stomach dropped. She didn’t need anyone to explain to her who this man was. All black suit, gold watch, round belly, and deep wrinkle lines. He wasn’t Cosa Nostra but something worse. The man smiled.
“Avé is it?” the man asked.
Her eyes flashed to her phone still resting on the kitchen counter.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” the man said, his voice gruff as if he’d smoked thousands of cigarettes in his lifetime. “I just wanna talk.”
She put a small amount of pressure on the door as if shutting the door in his face would make him leave. He put a hand out to stop it and took a step inside. Her heart pounded as she took a step back. She needed to get out of here.
“You see, Avé, I have a bit of a problem. My son has gone missing, and from my understanding, he was quite…fascinated with you.”
If Liam’s dad doesn’t know he’s dead it’s going to be bad when he finds out.
“I hear you have some new friends. Let them know I stopped by would ya?” He winked at her before turning around and walking out of the door.
The End
Notes
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About the Author
K.D Clark is a United States author living in Saint Louis, MO with her high school sweetheart and being a dog mom to two amaz
ing pit bulls. She spends every minute she can either working on her books or reading the great works of other romance authors. For more information on book releases and her writing process please feel free to check out her website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
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